Script Girrl

Leap of Faith!

2010-04-10T09:15:00.000-07:00

I want my children to attend private school starting this Fall when they begin Kindergarten. The public schools I'm zoned for are absolutely substandard. Tennessee public schools rank in the mid-40's and below on a national standard!! Totally unacceptable for my kids.

After a lot of investigating, the only private school that came anywhere near close to what I might be able to afford is Chattanooga Christian School. Yesterday I took my mother and children to an open house at that school and we all fell in love with the place! There are 3 schools on a 40 acre property - the elementary school, a middle school and a high school. The kids start learning Spanish in Kindergarten and they start computer classes in first grade!! Those are two things I definitely want them to explore. The class rooms were beautiful and cozy. The library in the elementary school was expansive and had several computers in it for the kids to use!!

We had a wonderful time at the open house. I signed the kids up for a 'readiness screening' scheduled for next Friday. I'm told that they will be tested for their ability to sit still and take instruction. Plus, they are supposed to be able to write their names and identify colors, shapes, numbers, and the letters of the alphabet. Jack won't have any problem with those tests because he is super intellectual. Lucy, on the other hand is more physical/emotional - drama, singing, imagining etc and doesn't really try to learn her letters and colors. I'm not sure if she will pass their testing. Hopefully she will.

I went to Wal-Mart yesterday and bought books, flash cards, and a couple of inexpensive computer programs that I hope will brush Jack up on the things he knows, and will also buff Lucy's knowledge up so she will pass the 'readiness screening'.

I'm supposed to turn in Lucy and Jack's admission applications with the $75.00 application fees next Friday when they are tested. I can swing that, but I'm still jobless and looking. I know it's crazy to set them up in a school that will cost me $900 a month, for both of them to attend, but I feel strongly that they will benefit greatly if they go to that school. So, I'm going to take a 'leap of faith' that somehow I will be able to afford the payments when the first day of school begins in mid August.

I feel like I'm doing the right thing.

Am I being crazy here?

Script Girrl

Writing My Adoption Story

2010-03-28T06:48:00.000-07:00

Pounding Rain. Crashing Thunder. Blinding Streaks of Lightning. Howling Wind Gusts. Damn, I missed this Chattanooga weather when I was in L.A.!

My kids adoption story is amazing, and I have had both novelists and screenwriters approach me and ask to write my story. But, I'm a writer and a damn good one at that, so I declined the help. Two days ago when I started wondering how I could raise money to put my kids through private school, it occurred to me that If I wrote the novel, my adoption story could very well bring in some funds for Jack and Lucy's education. It couldn't hurt to try. So I sat down and typed up an outline of the events surrounding my adoption journey and before I knew it, I had 11 pages - (2,222 words) of just outline! It's amazing all of the interesting memories that came flooding back.

Using 50,000 words as an average for a novel, I calculated that I need to write 1,667 words a day to finish the first draft of my book in one month. I started writing yesterday and wrote 1,777 words. Nice start eh?

I found the coolest software for Mac yesterday. It's a program called KeyClick. What it does is make your Mac sound like a typewriter while you are typing. I miss the sound of my old fashioned typewriter. There's something about the sounds of the keys clicking that makes you feel like you are really 'writing' something. Of course I'm from the old school of writers. Anyway, I downloaded the free 21 day trial and I'm loving it. After the trial, the program costs a mere $5.00 and you can't beat that. Loving it!!

Wish me luck!! Oh yeah. Don't forget to order an autographed copy from me when it's published. LOL

"What do you mean you're thinking of putting me

in a private Christian School Mom? Do I look

like Christian School material to you?"

Script Girrl

LIfe in Chattanooga Tennessee

2010-03-26T06:32:00.000-07:00

We've been back in Chattanooga for a week now and we are finally settling in. It's amazing. Getting used to Eastern time doesn't seem to be a problem at all. Not like it was getting used to Pacific time. It took us almost a month in California to adjust to the time change and not be tired all of the time. I wonder why Eastern time is so easy to adjust to? Maybe because that's the time my body has been used to all of its life. I don't know.

Anyway, I'm home and have tons of things to take care of...

First line of business was to get my kids enrolled in Kindergarten. Last year I stood in the sign-up line at a local 'free' magnet school every day for 3 weeks, trying to get my kids on their admission list. The line started a whole month before sign-up day - a whole week before I knew that it had started forming, so my kids were #134 and #135 on the list and they only took the first 40 into their Kindergarten! I'm told that they might not even make it into the program until after 4th grade. Such a disappointment! In the meantime, I want them in a good school while they are waiting to get into the Magnet school. I'm wracking my brain to figure out a way to pay for private school until that time but the private school I'm considering will cost me $1,600 a month! Not sure how I'm going to do that, but I'm going to try.

I am taking on a new project for the next month in the hopes that I can raise money for my kid's private school. I'm going to write a book telling the trials and tribulations of Jack and Lucy's adoption. It will include all of the failed attempts; the highs and lows; and the technical processes of private adoption. Between the fact that I am an excellent writer and that there are tons of people out there who want to know how to adopt, I may have a hit. Of course it may fail too, but I'll still get a lot of fun out of writing the book so it won't be a total loss.

I'm taking a month off to get my house and affairs in order, relax, and get some serious writing done. Then, the last week of April we will be taking our annual trip to Deerfield Beach Florida. After that, I will go back to work. If my travel nurse company offers me a 13 week job in Nashville then, I'll take it. I want to check out their screenwriting groups and film school, and go to to the Nashville Screenwriter's conference in June. If I don't take a job in Nashville, I'll find something locally. Once August hits I'll have to be home for the kids to start school.

I'm totally enjoying being home with friendly folk, thunder storms, free parking, light traffic, and drive-through Starbucks windows. LOL So much different here than in Los Angeles.

Wish me luck on writing my Adoption novel.

Script Girrl

Trip Home Update

2010-03-21T20:02:00.000-07:00

Once again, I posted everything to my Facebook from my iPhone, so I'm going to update my trip on this site in one lump of entries from my Facebook.

March 12

9:56 am
Change of travel plans. We will be heading back to Chattanooga this weekend. The hospital hired a full-time girl who is taking the physician group I've been working, so my contract is going to be up 2 weeks early! I am so excited!! We will be packing tonight and tomorrow. Whoo Hoo!!

8:56 pm
Well, I'm done working at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles. Taking a break tonight then will spend the weekend packing up everything. Will be heading for home on Monday, March 15th and should arrive in Chattanooga TN sometime on Friday, March 19th. Wow! With everything I did and saw in Hollywood, it felt more like a fast-paced vacation than work. I'm ready for a rest!! The only thing I feel sorry about is that the squirrel who eats out of our hands on the balcony won't have his daily peanut feasts. What's he gonna do without us?!

Pretty much all packed up for the trip back to Tennessee tomorrow. Just a bit of cleaning left to do this morning. Then, we are going to take one more spin around our favorite haunts in Hollywood to bid them farewell - for now. As Arnold Schwarzenegger is famous for saying, "I'll be back!"

March 15

Arrg! Just woke up after 2 days of packing and apartment cleaning. My body feels like I've been hit by a truck! Breakfast? Aspirin, a cup of strong coffee and a couple of cigarettes - then I'm going to stuff boxes, suitcases, toys etc. into my little Sienna van. It's going to be tying Scarlett O'Hara into a corset. Wish me luck.

March 16

Almost to Tucson Arizona! Long day of driving ahead.

3:22pm
OMG A drive- through Starbucks in Tucson! No parking meters. No walking. No Line to wait in. Haven't seen one of these in the 4 months I was in Los Angeles. Ain't life grand!

March 16

New Mexico rest stop. Talk about taking a quick smoke! I'll use a restroom later. Don't want a rattle snake to wander in while I'm taking care of business.

March 17

Two days and we've traveled 1,000 miles. Spending the night in Van Horn Texas. The kids are handling the trip wonderfully, although the strawberry Starbucks drinks make them talk about crazy stuff and go into giggling fits.

March 18

11:15 am
View from my driver's seat into back seat! LOL Driving with my rock rose plant on the console. Drove 600 miles yesterday and still in Texas. Damn big state. 800 miles to Chattanooga TN.

3:03 pm

Just crossed into Louisiana. Poor mom is so weary, she snapped her sunglasses shade upside down over her glasses. That dark line across her nose is not a shadow, it's the top of the upside down shades. LOL

9:57 pm
A semi just passed us going 75mph only he didn't straighten up his wheel. He ran off the road straight into the trees in the median with a loud crash. His tractor jack knifed and rolled. I had to swerve right to avoid flying debris. Talk about shaking! My teeth are chattering. Will google the wreck in Lauderdale Mississippi tomorrow. Hope the driver is OK.

March 19

Jack and Lucy checking out our La Quinta Inn room in Tuscoloosa Alabama last night. Called the state police this morning in Mississippi where the accident happened and they said the semi driver was going to be OK! Amazing!!

ScriptGirrl

Hollywood Trip Wrap-Up

2010-03-12T07:32:00.000-08:00

I noticed while looking back at my posts on this blog, that I have spent most of my time posting on Facebook and neglecting this lovely blog. Not a big problem, but my friends who aren't on Facebook are missing all of the fun I'm having in Hollywood. Not to mention that when my Facebook posts disappear, they'll be a lot harder to find than if I had posted here and I want to remember a lot of those events.

So, in order to get this blog up to date, I'm going to transfer my Facebook posts into this post.

The following posts are pulled from my Facebook:

February 16, 2010

Just chatted with Jamie Gertz in Los Angeles. Remember her from the movies Lost Boys, and Twister? Talk about a bubbly, fun personality!

