October 29, 2004

First off, let me just say "thank you" to everyone who has taken the time to respond to my Blogs. Although I haven’t gotten back to you individually, I am trying. This is all ew to me, so you have to bear with me for a bit to get into a routine. Just to let you all know, I am feeling better so again thank you for the well wishes, THEY REALLY WORKED, LOL!!!

This week was slow for me, I only had to work Thursday so it (the time off) gave me a chance to not only get healthy again, but also let me brainstorm some great ideas for my apartment. It’s weird coming down from working every day last week to just the one day this week. It (soap work) really is like a rollercoaster. Anyway, I received so many suggestions about decorating (color schemes, throw rugs, plants to add life, etc.) that my head is now on overload just to process it all. I feel like a walking "Bed, Bath and Beyond". I will say that I need to get the rest of my things from home (Virginia) especially my young Frank Sinatra Mug Shot poster; yeah I’m kind of an old soul.

I did happen to get to see a great short promotional concert this week which was a highlight. "Simple Plan," an alternative pop band, is releasing a new album and the casts of GL and ATWT were invited to attend the show. A few of us went and it was crazy! I met up with Stephen Martines (Tony, GL), Agim Kaba (Aaron, ATWT), and AJ Lamas (Rafi, ATWT) which was great because they’re great guys and we just had an amazing time. I would have to say that I will most likely be getting their CD. I have an eclectic taste in music and I was pretty impressed with their set. If anyone wants to help feed my taste in music and recommend some other great artists please feel free (and I do mean any artist) and I’ll let ya’ll know what I think.

As far as the show is going, I am gearing up to have some tasty, heated scenes with Lizzie. It’s so funny reading everyone’s comments about her and their dislike of her character and then turn around and hang out with Crystal. She really is a sweet person in reality, LOL, I know you’d never guess it though! I really think that her dog "Roxy" is going to be my leading lady, costuming is already telling me that they’re trying to piece a matching outfit together for us…..um, I don’t like that idea. We’ll see soon enough though.

Let me just reiterate my thanks to everyone for the responses on the blog site and add that if there are any specific questions, please feel free to ask. OH, and by the way I’m feeling the SOCK MONKEY idea, thanks JK and CK! Until the next entry, please keep watching everybody!

October 19, 2004

The past couple of days have been so “Blah” for me. I mean, there were some exciting moments here and there, but the weather really dampened my spirits along with this whole flu epidemic thing. I feel like I’m walking into an infirmary rather than a daytime studio, YUCK! Another thing that hasn’t made this situation any better is the fact that my apartment is STILL NEITHER FURNISHED nor PAINTED. I really do need to get on the ball.

Before I even get STARTED with my apartment, let me just say that I am feeling like all the interactions with my co-stars that are sick are starting to take a toll on me. I’m feeling drained, my face is breaking out, it’s hard to get out of bed in the morning, my joints are so achy, and I have a taste for just soups and drinking hot tea. To top that all off, it’s raining, cold, and windy as all get out up here; MAN THIS SUCKS! To be serious for a moment, I guess I wouldn’t be so worried about this whole flu epidemic if I had hospital coverage i.e. insurance. Every since I moved up here, switching my living area and getting away from home, I have been without insurance so needless to say, I’ve been trying to be careful. I know that once I get the whole “AFTRA” union membership process complete, things will get easier and I’ll be able to receive some coverage but until then, times like this will always remain a bit of a risk especially with the colder weather coming in.

Anywho, moving on to another fun subject, my apartment is STILL in shambles. I have a whole stack of scripts that have been turned into a light stand, a bed that is still without a box-spring and rollers, no clean shades to use, and my walls are still without paint, allowing the drywall to flake a little bit and posters to cover the sparseness (if that’s an actual word). I have been looking through magazines to get ideas on how to decorate my room, but I haven’t made any motions to following through yet because of all these other financial obligations…a polite way of saying “burdens”. As far as a theme for my room, I want to try and keep it light, simple and have a very comfortable feeling to it. Perhaps an olive green or a merlot color, throw some rugs in there on the hardwood floor, add a couple of shelving units... keeping in mind that with any apt. in NY/Brooklyn you must go up and not out to save room. For shades/blinds, I wanted to have light wood if I choose a light color, and dark wood if I go with a dark paint. I don’t know, at this point I’m SO OPEN TO RECOMMENDATIONS!!!!!!

Alright, well this is going to have to be it for now. I will say that the scenes between Buzz and Coop are getting really good. I love the interactions between the two; it just seems to feel so natural when working with Justin so I’m pretty excited for those episodes to air. At the same time, the banter between Lizzie and Coop is getting stronger and stronger; it’s always fun to fight with her. I hope everyone enjoys watching these upcoming scenes as much as I’ve enjoyed filming it!

