Thanks and an Invite!

Hello everyone...To all of those who sent me flowers, balloons, and chocolate, trust me when I tell you it's not wasted on me. I shared it all with the cast, and it's always a big hit.

It's so funny when I hear people using blogs, with a negative tone. I try to use the principle that my mother taught me when I was five years old, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. You know who you are! Ok, so here we go. Since I last reached out to you, so much has happened. I had to do something that is very rare in daytime, but one day will be the norm. ABC flew a small group of us out to Hollywood, for what I might consider one of the most exciting experiences I've had in a long time when it comes to show business. They did this one other time on our sister show, General Hospital, but never to this magnitude. I'm talking about a tremendous green screen action adventure sequence. I've been in this business since I was three years old, and have never gotten to do a stunt like this before. And when it comes to daytime television, no show or television network has ever put in this amount of time, money, and effort into an action sequence like this. I can't tell you everything, but what I can tell you is that it involves a huge shootout and helicopters, all on top of a skyscraper. I mean honestly, I've never seen anything like it, and I'm very excited for you all to see it.

By the way, have you been watching the show? I know some of you who I've heard from are watching the show, but I'm curious about the rest of you. I am also dying to hear your comments and storyline ideas. You'd be surprised, I do read them, and every now and then, somebody has an amazing idea that will make me march downstairs to the producers. And in my own way, let your ideas be heard.

I will tell you this, I've really loved working with this cast. I now understand someone like David Canary's success. First of all, he's a great guy. Charming, funny, witty...but the thing that impressed me the most is how committed he gets in a scene. He is so fully engaged and present, that in one scene, when he was playing Stuart (the more gentle easy simple minded twin), while we were all sitting around, Adam's name came up and the characters were nervous that Adam was going to show up in the room and I actually started looking around to see if he was coming, forgetting that there's only one actor. My point is, when David walks on set as Stuart, he is Stuart, and believe me when he walks on set as Adam, he is no doubt Adam. He is kinder to the cast and crew when Stuart and more devilish when he's Adam. I think this is as close to method acting as a daytime actor can get. I'd like to give him the RPG Performer of the Month Award.

For all you ladies out there, I did my first scenes with Cameron Mathison last night. And yes he is a sweetheart and a very giving scene partner. I want to give him a shout out, because I had all this hospital medical jargon to spew, but I f****d up a few times, thank you for putting up with my cursing in between takes! Let me tell you something people, playing a doctor but doing it well, ain't easy. I'm actually going to silo some doctors through the ER as part of my research and due diligence on this character. One thing I can't stand is for any of that stuff to look or sound fake. My job just got ten times harder.

Last but not least, I spoke to Beth Ehlers last night and we have agreed to have one final bash as Gus and Harley. It will be a goodbye party for all of you, our friends, family, and loved ones. Val had the wonderful idea of having a greek theme, so the entire Cooper family will be there ( I will personally make sure of it ). We will break plates, have tons of Greek salad, wine, baklava, and fabulous Greek music. Maybe I'll even get Beth to sing a song. So it would mean the world to us to see you there. Because for that one last afternoon, we will be Gus and Harley. I would love to see you there, please check my website and the magazines for the upcoming details. For your convenience, it will be during the Guiding Light fan club weekend. And for those of you who get seasick, don't worry it won't be on a boat. It will be in the Times Square area of the greatest city in the world, New York City. Val says to book early because we expect it to sell out quickly.

All my love,
Ricky