February 17, 2010

Damn. Every corner I turn in Hollywood this week, I end up meeting Stars. Today I met Angela Basset who played numerous roles, including Tina Turner in 'What's Love Got To Do With It', and Rosa Parks in "The Rosa Parks Story". Plus, she co-starred with Whitney Houston in 'Waiting To Exhale'. I also met her husband, Courtney B Vance who stars in the TV series 'Flash Forward', and who played in numerous movies including 'Hamburger Hill'. I'm having too much fun in Hollywood!

February 18, 2010

Loving Hollywood! I was formally introduced to Pascaline Bongo today! It was so weird talking with her while her bodyguards were hulking around. I think she tops the movie stars I've met so far. Who is she? Her's a mini bio: Pascaline Mferri Bongo Ondimba (born April 10, 1956) is a Gabonese politician. Under her father, President Omar Bongo, she was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1991 to 1994 and Director of the Cabinet of the President of the Republic from 1994 to 2009. Since 2009, she has been High Personal Representative of the Head of State. Her father was the President of the country of Gabon in West Africa until his death last year. Her brother is the president of the country now. Wild, eh?

February 20, 2010

Took my kids and mom to Griffith Park in Los Angeles today to check out the pony rides and train ride. Jack loved the train ride the best. Lucy loved the pony ride best. It was a blast watching them having so much fun! Posted 11 pictures of our adventures at the Park.

My daughter Lucy

My son Jack

February 23, 2010

I just met Mr T in Hollywood. Got his autograph too!

February 27, 2010

Still trying to meet people who can get my screenplay into the right hands. It turns out that one of the physicians I work with, Dr. Michael Engelberg, has written scripts, belongs to WGA - 'Writer's Guild West', and produced the movie 'the Puppet Masters' in 1994 which starred Donald Sutherland. He has tons of connections and chats with me quite frequently about 'the Business'. I ordered a Puppet Masters movie poster which I will have him autograph before I head back to Tennessee. I alsoI have his email address and phone number for when my screenplay is ready for Hollywood. Ya can't have too many Hollywood connections. The picture below is of Michael Engelberg.

March 3, 2010

Saw Martin Short outside a Hollywood Starbucks today. Not sure who the woman with him is. Can anyone identify her?

March 10, 2010

I am in seventh heaven! I just met Dustin Hoffman in Los Angeles. He chatted with me and then sang me two stanzas from Donnie Brooks song, Memphis basically saying that the girls in Tennessee are smarter and prettier than other girls in the US. LOL What a lovely hoot he is!!

Downloaded the song Dustin sang to me and turned it into a ringtone for my phone. I'm calling it, 'Our Song'. LOL How funny is that?! When my phone rings, I'll be reminded of my Hollywood adventures. I gotta get my screenplay finished.

That's about it for now. Gotta get ready for work. Will update more later.

Script Girrl

Started On My Novel Today

2010-02-13T10:44:00.000-08:00

KILLING JEWELS

(Novel of the Screenplay)

She floated in a silent sea of darkness. Nothing could touch her here. No sound. No light. No fear.

Now, why had she thought of fear?

She tried to concentrate. Tried to remember what she had been afraid of. It was something very important. Something that she needed to remember, but her brain felt sluggish and thick and the memory floated just out of her reach and she was too tired to try and pull it in. It was better to just relax and float away in this wonderful, black, cozy sea where fear and pain didn't exist.

OK Guys. This is it. Above is the beginning of my novel. I'm putting my screenplay, 'Killing Jewels' into novel form in order to flesh-out the characters and plot in my head. I'm thinking that my screenplay will be more fluid and organic if I have the character's deepest thoughts and feelings in my head. Putting them into a novel will definitely bring out their deeper characters.

Gotta run. I have a screenwriter's workshop to attend today at Universal Studios.

Script Girrl

Another Laid-Back Day

2010-01-02T19:43:00.001-08:00

So much for big plans today.

All four of us have been fighting a virus since Tuesday night.

Lucy was first with a 102 degree temp. Jack started with his elevated temp the next evening and he woke up vomiting. I wasn't too concerned about his vomiting one time, because he has a very easy gag reflex. If you chew up food and open your mouth in front of him, he'll gag. OK That's a bit gross, and probably a bit sadistic to do to the poor kid, but it was funny to watch the day we accidentally discovered his gag reaction and me and Lucy just rolled on the floor in gales of laughter each time he'd look at the chewed up Oreo cookies in our mouths and gag. Before you start feeling sorry for the poor boy, know that he likes to wipe his snotty nose on my shirt, then he runs away laughing.

Anyway, both kids have been snotty and sneezy on and off since then. I never got the head cold symptoms, but I had chills, malaise, and dizziness on and off for three days. Mom went to the doctor and was diagnosed with bronchitis, so she got some antibiotics.

Fun way to start the New Year, eh?

Anyway, the kids seemed more perky last night so I thought we'd do the shopping at the Air Force Base today. That idea got shelved when I checked Jack's temp - 100.8 - lower than before, but not enough to go running around town.

So, the kids and mom hung out at home for another day and I made a much needed grocery run.

Lucy helped me mix up the ingredients for the kid's favorite - a homemade pumpkin pie. It's in the oven now and making the apartment smell 'homey'.

The kids had a nice bath and will lounge around in their PJs watching Gene Wilder in 'Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory'. Then, they'll eat pizza and pumpkin pie, and hit the bed. No naps today were had today, so I'm guessing they'll fall asleep quickly.

Afterwards, mom and I will a dinner of pork chops, and boiled cabbage and potatoes while we watch a couple of episodes of 'Ghost Hunters' - my latest addiction.

If everyone is well tomorrow we'll explore something interesting in California.

Script Girrl

Chattanooga v/s Hollywood

2010-01-01T11:00:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd blog a bit on the differences between living in Chattanooga and living in Hollywood California.

The lack of humidity is killing me. I never thought I'd say that. I figured that the lack of humidity would keep any extremes in temperature much more tolerable than the high humidity I'm used to in Tennessee. That much is true. The weather here is mild and wonderful. But, the lack of humidity is playing havoc with my skin and my hair!

My skin, which is usually very dry, is now extremely dry, requiring a ton of skin moisturizers - if I don't want to blow away with the first breeze. And my hair is becoming depressing.

I have spent years using Pert shampoo because it weighs my hair down thus keeping the frizzys minimal while allowing it to 'poof' out a bit and keep a lovely bounce. The lack of humidity in Hollywood has taken every bit of bounce out of my hair so it lays very flat to my head. And, it is loaded with electricity which pulls it even closer to my head - if that's even possible. It looks like I'm wearing a tight 'hair cap'.

For the first time in my life, I actually purchased a shampoo for fine/limp hair in order to puff it up. LOL Hopefully this stuff works.

Hollywood has virtually no bugs or spiders and very few birds that sing. The birds I see mostly are Ravens, Pigeons, and an occasional seagull or hummingbird. When I walk outside in Chattanooga I can hear the birds singing. In Hollywood, I have to stand quietly on my balcony and strain my hearing to even pick up the occasional bird chirp. On the other hand, there are tons of squirrels here and the one that comes to my balcony everyday to eat the bread and peanuts I put out, is friendly enough to take a bit of food from my hand. So, I do have a little bit of contact with nature.

As for bugs, I have seen 1 lady bug, 3 gnats, and 1 bee since I've been in Hollywood. No spiders, until last week...

I was straightening up the stuff on top of my dresser when I came across a spider. Having not seen a spider in a couple of months, I actually stood there in shock for a minute staring at him. Then, as I usually do, I trapped him in a cup and took him outside to release him. He ran like hell when I let him go.

Then, I got to thinking. There are no spiders around here. Even my co-workers say that they don't see spiders. My guess is that my little spider had hitched a ride in one of my packed boxes from Tennessee and was hanging around in my bedroom lamenting the lack of 'bug food'. That means I released the poor guy into a hostile environment where he'll have trouble finding bugs to eat, and will probably end up being a raven's dinner.

Poor little country spider!

I miss the friendliness of Southern people. The people in Hollywood are extremely anti-social unless they know you, and even then you can still feel a cool reserve under the smiling surface. People will actually ignore you most of the time if you make a passing comment in an elevator or while standing in line to buy something.

In my wildest dreams I'd never have thought I'd say this, but I miss the security of knowing that if I was attacked by someone in a mall parking lot in Tennessee, there would most likely be at least one 'good 'ole boy' around to come to my rescue. In Hollywood, the chances are that no one would physically help me or even call the police for assistance. No one wants to get involved. No one 'sees' anything.

Trying to find a parking spot is a nightmare in Hollywood, and you have to pay at most places to park. And I've found only one 'drive thru' store - a Kentucky Fried Chicken place.

Now for the good stuff...

I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason.

For the last couple of years I have been working sporadically on what I believe is a 'killer' screenplay. I've taken classes on screenwriting through UCLA Online, I've taken workshops, and I've studied a ton of books on the 'craft of screenwriting'. Between knowing that I'm an excellent writer with a twisted enough imagination to produce something 'fresh', and having my last UCLA instructor, (a man who has three of his own movies on the shelves of Blockbuster), tell me that my writing has excellent potential, I have a dream of seeing my screenplay on the 'Silver Screen' one day.

Pumped up with belief in my screenwriting talent, I'd toyed with the idea of going to Hollywood and making some connections with people who could get my screenplay into the right hands for production. Surprisingly enough, those hands have appeared, and in the strangest way...

We were in Hollywood for a couple of weeks when my mother informed me that we had 'family' in Los Angeles who I'd never met. My uncle Eddie, (my mother's brother), was killed by a drunk driver when I was young. I'd never met him but his wife and their 4 children live in California.

