Monday, July 28, 2008

GKN Weekly Update 7/28/08

Whattaya say there, sports fans?!

Hello and Happy Monday to you. I am feeling MUCH better! The kidney stone still hasn't passed (I think) but I haven't had an attack since last Tuesday. My appetite has returned and my digestive system is back to normal (no need for details there). I did gain some weight, though. I think it's a combination of the medication and two weeks without exercise. Anyway, I wanted to thank all of you for the dozens of phone calls, emails, and other well wishes you guys sent my way. It means a lot to me!

Last week was kind of slow. It worked out since was rough leaving the house between the pain, the medication, and having to carry a strainer around! As a result, I had to turn down two auditions from Ingrid French because I couldn't risk being away from the house for too long. I had two more retakes session for Ballard & Tighe at Hagens Studio in Princeton, though. They signed off on the project so it's in the can!

The only other action I had was that I started on the Project TERRA Season Two Outline. We're still working on the Episode One storyboard and the stills for the EPK. Slow but steady!

TIP OF THE WEEK: I have to admit that I was touched by the amount of people who reached out to me this past week. It made me feel really good! My friend and fellow VO talent Kara Edwards was just blogging about how her blog comments have decreased lately and she was wondering how much it had to do with RSS feeds and the fact that EVERYBODY blogs nowadays. I think there are just too many out there and it's hard not to just click, glance, and move on to the next bookmark.

This applies to real life as well. Take the time to tell someone important to you how much you appreciate them. Whether it's your parents or the postman, acknowledge them. Even if it's just a smile or a handshake, it will make their day!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Genre fiction, as Terry Pratchett has pointed out, is a stew. You take stuff out of the pot, you put stuff back. The stew bubbles on. Neil Gaiman

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: When was the last time you said thanks to someone important to you?

Have a great week!

Monday, July 21, 2008

My Blog Log Tracking Code

GKN Weekly Update

Hey there all you TV fans,

I hope everyone had a great week. I myself had a rather interesting experience. I woke up early Thursday morning in excruciating pain. So I dragged myself to the Emergency Room and discovered I have a kidney stone. Yay! They kept me there overnight. I declined surgery so I've been cooped up at home for the past four days trying to pass it. So far, no luck.

As a result, I missed two recording sessions last week. One was another retake session for Ballard & Tighe. The other was for a new client. I was supposed to go to Riverview Studios in Bordentown to record two sixty-second spots for the NJ Association of Realtors. Unfortunately they had to re-cast the role since they were on a tight deadline. Bummer! The good news is that they may have more work for me in the near future.

I did actually make it to a recording session for ETS before my incapacitation so the week wasn't a total loss. Actually, I did manage to put in some work on my website. It's always looked pretty God-awful but I never had the time to work on it. It's a little better now. You can see it here. There is still a long way to go. I'm thinking of getting a new web host with a better template. This one is via Yahoo Geocities. Not so great.

TIP OF THE WEEK: So I've been in quite a bit of pain for the past few days. I'm talking about "lie on the bed and do nothing but pant" kind of pain. It made me realize how healthy I have been for most of my life. This is only the second time I spent the night at a hospital. The first time was to have my tonsils taken out. I was five and I remember it vividly, even the dream I had while I was under. I've had a few broken bones and stitches, three or four cavities, a bum knee (wrcnhed it in dance class), a pre-ulcer condition, and vertigo/migraines (too much Diet Pepsi). That's about it. I am very fortunate to have good health. In the future, every time I complain about a hangnail I will remember what I'm feeling right now and tell myself to shut the hell up.

The same thing goes for my career and personal life. I am lucky to be doing exactly what I want with my career and I am surrounded by many, many loving friends and family members. I know it's cliche, but I've been counting my blessings and I ran out of fingers! Don't forget all of the good things you have going for you.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: A friend is someone you know all about, but you like anyway. Bill Parcells

TIP OF THE WEEK: What good things in your life do you take for granted?


Have a great week!

Monday, July 14, 2008

GKN Weekly Update

Happy Bastille Day!

I actually went to a Bastille Day party over the weekend. I had snails for the first time (salty but not bad), enjoyed delicious poached salmon, roast duck, and WAY too much Pinot Noir. That may explain why I feel so cruddy right now...

BTW my blog has a new address: http://tomdheere.blogspot.com. I should have all the RSS feeds set up on the dozen or so sites that this blog appears. That'll take the rest of the day to do. Yipee.

Last week was the first slow one I've had in a while, recording session-wise. I had 1 1/2 gigs. One for ETS and a really short one to do some re-takes for Ballard & Tighe. Hence the half.

I hope you got the chance to read my quarterly newsletter "The Rognog" that I posted last week. I got well over 350 website hits on it this time. My goal was 100 hits so I'm pretty pleased!

Fellow GKN member John Florian posted Part Two of my article series "The Art and Science of Self Promotion". You can read it here. Thanks again, John!

I had an on-camera audition on NYC for the first time in a while. It was for MVP Healthcare courtesy of Friedman-West. Thanks, Susan!

TIP OF THE WEEK: I got a very nice compliment twice in the past two weeks from two different people at two different places. I was feeding my friend Carly's baby Asha. One friend said "You look like a dad." and the other friend said "You're going to make a great father someday." That really hit home with me. Most of the time I act like and is perceived as this goofy guy who will never settle down with someone. So, when I get complimented like that my first thought is that they're making fun of me. I know they're not, but I don't take compliments well. I'm getting better at it, though. Anyway, all this made me wonder what it takes to be a good father. This is just a guess, but I think that the two most important things are to be there and to love. I've said this before, but it's worth repeating: love is a verb. It is an act. Be in the presence of the ones you love and actively love them. Does that sound right, dads?

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing but burn, burn, burn like fabulous roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue center light pop and everybody goes 'Awww!’ Jack Kerouac

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: What have you done lately to show the important people in your life that you love them?

Have a great week!

Friday, July 11, 2008

Testing 123!

Hi!

I'm trying out Blogger to create The Rognog Blog/Good Karma Network. My old one doesn't seem to get along with MyBlogLog, Technorati, and a few other places. Unfortunately, I still have to do the old copy & paste thing with Nextcat, Yahoo 360, The GKN Yahoo Group, and MySpace. That is, unless anyone out there knows how to set up an RSS Feed with them...

Have a great weekend!