Well folks, yours truly and the Princess of Darkness arrived at the Los Angeles Greyhound terminal at 6:10am Wens morning (April 23rd) and are happily getting settled in! The ride out was seriously uneventful and not even as uncomfortable as the bus usually is. There were no crazies, no loud assholes or even anyone with their seat in my lap. Donnella fell asleep within 15 minutes of our 11:00pm departure and slept until we got here. I think somewhere out there that means a world record was broken.

After picking up a cup of coffee and giving Nella her packed breakfast, I grabbed a shiny, new copy of the Los Angeles Times, found an ad for a cheap weekly hotel, jumped in a cab and got us a room. I won’t lie to ya ~ at first glance the place is kinda scary. It’s one of those super old buildings that was awesome back in the day, but now is retrofitted with thick bars and a giant, black cage over the inside staircase. Hell, there was even a notice on the front door that a scene from ‘CSI’ was to be filmed that day between 5pm - 4am. So, I guess everyone else thinks of this area as one where crime is just expected to happen. And, no ~ I saw no actors! {sigh}

But, scary looking or not, the place is pretty quiet (with a couple of late night exceptions!) and everyone so far has been really nice and helpful. The only thing I don’t like about the place is that we’re not allowed to do any sort of cooking here, so no microwaves or even mini refrigorators are allowed. But, this is temporary. There’s also no TV. That’s something I don’t care too much about really ~ I *had* been looking forward to reading the books I recently bought, after all. But, I was concerned about the weight of the things we brought and left them at my brother’s apartment! But, that just means I’ll be WRITING at night like I should be anyway! Besides, I already have a new library card and checked out the book ‘Left Behind’. I was looking for Stephen Kings ‘Cell’, but they need to order it for me. {Grumble - I always find the libraries without the books I want!} I’m really not one for books with religious overtones, but I’m intrigued by this one. Let’s face it, me NOT being intrigued by an “end of days” premise is as unlikely as Quentin Tarantino NOT using the F-word!

Oh, and did I mention writing??? Well, my darling daughter has actually inspired what I wrote over Mother’s Day weekend. It’s a tv show and, while I can’t go into detail about it now, I’m seriously jazzed about it! Not only did I bang out the pilot over that two days, but outlined 12 other episodes. Ya, I know that’s not how it “works” but it’s really writing itself. So, why not go with it??? I’ve also been working on my other projects ~ you know, the actual films! And, though I’m about to have much less time (yay! Two jobs on the horizon!!!!) I’ve still gotten enough done on everything that I’m not too worried. What I *really* need to worry about is finding time to just hang out with the kid! I don’t plan on working two jobs for too long, but you know how that goes ~ getting settled, getting on your feet, putting money away ~ all that jazz usually takes longer than ever *planned*.

Truthfully ~ it’s not a bad place to start out and there’s plenty of really cheap places to eat and buy food. There’s also an enormous park with a man made pond/lake with paddle boats right around the corner from here. If I really didn’t need to rent that super cheap apartment downtown, I might think about hanging out in this ‘hood awhile longer. But, who knows, I might find something. Oh, and if I walk down to the end of our hallway and look out the window, I can see the Hollywood sign clear as day. Huh, I wonder how long it will be before I take that for granted like everyone else who lives here. Actually, now that I think about it, I haven’t looked out that window since we got here.

So, we’re here at last and so far things are going quite well! Nella is even using the potty!!!!!! Woo-hoo! I mean, of all the LA horror stories I’ve heard, ours I guess, could be considered a fairy tale! Things aren’t perfect, not by a long shot, but they’re good. We’re having fun, meeting people, and trying to take in as much as we can. One thing’s for sure ~ there is never a lack of things to do in Los Angeles! If I can swing it, I’ll be taking the kid to her very first Marionette show this weekend and for me {oh please! please!} a screening of ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’!

But, at the very least ~ I’ll be writing. ;-)