Mom arranged a meeting with my aunt and and 3 of those children - my first cousins. It turned out that one of those children, Denise, works with Penny and Garry Marshal, both of who are film directors and producers. In fact, the other day while Denise was packing up the Marshal's crystals and valuables, because they'd sold their home to Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise and his wife dropped by the home to bring Tom Hanks some lunch and chat.

OK So Denise is a name-dropper, but her working life revolves around working for the Marshalls, attending movie premiers, and going to parties that are loaded with movie stars! She definitely has connections!! And, we get along wonderfully! Hell. The trip to Hollywood was worth it just to make the Denise connection. Thats a powerful connection, and worth the entire trip to Hollywood!!

I'm also going to make another connection that has potential...

Ernie Contreras, the UCLA instructor who loved my work, suggested I take a method writing class by a man named Jack Grapes. Grapes teaches a coveted writing class that is attended by all kinds of writers, known and unknown. He also has a couple of publications he puts out which contain work by his students.

I signed up for the class which is held in his office building on Wilshire Blvd. only 10 blocks away. The class starts in 2 1/2 weeks and lasts until 2 weeks before I head back to Tennessee. How perfect is that timing? Coincidence? Fate?

Who knows.

I'm excited about learning this new 'method' approach to writing. Ernie says the class is wonderful and that he still uses techniques he learned from Jack Grapes. That, combined with the possibility of making more 'connections' with people who can get my screenplay into the right hands, works for me.

I'm stoked!!

We have 12 weekends left to explore Hollywood. The 13th weekend will be spent packing to go home. That's a lot of fun and exploring in front of me!

Enough blather. Got to get to work on my writing. I'll try and keep everyone posted. Hopefully, with smaller blog entries. LOL

Script Girrl

Calling 911

2009-12-05T09:18:00.000-08:00

Since I've been in L.A., some of my habits have changed. One of them is that I have been using my DVR to tape the 'Ghost Hunter' and 'Ghost Hunter Academy' series so I can watch them at my leisure. I've always been intrigued with the idea of hauntings and ghosts, so watching those shows helps to feed my supernatural craving.

Last night, I was at a particular spooky part of one of those 'Ghost Hunter' shows which was covering the haunting of Mark Twain's home when I decided to pause it and grab a smoke on the balcony.

It was 2:15 am - early Saturday morning. Chilly. The street below was quiet except for the sound of an occasional car traveling down Wilshire Blvd. and the 'click' 'click' sounds of a lone woman's heels as she walked by on the sidewalk below.

Still in a scary state of mind from my ghost hunter show, my thoughts took a turn toward the gruesome side, and I wondered what I would do if the woman below was attacked and started screaming. Would I yell and try to scare the attacker away? What if he had a gun and shot it in my direction? Maybe I'd just yell and drop down so he wouldn't know which balcony I was on. Then I'd scurry into the house and dial 911.

The sound of the woman's heels faded away as she turned the corner at the end of the street, and I smiled at my over-active imagination. Hell. My street was safe. Right?

Relaxing, I took another drag off my cigarette, and I could swear I heard a faint yelp of a woman in fear. The sound came from the 'gated' garage of the apartment building directly across from my balcony. I leaned over my balcony's rail and strained to hear more, and felt a bit silly in the process thinking that my imagination was really running away on me.

Then, the woman yelled again. Louder this time, and the angry yelling of a man's voice chimed in behind it.

I wasn't imagining things. There was definitely an altercation going on between a woman and a man. Maybe a lover's quarrel? A drunken argument? I tried to rationalize it into something non-scary. Non-threatening. But, my gut told me that this argument was full of potential danger and violence for that woman. There was too much anger in the man's voice, and too much fear in the woman's.

Then, she screamed louder. A piercing, fear-filled scream that echoed through the garage, bounced off the buildings, and set my heart racing.

She was terrified!

I ran inside, dialed 911 and carried the phone back on to the balcony:

"911 Operator," a male voice said. "Do you have an emergency?"

"Yes. There's a woman screaming in the parking garage across the street, and a man yelling at her."

"Can you give me an address where the screaming is coming from?"

I gave him my address and was describing what the building across the street looked like when the woman screamed again.

"Oh my God! Did you hear her scream?"

"Yes." He said. "Hold on a minute."

He gave the patrol cars the building description and told them about the scream he'd heard.

"I want you to stay on the phone until the patrol cars arrive."

"No problem."

"Can you hear anything going on?"

I didn't have to strain to hear this time. The woman was moaning, "Oh God! Oh God! No!" Then, she let out the loudest, blood curdling scream of them all, and fell silent.

I related all of that to the 911 operator. He couldn't hear the words she'd moaned, but he'd definitely heard the scream and relayed that information to the patrol cars who were at that moment racing down my street with their lights flashing.

Five police cars arrived, and the policemen entered the garage with their guns drawn. They searched for half an hour but came up empty handed. My phone rang near the end of their search. It was the 911 operator asking me if I'd mind talking with the officers.

I stepped out the front door and found my own building's night security guard standing outside watching the police as they checked out the garage across the street.

While I waited on the police chat with me, I learned that my own security guard had heard the screaming, along with a woman who was sitting on her second floor balcony, working on her lap-top. Neither one of them had reported the screams to the police. They'd just hung around listening to the screaming and yelling. They had chalked it up to a drunken argument and let it go.

I had heard the terror in that woman's voice. The uncontrolled anger in the man's. I knew that this was something more than a drunken argument or a lover's quarrel.

I told the police the same things I'd told the 911 operator, and the patrol cars left.

Half an hour later, three patrol cars came back. One of them stayed, sitting at the end of the apartment building with only his parking lights on. I'm guessing so he could see the entire building and both of its gated garages to watch who came and went.

I wonder what happened to that woman. Was she knocked out and stuffed into the trunk of one of the cars? Forced to be quiet and taken to one of the apartments? Where did that couple disappear to so quickly and quietly.

Once again, my gut tells me that she wouldn't want to be alone with that man. She was much too terrorized.

It's a scary thought that someone could scream like that, and nobody will call 911. How desensitized can a person get, living in a big city, that they can ignore someone who is in danger and screaming for help?

If anything ever happens to me like that, I'm going to take the advice I heard in a casual conversation at work the other day. The woman was discussing being raped and said that the rape center teaches that you should never yell, "Help" when you are in danger of physical violence. You should yell, "Fire!"

I thought that advice was silly at the time, but I bet if the woman in the garage had yelled fire, the security guard from my building might just have reported it to emergency services.

On a lighter note, today we are attending a birthday party 98 miles away for a family member I've never met. It turns out that my dead uncle's wife, and her children - my cousins, live in California. I've never met that side of the family and they are excited to meet us. So, we are attending a 7 year-old's birthday party at a pizza joint to meet everyone, followed by dinner at one of the relative's homes.

My kids have never gone to another child's birthday party, so this should be fun and interesting for them. I'm hoping they will give the little boy his birthday presents without screaming and crying about having to give wrapped gifts away. Possession is 10 tenths of the law in the mind of a 4-year old.

Hmmm. I'll probably have to buy them each a present too if I want to make the 'present-giving' transaction go smoothly.

That's it from West Hollywood today. Tune in next time for what I'm sure will be more exciting adventures!

View From My Balcony

Street Level Garage is Where The Screams Came From

Script Girrl

The Green Lantern Movie Filming

2009-11-26T07:52:00.000-08:00

Had a totally fun and excellent day yesterday!

Pulling into a parking lot off Wilshire Blvd, I noticed people milling around in busy little groups and policemen were on every corner to direct traffic. On looking a bit closer, I noticed that one of the groups had a huge movie camera.

Everyone was there to film a single scene for a new Green Hornet movie, starring Seth Rogan. (It's amazing to watch the steady, busy stream of traffic that travels Wilshire Blvd. to suddenly stop when the police redirect it for a movie scene to be shot. Suddenly, Wilshire Blvd. is traffic-free and quiet as a ghost town and then, the movie action begins.)

When you watch the video, you will see a policeman on a motorcycle fly by on my side of the street, followed by a car that is filming the scene with camera equipment strapped to it. On the far side of the street a motorcycle with an asian actor flies by. He's the one that's being filmed. Diagonally across the street is a large camera crew who are also filming the scene with a stationary camera.

The shot ends when the motorcyclist reaches the end of the street and a man from the stationary camera crew yells 'cut!'. The biker then makes a U-Turn and flies back by me.

This is the video I got with my iPhone of that shot:

All in all, it was very exciting for me to watch a movie scene being shot!

Hmmm. I should invest in a really nice movie camera. Something fairly portable that I can whip out at a second's notice to shoot the interesting stuff that pops up in L.A.

Afterwards, I went to the library and got an official Los Angeles Library card so I can check out books.

Later, while my mother was in CVS picking up some needed odds and ends I hung out in the van with the kids. It was when I popped out of the van to catch a smoke that I noticed the huge building across the street. It was the Writer's Guild of America West building!! That's the place where I'll be registering my script when it's complete. And hopefully, the place were I join the writer's guild as soon as I sell a piece of my work.

Not an exciting video for non-writers, but exciting for me - here is the Writer's Guild of America West on Fairfax Ave in West Hollywood, directly across from the original Farmer's Market:

That was enough excitement for one day, so we grabbed a few items from Ralphs Market for our Thanksgiving dinner the next day, and headed home. The kids went to bed early and I stayed up watching a couple of episodes of 'Ghost Hunter' and nibbling on cold crab meat left over from my Birthday dinner.

Lovely Day!

Script Girrl

Powerless in L.A.

2009-11-24T09:49:00.000-08:00

I had a very interesting birthday yesterday.

First thing yesterday morning, I received a call from my nursing agency and was informed that my long awaited California nursing license had been issued! Yeah!! Starting next Monday I can start working and making some money.

