I wanted to say it was nice meeting everyone on Sunday. I wish I could have gotten to know some of you more, but it was all a bit chaotic. It was great to see so many people supporting the trio.

It's getting kind of close to 'go time' for me, too, I guess. Tomorrow I start packing/throwing things out. That may be a bit difficult, since I keep everything. I also have to figure out if I want to rent a U-haul or buy a large van for the trip. I figure with the van I can always sell it and get most of my money back, but I don't know if that's do-able yet or not. I'm also stuck on whether I should put things in storage here or take them out there and put them in storage. I guess it will depend on much I keep. I'm hoping Chuck has opted to lag behind a couple of weeks and make the trip with me. It's a long trip to do on your own. It would be nice to have some backup.

Someone asked me the other day why I was going to California. For those who are curious, I've been wanting to make the trek to California for years now. I've always been into entertaining and creating. It's what I want to do in one form or another. So, around seven years ago, myself and a close friend at the time (James Korloch, an extremely talented man in his own right-I think he has a profile on IMDB.com, actually) decided we were going to make the trip out west and become something. Unfortunately, things didn't work out the we planned and we eventually it was just an afterthought. I felt like I had let my father down, though, and it always bothered me. You see, just a few years before, my dad had become stricken with throat cancer and was dying. I pretty much put my life on hold at that point, so that I could spend all of my time with him. I loved my dad more than anything else and I wasn't going to miss a second I could have with him. Near the end, he had called for me in the middle of the night to talk to me. His voice was just a faint breath with a trace of gravel because his throat had been eaten away by then. I held his hand and listen to his every word like it was his last. He talked for a few minutes, but it got to be too much for him. Before he finished he said, "I love you, Son. I want you to follow your dreams, whatever they are and don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it. You're a good person and I'm proud of you." I remember what he said, because I kept a journal of my days with him, so that I would never forget our time together at the end. I didn't follow my dreams before. I let them pass by the wayside and it's always eaten away at me. Now I have a chance to make up for that and I intend to so, with interest. I don't know what's going to happen when I get out there, but there is nothing that's going to keep me from trying. I'm not much on revealing things about myself, but there you go, a little insight into me. That's my main reason for going to California. For more insights into me, read my new autobiography 'I Laughed Until I Cried (And Vice-Versa)', on sale in June at a bookstore near you.


-I love you, Dad...