For more on John and GL go to http://www.Soapcity.com/GL

October 15, 2004

Alright, my first “Guiding Light” fan weekend was a success! Not only did I survive the actual craziness of the weekend’s events, but I actually remembered quite a few names of the individuals who were there. I have to say that although all the events were amazing to attend, nothing caught me quite so off guard as Stephen Martines’ (Tony) “Unplugged” jam session Sunday night. I didn’t realize that when the cast members walked in the door, we would all be participating in a giant “Who’s Line is it, Anyway?” episode.

I am still so beat after all the interactions of this past weekend – yes, I know that was a week ago. I don’t think I slept more than 8 hours the entire weekend. How I managed to get through it still baffles me. At one point on Ricky Paull’s (Gus) boat trip a fan actually went to get me a drink and told me to sit down and take a load off, so cool in my opinion, but I guess I really looked like S#%T, LOL. I think a big factor about how well this weekend went was the fact that a crew of us (the younger actors) all tried to arrive together as a little posse or group to each event. It made it a bit easier for both the cast (us) to handle the crowd as well as for the fans to recognize all of us knowing each person’s storyline. It was also beneficial for all those who brought cameras because we were all already there and ready to have fun, so there wasn’t much of chasing individuals down to get a picture or an autograph. Oh, let me just say that I didn’t even get my sight back from all the flashes for at least two full days, LOL (a random afterthought). A downer moment for me at the bowling alley was the fact that Tom Pelphrey (JB) kicked my arse in score, but at least I beat him in finesse….but that doesn’t win a game so that really doesn’t matter, oh well. I won’t hold this against Tom; I’m just looking for a rematch.

Stephen Martines, man, where do I begin about his event, LOL? Apparently since his original guitarist had to jet unexpectedly, Stephen made the best arrangements he could to keep his event running. His “fill in” guitarist was named “Popa” and he was a TRIP to listen to. His made up lyrics and his love for oldies vs. Stephen’s passion for hip new age made for quite a head to head spectacle between the two of them. Doug Hutchison (Sebastian) threw in a bit of flair with his “MY MOTHER IS A DERANGED DOG EATING MANIAC” melody that everybody (even the cast) started cracking up about, a much unexpected ditty from Dougie.

When all the actual songs were played, we all (Doug, Tom, Stephen, and myself) were dragged up to the stage and did a Q and A session with the audience which was great because we all had the chance to get a bit more personal about ourselves with a smaller venue of fans. After about forty-five minutes of sappiness…err….I mean in-depth conversation, I had the brilliant idea of grabbing helium balloons and making up stupid songs to phrases and ideas the audience gave us. Needless to say, it got a bit crazy but memorable.

All in all, this weekend was great for me. I met so many fun fans that knew so much about the show and so much about me, to my surprise. I am so glad that I did all the events this year, but I now know that I should pace myself in future years (I’m hopeful to still be around).

Friday October 8, 2004

Alright, my week has now come to a close and I’m actually pretty happy about it. It’s not that anything went really wrong (though there were some... interesting spots to it); I am just really looking forward to this "FAN" weekend and the episodes of next week.

As far as this weekend is concerned, everyone I’ve spoken to at this point has said that I need to get as much sleep WHENEVER I can and get ready to be blinded with flashes i.e. perhaps a good idea to get some dark glasses.

Alright, the low point of my week was that I was late on Wednesday morning to rehearsal. Granted, nothing really came of it (this time) because they (director of the episode and the other actors) were running behind so my segments hadn ’t started, but the point that the producers were stressing was that tardiness will not be accepted... note taken.

It’s funny that this happened though because usually I’m in the building an hour before my call time just to check e-mails, use the gym in studio, or just annoy the writers and casting people, LOL.

As far as taping went this week, Lizzie (Crystal Hunt) and I had some great scenes together. Things are starting to get really charged between the two of us, bantering back and forth, picking on each other, and sometimes giving advice to one another (rarely).

My favorite scene so far is set to air in the next few days involving the Spaulding’s home and a bulldozer that I actually got to operate. I loved filming it and I’m sure that most people will enjoy watching it especially if you’re pulling for the Coopers.

Alright, it’s time to get back to work now i.e. going through my scripts and getting ready for work as well as figuring out what I’m doing tonight at the start of the Fan Club weekend. My next entry I’m sure will hopefully be about how I survived this pandemonium and probably highlight my sparse apartment and what I’m going to do about fixing THAT situation... my work is never done!