I was also informed during that morning call that I needed to take another pee drug test. The pre-employment drug tests had to be current within 1 month of starting work, and because my nursing license was delayed I needed to take another drug test.

The drug testing lab was 7 miles away in Burbank California, and what an interesting, lovely drive. We passed by the Universal studio lot, Warner's Brother's Lot, and NBC's Lot. I couldn't believe how huge those lots are! And the mountainous backdrop was magnificent!!

I can't wait until I have enough money to spare to take the different studio tours.

As we drove past NBC studios, we saw a super long line of people who were waiting to attend the Jay Leno show. Here is a short video of that:

Next, I googled a Walmart location for mom and we drove to Van Nuys for that. I picked up a 5-cup Mr Coffee pot to brew my Gevalia coffee since I've run out of Tassimo discs. I don't know if I'm just spoiled on the taste of Tassimo, or maybe having having to use generic half and half from Ralph's Grocery store (they don't have the Land O' Lakes or Mayfield half and half I'm used to), but the coffee I brewed wasn't nearly as pleasing as I remember it to be. I guess I need to buy some Tassimo discs. Love that coffee!!

Then we went grocery shopping at Ralph's and I had a wonderful Birthday dinner in mind. We picked up needed items that we were low on; all of the fixin's for Thanksgiving dinner; and my Birthday dinner items; corn on the cob, potatoes and a masher to make real mashed potatoes with melted cheese on top; and two gigantic lobster tails.

I left the market with visions of my lovely Birthday dinner and a growling stomach. I had barely eaten earlier and was famished.

As we pulled out of the market's garage I double checked to see if my head lights were on because it seemed darker than usual outside. Then I got to the first traffic light and realized that there was no light! All of the traffic lights were out and the street was dark. Cars were backed up, and surprisingly were taking turns letting each other go.

The power was out on several city blocks!

When we pulled up to the garage door, it was stuck partially open. I guess the power went out when someone was trying to open it. We were informed by a man standing by the door that the maintainance guy was inside, opening it manually.

Once we got inside the garage, we had a single emergency light to use to unload groceries and the kids. Then we went on a 'Twilight Zone' walk inside the building, which was only lit up with 'exit' lights. It took a full 10 minutes to find the stairwell.

The stairwell was totally dark and we had to lug heavy bags of groceries up to the forth floor in pitch black darkness, which we tried to light with an iPhone light.

We made it to the fourth floor but couldn't find our apartment. Back and forth we walked, looking and looking. Poor 4-year old Jack was dragging a bag which held an 11 pound turkey, while he held the aluminum turkey roasting pan in the other hand.

Finally, a resident guided us to an unmarked door which connected the two apartment buildings. On the other side of that door we finally found our apartment.

We lit candles, unloaded the groceries and waited. For entertainment, we hung out on the balcony watching people walk the sidewalks in the dark. We kept hearing helicopters and sirens in the distance and I couldn't help but speculate on the possibility of increased crime and looting in the cover of darkness.

The kids fell asleep on the living room rug, all snug with pillows and blankets and I finally put them in their beds by 10pm.

Giving into my growling stomach, I began shoveling cereal into my mouth. My Birthday dinner would have to wait. Halfway through that bowl of cereal, the lights came on.

Mom went to bed and I stayed up celebrating the last two hours of my Birthday watching Ghost Hunters on TV and washing down a decent sized piece of cheese danish with a cold glass of milk.

Tonight we eat lobster!

Script Girrl

Find Out What Your Moon-Sign Plant Is

2009-11-21T08:34:00.000-08:00

For those of you who like to dabble in the metaphysical arena, you can calculate your moon sign and find out what your moon sign plant is. My plant turned out to be perfect for me! The only glitch is that it is technically a shrub which can grow 4ft tall and up to 8ft wide. LOL. The good thing is that the little shrub will thrive in my yard as Chattanooga is in its growing zone.

Here's a picture of what the blooming flowers will look like. Those 5 little purplish dots look like the witches star to me. Funny, eh? Here's more about the Orchid RockRose...

Gotta run and get ready for my little screenwriting class.

ScriptGirrl

Just Chillin'

2009-11-20T20:05:00.000-08:00

Still living the lazy life in West Hollywood while I wait for my California Nursing License to be issued. The company is still paying my rent, so I have no complaints - except for I'd like a bit more cash flow for sight-seeing and new clothes.

Tomorrow I will attend my first screenwriter's workshop at CBS studios. The workshop is on 'finding your voice' for writing scripts. It should be interesting. The woman teaching it, Jen Grisanti, has some killer credentials and connections in the Television industry.

Networking. Networking. Networking.

As for Los Angeles, I'm starting to get a bit of a 'feel' for the people. The rules I've learned so far are this:

Avoid eye contact and needless banter with strangers:

People here aren't friendly and talkative in Los Angeles like they are in Tennessee. My mother still hasn't grasped this concept. When you are shopping in a store, and walk in front of someone who is perusing the shelves, don't say 'excuse me'. Nobody will acknowledge your comment. They just ignore you. Which also means that they don't say 'excuse me' either when they cut you off with a grocery basket or squeeze their grocery cart in between you and the meat case while you are deciding on a piece of meat to buy.

Even in the laundry room of my building, nobody will start a conversation with you and if you comment on something, most people will grunt in response or say as little as possible and then ignore you.

I'm guessing that 'keeping to yourself' is a protection thing for people living in such big cities with such high crime rates.

For a couple of days I kept saying 'excuse me' but then I just dropped it. And to tell you the truth, it's kind of nice just tooling around in the stores, walking in front of people and not continually apologizing. Add that to my already growing mistrust of what is really going on in other people's minds, and keeping to myself feels very comfortable and safe.

Watch out for pedestrians when driving:

San Francisco was a hundred times worse, but pedestrians in Los Angeles also don't pay much attention to traffic lights. When the light turns green for cars to go, pedestrians still cross the street - and leisurely so. They walk in front of moving cars and don't speed up their pace. It's up to the drivers to stop and let them walk. I learned this the hard way when I almost mowed a man down. You should have seen him jump. And, the look of surprise on his face would have broken me up in laughter if my heart hadn't been skipping beats.

No Drive-Through Starbuck's

Getting a cup of Starbuck's coffee is a chore since I haven't yet found one in Los Angeles that has a drive through window. It is usually hard as hell to find a parking space and when you do, it's usually at least two blocks from where you are headed and the meters cost a minimum of $1.00/hr. I have actually passed 2 or 3 Starbuck's before I've found one where I can pull over and park.

This doesn't sound like a big problem to most coffee drinkers, but my family and friends know of my addiction to Starbuck's and will understand my irritation with the lack of drive-through windows.

One thing good about moving across 3 time zones in bedtime. I was very lax in Tennessee and my daughter Lucy would sometimes still be awake at midnight - even though she was in her bed. The time change has worked magic there. I put the kids to bed by 8pm (which would have been 11pm Eastern time), and they fall right to sleep. Then, mom and I eat dinner and watch a movie or two in the wonderful, kid-free silence. Ahh. The Bliss!

Speaking of bedtime, it's 8:02 pm now and I need to put the kids to bed. Then it's open hot roast beef sandwiches and Dianne Keaton in 'Baby Boomer'. Mom has never seen that one. She's going to love it.

I'm thinking a hot fudge sundae for desert. Mmmm...

Later guys!

Script Girrl

Getting Into A Routine

2009-11-17T08:01:00.000-08:00

Finally starting to get used to the time change. With daylight savings time, we lost 4 hours and we've been exhausted by 9pm Pacific time, which translates into 1am Eastern time.

Had a bit of a delay in starting work. It seems that the nursing board is running about 2 weeks longer than usual to issue temporary nursing licenses due to cut backs of employees at the board, and at the fingerprinting place where they check to make sure that you're not a felon. My temporary license normally would have been back by last week, but it hasn't come through yet.

What that does is changes my start date at work from the 16th to the 30th. Two extra weeks of sight-seeing and relaxing time! Works for me!! Especially since the agency agreed to keep paying my rent for those two weeks.

Checked out the Beverly Mall and was a bit disappointed. I was told that the mall was 8 stories tall. Technically, that's true. But, 5 of those stories are the parking lot below the mall. I have to admit that the real 3 story mall is beautiful. The only glitch is that the stores are high-end with places like Macy's and Coach, so things are a bit expensive.

The top floor has a movie theatre and the food court along with quite a few shops. The place is beautiful inside but I can't afford to buy much. Although, I did buy an expensive pair of boots at Aldo's and I have my eye on a leather hand bag in the Coach store that would go wonderfully with those boots to the tune of $345. Ouch!

My normal attire of jeans works fine here, but the Tennessee t-shirt look doesn't. So, I'm buying nice shirts and blouses instead, and cinching some of those with a belt. And, I'm wearing make-up. Sheesh. What's the world coming to? I'm starting to look girlie. Eeeww!

Scoped out the metaphysical stores and found one that has every herb and oil you can imagine. It's set up like a small pharmacy, but with those herbs instead. Stuff people use for casting spells and such. I like candles and figured that it wouldn't hurt to work on a spell that would help me write (creativity) and sell (financial success) my screen play. So, I told the woman who runs the store what I was going for and she chose the candle with the the right colors for a success/creativity spell and 'dressed' with the appropriate herbs and oils. Taking the moon phases and planets into consideration, I will start my spell work tomorrow.

The weather here is fabulous. All of the trees are green and the temperatures mild at night and warm during the day.

Saw someone who was either wealthy or famous or both, a couple of days ago. He was sitting at an outdoor cafe that was a couple of blocks off of the main strip. He was attended by two men, one who stayed inside the wine/food shop and kept constant vigil on passers-by, and the other who intermittently would either sit with the man in dark glasses, or hover not far from his table. The waiter made a big deal waiting on the man, bringing out wine and lying it across his white-towel covered arm for the man's approval.

I had parked in front of the cafe and left my mom and two kids in the van while I walked the 2 blocks to Starbucks and got our drinks. Parking is a pain in the ass here, not to mention expensive at $2 to $8 an hour, depending where you park.

After I got the drinks, mom and I leaned against the van sipping them while trying to figure out who the guy in dark glasses was without being obvious about looking. I couldn't get a pic without being obvious, so I left him to his privacy. It was fun watching, though.

West Hollywood feels very safe and cozy. But, when you start driving towards the city proper, the buildings grow taller and you begin to notice bars in windows and unsavory characters wandering the streets. We pretty much stay in West Hollywood except for a trip to Toys R Us, and the military commissary and Walmart for my mom. I always breathe a sigh of relief when we get back into the West Hollywood/Beverly Hills areas.

The only thing missing for me is quiet time for writing. I woke up at 6am this morning and quietly closed the bedroom door so as not to wake my mother while I made coffee and grabbed a quiet hour of writing. But, before the coffee was done, mom popped out and turned on Fox news - which she stays glued on 24/7 at her home in Georgia.

I HATE NEWS! It's depressing to me and full of propaganda. I normally avoid it at all costs. I can't escape for any decent amount of time on the balcony to write because my mom chain smokes and practically lives on the balcony. Within 5 minutes of her waking up, Jack got up to play with his new Leggo set. And of course, Lucy was up a few minutes later.

I'm going to find a cafe or use the lovely patio by the pool to grab my writing time. Hmmm. I wonder if there's a candle and a spell that will make my family sleep until 8pm? LOL

Well, I'm off to enjoy another lovely day...

Script Girrl

First Day In Our Hollywood Apartment

2009-11-10T10:00:00.000-08:00

We moved into our apartment in West Hollywood yesterday morning, and it was everything and more that I'd dreamed of. It is in a wonderful, safe area in L.A., the apartment is cozy and beautiful, and the balcony view is spectacular! Not to mention that we are close to tons of cool stores and things to do.

The day was a flurry of activity on top of Jack waking up with a temperature that would fluctuate up to 105 degrees!

We arrived and the furniture guys had already gained admittance to our apartment from the maintainence guy and were bringing our furniture in. Right after they left, the cable guy showed up to install our phone, wireless internet, and of course, cable TV to the tune of $129 per month!

While the cable guy was here, I grabbed the maintenance guy and had him light the pilot light for our gas fireplace, and fix the door bell so it would ring and fix the kids bathroom door so it would close and stay closed.

We'd skipped breakfast trying to get to the apartment before the moving guys came, and ate left over cold pizza from the night before to keep our blood sugars up. By 5 pm we were settled in, unpacked, and starving.

I had no idea where to buy groceries in a big city because you don't see grocery stores sitting in little shopping centers like you do in Tennessee. All you see are store fronts in tall buildings. I figured I would have to shop in a little grocery store on a street corner or hit the Farmer's Market.

On my way out, I asked a guy by the elevator where the closest grocery store was.

"Just go to the corner, turn left and you'll see Ralph's Grocery store two blocks down Wilshire ave on your left". He said.

Ralphs? I thought. Sheesh, sounds like a small grocery store.

"Is it a decent sized store?" I asked.

He looked at me like I'd come from another planet. "It's Ralph's!" He said. And it came across as, "Duh! It's Ralph's!!

So I drove down Wilshire and saw Ralph's on my left. I turned left, following the cars in front of me and entered a double level garage. I parked and followed the other people, entered an elevator, went up one floor and walked into one of the largest grocery stores I'd ever been in!

Reminiscent of Publix Grocery store, they had tons of regular and exotic foods, a huge produce area, wine, beer and alcohol, a coffee shop, a huge bakery, and an even larger meat section with a butcher who'd cut meat for you.

I was in the store for a couple of hours and spent $380! Remember I had to buy everything!! Condiments, spices, staples, a laundry basket, kitchen implements etc. I loved the store!

Driving home, I came down our street which has two apartment complexes, each one having two entrances to locked garages. You have to push a button to open the iron gate and enter the garage.

It was dark, so I drove up to the gate and tried clicking my garage opener so the gate would raise and let me in. Nothing! It didn't move. I thought that maybe it was broken.

Then, luckily a car was coming out. I waited for the gate to raise and the car to exit, and then started up the ramp quickly to beat the gate shutting. I was almost to the gate when I realized the garage didn't look familiar.

I braked and let the gate shut.

It was a good thing I did, because it was the garage to the building next door and I'd have been trapped in there until someone else opened the gate. My ice cream and cold stuff would have 'bit the dust'.

I finally made it home with the food and we were too tired from all of the traveling, sight-seeing, and moving things to cook the Rib Eyes I'd gotten for mom's birthday - which was yesterday too. It was also the day that marked my dad's passing a year ago. So, mom ate cereal and I ate tuna fish on Ritz crackers, and potato chips with onion dip. We hit the bed early.

Jack slept with me last night because I wanted to keep a check on his fever. I woke up at 3am and he was still pretty hot. I gave him some children's Motrin and we went back to sleep. He woke up fever-free this morning.

Script Girrl

Hollywood Trip Memories I Don't Want To Forget

2009-11-10T08:52:00.000-08:00

My mother putting a $5 bill in what she thought was a change machine, but turned out to be a computer where you buy an hour of internet time for $5.

Lucy taking a drink, in our San Francisco Hotel room, from what she thought was a drinking fountain, but was in fact a boudit, which for those of you who are unfamiliar, is a "low-mounted plumbing fixture or type of sink intended for washing the genitalia, inner buttocks, and anus" after using the toilet. If I hadn't been so horrified, I'd have shot a picture of the event.

My mother going out to get a smoke and then rushing back into the room, demanding that I get out of bed, put my clothes on and go outside to see what she thought was some kind of UFO. Dressing in a hurry to her frustrated comments that "the light will be gone by the time you go to look at it", I finally snatched up the kids and hurried out in the dark country night to see the UFO. It turned out to be the side view of a hotel sign which was super high up in the air. The sign's post was hidden in the darkness of the night, so the lights appeared to hover in the sky.

The traffic coming into Los Angeles. Traffic on the interstate here is frightening. Talk about your butt hole tightening up! You couldn't have slipped a needle into mine!! Everyone drives super fast and changes lanes with inches to spare between them and the cars they slip in front of or behind - at 80 plus miles an hour! And, motorcycles will speed in excess of 100 mph traveling BETWEEN lines of traffic where there is no lane!!! We saw several close accidents where two cars would try to get into the same lane, and one where a motorcyclist was going over 100mph between the middle and fast lane and zipped behind a car that suddenly hit its brakes. The motorcycle rocked dangerously back and forth and I thought it was going to hit the concrete divider. Coming in the other direction, we saw two pile-ups and heard later that there was one death on the highway that night. We've got that show to look forward to...

The absolute, breath-taking beauty of the drive from San Franciso to Los Angeles down the west coast highway of US 101. Driving on the edges of sheer drop-off cliffs allowed us a wonderous view of giant rock formations, and the gorgeous blue/green Pacific Ocean coast. There's no way to describe the beauty. I was stopping so much to take videos and pictures that the first three hours we were on the highway, we travelled an average of 25mph! The barren beauty of Arizona ran a close second for breath-taking beauty with its cacti and rock formations.

My mother, so intent on catching up on the nicotine she was missing, walking nest to the van smoking anytime we'd be sitting in line at a fast-food drive through. Although, I didn't let her do that when we were in Santa Barbara and all of the cars in the drive-through were fancy, expensive jobs with 'taa taa' people in them.

Driving on gas fumes when we came into Santa Barbara. Beware if you drive through Arizona or down US 101 or US 1. Make sure you keep a full tank of gas because you will hit stretches of 100 miles at a time that are devoid of gas stations. I didn't fill up on the way to Santa Barbara because I had over a quarter of a tank and figured there'd be gas stations. Wrong! We were climbing steep cliffs with a van that was loaded with heavy stuff and my gas gauge was dropping fast. There were no gas stations and no pull-off areas. We made it to the top of the last cliff and were coasting down and the gas gauge was an eighth below empty. I don't know how we did it, but we made it to a gas station - probably on fumes.

The traffic on San Francisco's streets is horrendous. One way streets. You can't drive in a lot of the right hand lanes in most places during the day because those lanes are reserved for busses and taxis. You have to make right turns from the next lane over. People cross streets against lights and don't even look for cars coming. You have to maneuver around the people. You will get ticketed if you park on a hill and don't have your tires turned into the curb. Finding parking spots is hell, and we had to pay $2.00 every 20 minutes to park in an underground garage at Fisherman's Wharf.

The glamor and glitz of Hollywood Avenue, around the walk of fame, when we arrived on our first evening in Hollywood proper. Everything was bright and flashy, and people were dressed in all sorts of out-fits from fancy to bohemian. On every corner there were paper stand boxes selling maps of the 'Movie Stars Homes' for $5.00. Yes. I bought one.

The old fashioned elegance, glamor, and charm of our 'haunted' hotel room at the 'Queen Ann Hotel' in San Francisco.

The European comfort and charm of our room on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood at the 'Orbit Hotel'.

The absolute satisfaction and excitement of finally arriving at our destination - West Hollywood!

ScriptGirrl

Farmer's Market

2009-11-08T17:45:00.001-08:00

I'm in love with the original Farmer's Market in L.A.! They have everything from fresh meat and produce, to fresh cut flowers and bakery goods. Each shop is a seperate entity, and everything is outside but covered with a roof. Tons of ethnic specific eateries with tables everywhere. The market plus a multitude of famous shops, ware stands, bookstores, Starbucks, and restaraunts take up a full 2 city blocks. After spending a good amount of time there, mom had me take her to KMart. LOL I couldn't go in and ruin my Farmer's Market buzz.

West Hollywood

2009-11-08T08:41:00.000-08:00

We made it!

With all of the flurry of driving, checking in and out of motels, unloading and reloading my van every day to prevent people breaking into it, and sightseeing, I have been way to tired and busy to post anything. But now, I am slowing down because we are finally in West Hollywood and will be formally moving into our apartment tomorrow at 8am.

We arrived in West Hollywood on Friday and checked into a little hotel called The Orbit Hotel on Melrose Avenue. It's a very interesting little hotel and the cheapest in the area at $69 a night. It reminds me of a lodging place you'd find in Europe.

Set up like an old boarding house, it attracts mostly a young crowd of travelers who are mostly in their 20's and 30's. Half of them are Europeans. Words I'd use to describe the place and the people are bohemian, eclectic preppie, hippie etc.

Breakfast is free. In a huge kitchen, you help yourself to cereal and toast, and huge containers of butter and peanut butter are open with knives in them so you can dig some spread out for your toast.

There are two giant sitting rooms where the kids gather to chat, or watch whatever movie is playing, or bang away at their laptops. And last night the hotel sponsered a $5 spaghetti dinner followed by a well known DJ spinning oldies with free beer and wine for all.

This place ffeels very comfortable and friendly and the guests act like friends and socialize in the two big rooms or on the outdoor patios. The whole place is very old and quaint. A great deal for the price.

I gave my mother $5 last night to go downstairs and get change in the change machine so she could buy us some snacks and drinks. She came back saying she'd lost my $5 because she'd thought that one of the numerous 'pay per hour' computers which are scattered all over the hotel, was a change machine and she'd put my $5 in it and bought 1 hour of internet time.

I laughed my butt off, thinking of how she must have looked standing next to that computer waiting for change for her money.

A French guy was walking by while she was showing me the machine and we gave him the Internet time instead of wasting it.

Well, tomorrow we move into our apartment at 8am. Today we are going to check out the two big Farmer's Markets. The original Farmers Market, and then the new Farmers Market at the Grove. I believe that there is a free trollly car that takes you between the two markets, so we'll make use of that. Also, the markets are well known for attracting movie stars. I'm going to have to be observant as we walk around so I don't miss anything or anyone exciting.

I'll be posting pictures on all of these blog entries as soon as I download them onto my laptop.

Off for some relaxing fun!

Script Girrl

Hwy 1

2009-11-05T11:24:00.001-08:00

Car packed. Heading out towards Los Angeles via Hyw 1. I hear it is a very scenic route. We need to pick up the apartment keys on Saturday.

Day 8 - San Francisco (Queen Anne Hotel)

2009-11-05T08:06:00.000-08:00

Just spent our second night in the Queen Anne Hotel. What a lovely experience!

Two days ago, on our drive to San Francisco, I googled 'Haunted San Francisco' and discovered the Queen Anne Hotel. Supposedly the hotel is the most haunted in San Francisco. And room 410 is supposed to be the paranormal hot spot, followed by rooms 208 and 210.

I called to make a reservation for room 410 and discovered the price was an astronomical $249 per night! Outrageous!! But, before I hung up the man offered me the room for $149. Sold!!

We checked in Tuesday evening and I unloaded two of those transport carts full of suitcases from my van and checked in to the room. Then I parked my van in the hotel's parking lot thinking I was home free.

Not!

Later in the afternoon, I was told that the cars in the parking lot are frequently vandalized if anything is visable in it through the windows. Since I packed the van for a 4 month period, it was still over half loaded with stuff. I had to unload another full cart load of stuff, and then to be on the safe side, I parked in the loading zone in front of the hotel - hoping I wouldn't get a ticket.

We made it through the night without a ticket.

The next afternoon, I had repacked the van and was headed to it with the last load of suitcases in tow when the guy at the front desk stopped me and offered me a second night in the other haunted room. This one was more spectacular and expensive than the first and he offered it at $130 for one night! Sold again!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kil81iLH6yk

I unloaded the van and moved back in.

Haunted activities?

I took a ton of pictures inside the hotel and actually got what the ghost hunters call a 'ghostly orb' on two of the hallway pictures. The pictures were taken 8 hours apart, and both of the orbs were outside the door of our second room #210 in different positions on the door. I took a ton of pictures inside the room, and once again two of those pictures showed an orb.

Dust? Flash orbs? Who knows. I'll post those pictures as soon as I download them from my camera onto my Mac Laptop.

The first night in the hotel mom had a weird experience. She was walking down a flight of stairs when she felt someone tap her lightly on the shoulder. When she turned to look, nobody was there.

Also, by the hall mirror on the second floor where people say they have seen a ghostly woman gazing at her reflection and primping her hair, there is a cold spot unlike any other I've felt in the hotel.

This hotel is so well known for its paranormal activities that ghost hunters frequently book rooms here and the famous San Francisco Ghost Tour actually starts its walk in the lobby of the hotel each evening at 7pm.

Aside from the haunting stuff, I am in love with the hotel. It is absolutely gorgeous and throws you back into an earlier century with the decor. There are fireplaces everywhere. Sherry and cookies from 4-6pm in the lobby. Lovely continental breakfast. Very friendly and helpful staff. Except for worrying about my car being vandalized, it is a perfect, homey place to stay.

Mom had only one complaint...

She is an avid coffee drinker and cigarette smoker. Last night when she made one of her numerous trips downstairs to refill her coffee and pop out front of the hotel to smoke a cigarette, the guy at the desk made a comment that he was concerned at the amount of coffee she was consuming.

I'm thinking they were tired of refilling the coffee container and having her drain it dry with her big, thermal coffee cup.

After he hit her with the coffee thing, he asked if she would please step to the side of the hotel and not smoke out front because the woman at the front desk keeps her window open and the smoke was coming in and bothering her.

I laughed my ass off when mom told me about all of that. How funny! She smokes so much and so often that she was driving the woman at the desk nuts with her smoke!!

Script Girrl

Day 6 - Sacramento

2009-11-04T10:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, we were finally able to relax a bit. We don't have to be back in Los Angeles until Saturday to pick up our apartment keys.

Because we left home a day later than planned, we had to make up extra milage each day in order to reach Sacramento California where I had to apply for my California nursing license.

Driving like a bat-out-of-hell on Monday, I reached the Nursing board office at 2:30pm. I breathed a sigh of relief but that sigh was premature. I was informed that I needed to get my finger prints scanned at a place that was 2 blocks away and that I needed to hurry because the scan place closes at 3:30.

Plenty of time, I thought. But, it was a full moon day and Murphy's Law was running rampant.

I arrived at the finger print office 15 minutes before it was going to close and was told that they took finger prints by appointment only and the woman doing the scanning was booked up and going to leave early at 3pm.

I pleaded my case, as I am good at doing. Moaning about traveling 3,000 miles in 5 days with two preschoolers and my mother, and saying that I needed to head out for San Francisco the same evening, swayed the woman in my favor. I would be next in line for fingerprinting.

Then, I saw the sign - "No Out of State Checks. No Credit Cards. Cash or Local Checks only!"

Crap. I didn't have enough cash on me!!

The woman directed me to a cash flow machine that was half a mile away via several turns.

I drove like a bat out of hell. Found the machine. Got my cash. Started back towards the finger printing place with 5 minutes left before they closed. And, got lost!!

I was driving so fast - stopping. Accelerating. Braking Hard. Making U-Turns. Did I mention cussing?!

I finally found the place, 10 minutes after the woman was supposed to leave. I jumped out of the van, rushed inside, and found the fingerprinting woman standing in the lobby, waiting on me.

Amazing! I was home free. I got finger printed and arrived back at the Nursing board and had an entire half hour to fill out my paper work. So I sat down and started writing. A satisfied smile on my face.

Then I came to the last part of the form for a temporary license issue and it asked for the name, phone number and address of the woman in Los Angeles who I was going to work for. That information was tucked safely in my suitcase, or so I thought.

I rushed to the parking lot and pulled the suitcase out of the van. The papers weren't in it!

Once again, frustrated and rushing, I furiously started unloading my van in the parking lot. Keep in mind that I have enough stuff in my van to get me through 4 months away from home. I pulled out suitcases, boxes of kitchenware, books, my electric guitar, hefty bags loaded with items and dirty clothes from the trip, and kids toys etc. I couldn't find the papers anywhere!!

Embarrassed by the fact that travel nurses and other people kept passing by my van and the huge pile of my things sitting in the parking lot, I quit searching 5 minutes before the board was scheduled to close for the day.

We were stuck in Sacramento for the night.

I repacked the van and started negotiating the massive trafficked roads looking for a motel. Two hours later we finally found one that looked safe. I unloaded the van and in that second search, found my papers.

The next morning went smooth as silk. I got to the Nursing board right after it opened, turned in my paperwork and and paid the fee. Then, I took a quick second trip back to the fingerprinting place. I had noticed that on my receipt they had left off the first letter of my first name. I thought it might just be an error on the receipt that didn't make it to the fingerprinting form which was submitted to the FBI. But, I didn't want to take any chances. It turned out to be a good thing that I checked. They had misspelled my name on the FBI form. Crap. That would have severely delayed me getting my temporary license.

With everything done and in order, we headed out to San Francisco.

That's another story...

Script Girrl

Day 4 - Arizona & California

2009-11-01T08:23:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that I travelled almost 775 miles yesterday!

Today, I'm hoping to get close enough to Sacramento California to be able to apply for my California license tomorrow. It's possible, but it will entail another very long day of driving and my mother's body is starting to protest the long hours of riding.

We spent last night in Tucson Arizona. We would have stopped earlier, but in between the large cities, there are absolutely no motels to stop at! I'm talking that you can go a hundred miles or more and not find a motel. The exits in between the big cities are so pitch black, eerily silent and desolate that I won't stop even for a quick smoke.

During the day yesterday, mom and I stopped outside of El Paso, at another one of those desolate exits. It was broad daylight and there was an abandoned dinner there that was roped off with a sign saying that they were closed for renovations.

Halfway through our cigarettes, a jeep that said, 'Border Patrol' turned down the dusty road in front of us. The policeman slowed to check us out and then waved and drove on. It was at that moment that I realized that we were a stone's throw from Mexico.

To be continued.....

(Sorry, time to hit the road for the day...

Script Girrl

Day 3 - Texas & New Mexico

2009-10-31T06:07:00.000-07:00

I spend so much of my energy on driving that when I finally slip into my motel room each night, I'm too exhausted to jump into my blog and write. I guess my little mobile, iPhone posts will have to suffice for now.

Several interesting things happened yesterday...

Already I have to get the kids ready and hit the road, so I'll just tell one. I'll come back later to elaborate on the others.

I was chilled out in the driver's seat chatting with mom and letting the cruise control do all of the work. The semi in front of me slowed down a bit, so I steered into the left lane to pass. I didn't even touch the gas pedal because I was cruisin' at 79 mph. which would move me past the truck at a good clip.

Suddenly, a car flew up behind the semi and was almost riding it's bumper. It had to be going 90mph. Then, before I could react, the car jumped in front of me and I swear there wasn't an inch between his back bumper and my front on. Then he shot down the road zipping back and forth between cars and lanes.

I've never seen anyone drive like that! I was so brain weary from all of the miles I'd driven, I didn't react beyond a surprised, "Ohh!" I didn't even get an adrenaline rush. I just kept on driving.

Gotta run and get the kids breakfast and hit the road again.

Script Girrl

11:50 AM

2009-10-30T11:51:00.001-07:00

Just entered Texas. The rain has stopped. Mom is in the Texas welcome center picking up a state map like she does when we enter each new state.

Speaking of mom, last night she stepped out of the hotel room for a smoke. A few minutes later she ran back in all excited babbling about a strange red light floating in the sky.

"I've never seen anything like it!" She said. "Hurry and come look before it goes away!"

We grabbed th kids and hurried to see the amazing light. It turned out to be the side view of a super high hotel sign. The pole supporting the sign was hidden from view by the darkness of a country night.

So much for her UFO siting.

Script Girrl

Day 2 - Louisiana & Texas

2009-10-30T08:35:00.001-07:00

Travelling through Louisianna in torrents of rain. Mom saw a UFO last night. Will tell that story later. Texting to blog via iPhone. Gotta get back on the road and past this storm cell which is huge.

Script Girrl

9:37 PM Central Time

2009-10-29T19:38:00.000-07:00

We didn't quite make my minimal goal of 600 miles per day. We only got to 437 miles before we received a gaggle of phone calls from concerned relatives about a dangerous thunder storm in Shreveport Louisiana where we were going to spend our first night.

Shreveport is about 175 miles west of Vicksburg Mississippi where we rented a room at a the Quality Inn. Once we got settled in, we checked out the weather channel and discovered that parts of I-20 near Shreveport had been closed down for flooding. They had received 14 inches of rain and are expecting another 10 inches during the night. High winds blew a church steeple onto a car, severely injuring the 57 year old driver. There are numerous auto accidents and almost continuous tornado warnings in Shreveport.

The town we are staying in is expecting some thunderstorms tonight, some possibly severe but nothing like further west on I-20. So, even though I wanted to put a couple hundred more miles behind us, it is probably good that we stopped. Just in case.

Otherwise, the drive earlier was quite scenic and pleasant, and the kids handled the lack of physical activity quite nicely.

We gained an hour today but my body is still running on Eastern Time.

Time for bed. I need some decent sleep for the long drive tomorrow.

Script Girrl

1:10 PM Central Time

2009-10-29T13:10:00.001-07:00

Just got on I-20 West in Mississippi.

Hit a Starbucks inside an Alabama Target store earlier. The only attendant was away at lunch. A Target employee was filling in for her. When I started to ask for an iced white chocolate latte, she stopped me after the word "iced" and said, "All I can do is pour you a regular hot coffee."

What's with that, Starbucks?

Script Girrl

8:04 AM Eastern Time

2009-10-29T08:04:00.001-07:00

Gone 100 miles through Tennessee, Georgia, and now in Gadston Alabama. Driving on the interstate here is like galloping a horse - major bumping.

Stopped at Krystal for breakfasts to go and so mom can reload her depleted nicotine level.

Script Girrl

Day 1 - Leaving Tennessee

2009-10-29T04:07:00.000-07:00

This is the day! We're heading out for California this morning.

After a good bit of discussion yesterday, my mother and I decided that we were exhausted from all the days of packing and preparation, not to mention me waking up yesterday puking my guts out and feeling like I was going to die - so we decided to post pone our trip until this morning.

We actually had piled into the van and started driving yesterday as I was determined to not let exhaustion and shakiness slow me down. But, my mother looked extremely worn out and was lamenting that she wished she could take a nap so I suggested we go back home and just chill out. She was easy to agree.

I stopped at Best Buy on the way back home and picked up a couple of pair of children's head phones so they could listen to their new DVD player without disturbing my mother's peace and quiet for reading on the trip. (Yep. I saw that frown on her face when I first turned on their DVD player and her sensitive ears were accosted by the noise).

I couldn't help myself. I picked up a pair of Bose Headphones for myself. Talk about killer, crystal clear sound?! OMG!!

Then, I stopped at Target and picked up several packages of coffee and chai tea for my Tassimo coffee machine - which was one of the first things I packed for the trip. I can't live without coffee, and next to Starbucks that Tassimo machine makes the best coffee and it only takes 30 seconds to brew a cup. In fact, Starbucks and Gevalia both make coffee that machine. I love it!

Anyway, it's 7am now and mom and the kids are awake and raring to start out on the trip so I need to close here so we can get on the road. We should be out no later than 8am. Probably earlier.

Those of you who say prayers - to whatever deity, please keep us in your prayers for a safe trip to and from California.

Script Girrl

Argg!

2009-10-28T10:10:00.000-07:00

Finished packing the van at 3am this morning and went to bed to catch what few Z's were left to catch.

A headache from hell woke me up at 6:30am. I popped two aspirin and laid back down to wait for their magic to work. Nausea began weaving its nasty web and a killer series of 'hot flashes' paraded through, each one leaving me in a drenching, cold sweat.

At first I thought I had food poisoning. But, then it occurred to me that I'd eaten only 5 bites of teriyaki chicken from the mall's Japanese stand in the food court, and a slice of bread at 2am. And the previous three days before that, I'd only eaten one evening meal of a 'big salad' and a third of a ham steak. I'd hardly eaten at all for 4 days!

Maybe my blood sugar was low. Maybe that's why I felt shaky, and headachy, and pukey. Maybe if I ate something...

Like a starving person, I ripped open a box of Nilla wavers and devoured 8 of them while leaning over the kitchen sink. Crumbs flew everywhere as I gnawed away at those cookies trying to chew them quickly into fast, digestible pieces and chasing each cookie with tap water. Ugg. I never drink unfiltered water. But, I felt absolutely horrible and was in a hurry.

Cookies down, I laid back down and propped my head up on 3 pillows. If I laid on just one, my headache hammered a lot harder.

I tried to think of peaceful things, but I had this feeling of sadness and thought about how I wouldn't see my 2 dogs and 2 cats for 4 months. I wouldn't sit in front of my lovely fireplace this winter, hammering out a bit of fiction out on my laptop. I wouldn't see the leaves on my oak trees turn brilliant shades of orange, red, and yellow. I wouldn't see my neighbors frown when they had to rake those leaves off of their own treeless yards. Yada, yada, yada.

Then I burped. Only it wasn't a regular burp. It was a cookie crumbs floating in gastric acid and water burp.

I jumped out of bed and ran toward the bathroom. I almost made it to the door when I started heaving. I had to cup my hands over my mouth to keep from leaving a watery trail. I made it to the sink and watched as my stomach contents splattered in the sink and slipped down the drain.

Tearful and shaky, I popped another aspirin and laid down on the couch in the den and let my mother take over. She cleaned the kitchen, fed the animals, and fed the kids.

Two hours later I woke up feeling myself except for a residual shaky feeling in my legs. I figure that although I'm not one who is easily shaken, the culmination of a heavy month of activities preparing for leaving home for travel nursing and the subconscious knowledge that I am leaving home and embarking on an adventure that may very well change my life path, finally came to a head and my body erupted.

Yes! I am still going to California. I'll just be leaving a bit later in the day than planned. We'll most likely be leaving this afternoon. If not, then we will leave tomorrow morning.

I'm still excited and stoked about the trip. I'm just a little sad to be leaving familiar things behind for 4 months.

Script Girrl

Last Minute Preparations

2009-10-27T06:17:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the day we start out for West Hollywood California!!

It has been a very hectic month trying to get my home and affairs in order so I can leave to do some travel nursing for the next few months. And because I have a decent chunk of my 401K money available, I have shopped my ass off...

I got a killer portable DVD player for the kids, and a neat contraption that suspends the player between the two front seats, using the rods of the front seat head rests for support. And I packed all of their movies into two DVD cases which zip closed. Those cases are great because you can quickly flip through them to find the movie DVD you want to watch. It took two cases to hold their 148 movies!! My god. That's way too many movies!!

I also got each of the kids a hand-held 'Leapster II' game system with one game for each of them. They can exchange the games and we can get more on the trip if they need further diversion.

I went nuts shopping for myself too. Those who know me, hang on to your panties.

I purchased several matching fancy bra/panty sets - from Victoria's Secret at $50 a set. And, I spent close to $200 on make-up at Clinique. You heard me right. I'm going to 'girl it up' in Hollywood. Expensive raspberry colored purse and matching wallet. Two new pair of shoes. Three new expensive scrub suites by 'Greys Anatomy' that have very, classy elegant tops. A new lab jacket to wear over my street clothes when I choose to work in those instead of in scrubs. (I'm going to get my name and title embroidered above the left pocket when I get to California). And, a raspberry colored 'Cardiology II' stethoscope.

Hmmm. Did I mention that I'm adopting pink and raspberry as my 'girly' colors?

Anyway, I have a few last minute chores to take care of and a ton of packing to do, so I'll drop back in tomorrow sometime to start my actual travel blog.

I am soo excited!!

Script Girrl

Van Preparation Day

2009-10-20T19:54:00.000-07:00

So much to do!

Had my van serviced for its 45,000 mile check up. New oil and air filter. All that jazz. Then, the Toyota company wanted to charge $250 - saying I needed new front brakes and my rotor turned. I declined and took the van to Midas Muffler where they charged $139 for the brakes and told me the rotor didn't need to be rotated. It figures.

Had a contraption attached to my van's radio at Best Buy which enables me to play my iPod and iPhone through my stereo system! I'm loving that since I have a ton of audio books and music that will help pass the time while I'm driving those thousands of miles to California from Tennessee.

I still have quite a bit of preparations I need to make for the trip, but at least my van is in tip top shape for the drive.

My starting date at the clinic in West Hollywood is set for November 16th. We'll be leaving a week from next Wednesday.

Such an adventure in front of me!

Script Girrl

West Hollywood Here I Come!

2009-10-19T19:33:00.000-07:00

It's official. I snagged the job in West Hollywood. I'll be starting either November 9th or 16th and it's a 16 week assignment. I am so stoked I could spit!

The job is in a prestigious clinic. All I have to do is to get people ready for exams and assist the physicians when they perform the exams. Of course they have a high turnover of patients, but how hard could a clinic job be?

I was told during the interview that the clinic is real strict on HIPPA regulations, you know patient privacy and all that jazz. The reason they are so tight with HIPPA? The person who interviewed me said it's because quite a few movie stars and influential people come to the clinic.

How interesting is that?! I hadn't even considered movie stars. I was more intent on meeting and befriending people who would have connections for getting my screenplay into the right hands so I might sell my work one day.

The clinic job is a Monday-Friday 8:30 - 5:30pm deal. No weekends and No holidays!!

Oh yeah. The interviewer asked me if I liked to shop. Well, duh! What woman doesn't?

"Of course." I said.

Then, she informed me that right across the street from my new job is an 8 story mall!!

Sounds like a dream job to me!

Tomorrow I will find out where I'll be living - in West Hollywood.

Tonight I'm going to order a book from Amazon.com on sight-seeing places in Southern California.

I'll keep a travel blog with pictures and stuff for anyone who's interested.

Script Girrl

Job - Wheel of Fortune

2009-10-19T07:09:00.000-07:00

This should be an exciting week!

I have two travel nursing companies submitting my job applications to various states. How the process works is that when an application is submitted, the person in charge of hiring will call me and interview me by phone. If they decide to hire me, they tell my nursing company and off I'll go!

Last Friday, my application was sent to two places: Washington Medical Center in Washington D.C., and Cedars Sinai in Hollywood. My preference would be Cedars Sinai because it is a Monday through Friday 8 hour Clinic job. That would be a fun and easy job. Washington though, is full of museums and places to explore so that would be fun too.

On a side note, I had let my Florida license lapse a year ago. The good news was that all I had to do to renew it was to take some continuing education credits online. So I did, and got my Florida license back. The main reason I didn't submit my application to a Florida hospital is because they pay less than most other states. But, considering the time of year, if I don't get one of the positions I've applied for, I might just take one in southern Florida.

The hardest part now, is the waiting. The exciting part is not knowing where the 'Fates' will send me. Such adventures lay in front of me for the next few months until my kids start Kindergarten next year.

Speaking of Kindergarten, my kids are so far down the 'waiting list' for that magnet school I want them to attend, that they might not even get in until first or second grade. If that's the case, I may extend my travel for one extra year and let them attend kindergarten 'on the run' around the country. It's just a thought.

Anyway, I should be interviewed this week and get an idea of a starting date. I'll probably be leaving for my new job within the next 2 weeks. I have a huge list of things to take with me on the trip, and things I need to take care of at home before I leave. Shewww. It will be so nice to finally climb into my packed van and relax, knowing that everything is in order.

Today, I'm taking my kids and mother with me around town. I'm thinking strongly of getting my van's factory stereo system replaced with one that will play my iPhone and iPod Classic. I have a ton of audio books I'd like to listen to - both fiction books and books on screenwriting. Not to mention my music collection. Those things would be nice for passing the long hours of the trip in front of me.

Well, I'm off for a bit of shopping and lunch on the run.

Script Girrl

A Whirlwind of Activity!

2009-10-07T11:20:00.000-07:00

There's so much going on in my life right now with getting everything in order for setting out on the road in mid-November for my adventure in travel nursing.

My new Trane heating/cooling system is going to be installed next week. That should drop my winter heating bills from $500 - $600 per month to under $200 per month. Whoo Hoo!

My dining room ceiling started leaking water last week during an exceptionally, hard rain. I called my insurance company and they checked it out. The are going to replace my entire roof for just the $500 deductible. I'm going to save $6,000 on that one!!

Now for the big news.

There is a magnet Arts and Science school locally that is free and takes kids from Kindergarten through 12th grade. The registration for next year's kindergarten is on October 24th. Because the school admits on a first come / first serve basis, parents have historically lined up out side of the school for 2-3 weeks before the admission day.

Asuming the above timing, I called the school yesterday to inquire about when the line might start, and I received a startling reply. The line started on September 28th. A full month before the admission date!!

Holy Crap!

I threw on some jeans and drove like a 'bat out of hell' to the school. What I found was three women manning a table with sign up information. It was pretty cool outside, so they were sitting at the end of the school's parking lot, dressed for the cold, with a tarp canopy above them, and a large barrel with a burning fire for heat, slightly upwind of them. While I stood there signing my kids up, and learning the rules for this year's registration, I was bathed constantly in a smokey haze thinking of how much carbon monoxide I was taking in.

The rules this year are as follows:

I must be at that same table, every day at 6:30 pm from now until registration day for role call. Roll call means that someone calls out every registration number starting with the number one. When your number is called, you respond that you are there, and show the 'caller' the physical sheet of paper you received when you signed your child up, with your child's number on it. If you don't have the paper, or you miss the roll-call, your child's name is scratched from the list.

For instance, they called number 134 three times yesterday, then called out the name of the person who signed up with that number. The person wasn't there. They continued calling numbers and when they were near the end, a woman drove up and jumped out of her car yelling, "I have number 134!" She was told that it was too late. Her number had been scratched from the list and if she wanted back on the list, she'd have to sign up at the end of the list. She was furious! They didn't budge on their rules.

Another rule. Three people must always 'man' the sign-up table 24/7. Those people are the parents of the Kindergarten kids on the list. I was informed that I would have to sign up for 3-four hour shifts to man the table - for EACH CHILD I had on the list. I have 2 children, so I had to sign up for 6-four hour shifts! Neglecting to do so, I was told, will knock your kid's names off of the list. Luckily, I was able to get 6 shifts that run from 2pm-6pm which is the warmest part of the day.

The bad news is that my kid's numbers are 161 and 162. The good news is that 20 plus names have already been scratched off the list below me, moving me up. I'm told that the first 100 usually get in, and that if my kids don't get in for kindergarten, that they will get in for the first grade. This is all hearsay from the mothers running the sign up table. I will investigate further when I'm sitting with them.

In the midst of all of my house cleaning, packing, and preparing for my trip in November, interspersing that stuff with the school check-ins and manning their sign-up table will keep me very busy for the next 3-4 weeks. I'm up to the challenge, though.

Script Girrl

It Begins...

2009-10-01T09:06:00.000-07:00

I've created this blog strictly to document mundane, everyday happenings.

First and foremost, I am a writer! My speciality is screenplays and fiction. I live most of my waking hours in an imaginary daze with characters and plots swirling around most everything I see and hear. I've been more than once accused of living in a fantasy world, of viewing life through rose-tinted glass. That's true, and I actually did try at one point in my life to accept the concept of reality as proposed by the majority of people and live in it, but frankly the more I saw of how deceptive, violent, vindictive, and amoral that most people are under their benign, smiling exteriors, the more I was sickened and disheartened by humanity in general. So, I consciously chose to put my rose-tinted glasses back on and leave them on.

In addition to my glasses, I live by avoidance. I avoid watching the news on TV as it is filled with the horrible things that people do and the horrible tragedies that happen to people. I detest the news. Watching it not only depresses me, it lowers my opinion in general of mankind. I also avoid becoming 'close' with my neighbors. I value my privacy and don't want people just dropping in to say 'Hi'.

On the other hand, I love to watch people and how they interact with others and their environments. People are fascinating to me. I just don't want to get close to most of them.

My two favorite quotes are: 'Imagination is more important than knowledge', - Albert Einstein, and 'Reality is what you imagine it to be.' - Author unknown. I subscribe whole-heartedly to those two quotes!

Anyway, this blog will contain mundane everyday happenings that occur in my life. And, thanks to the iPhone, I will be able to upload pictures while I'm on the go. This should be fun!!

Script Girrl