Ungated Communities (Rev.)

Yesterday I went over to Linda's, where we exchanged scripts and then spent the next 4 to 5 hours talking and driving around.

We drove over to Larchmont Village, a trendy residential suburb right next to Hancock Park, which is a residential area best known for the size of the mansions. I know, I know: how could there be one residential suburb, let alone two, south of Hollywood, east of West Hollywood, north of Fairfax? But there are. Larchmont has the tree-lined boulevard stocked with antique shops and cafes. Because it's so quaint and well-manicured, it's an expensive area.

Linda and I stopped for coffee at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and we talked about the Graduate Screenwriting Program. I learned that one of the three minorities who was in our year, one of the two black women, has dropped out. I don't know why -- she seemed like a really nice person, but she was painfully shy. I never saw her in class.

Sigh.

Linda's got some interesting projects going on: one is a script with some kind of Special Forces dude, another is a book proposal -- before coming to USC, she was a playwright and author of nonfiction books. She is also the repository of all gossip in our class. She knows who's doing what to whom and when.

After coffee and walking around looking in the antique shops (Linda used to own an antique shop too), we started driving around Hancock Park and looking at the massive houses. Some were nothing special, but some of them...as I kept saying to Linda: "If I ever had a house like this, I would have it up in the hills, hidden behind walls and trees, where it belongs."

As we drove back to her house, we started driving around in the Hollywood Hills, looking at the houses and views up there. Nice. And lots of them are for sale. (Oh wait -- we just bought a place.) My tastes differed wildly from hers, but we also have different needs in houses.

It was fun spending the day with her. I need to make some closer contacts with my fellow students, most of whom are a decent bunch. Honest.

Before visiting Linda yesterday, I had the pleasure and privilege of seeing Timo, who came down on official WebTV business to visit Darin. I don't know what they did, exactly, but I know it involved several trips to Fry's, buying a TV and some hard disks..

The TV Darin bought at Fry's is a teeny tiny Sony TV -- tiny, boxy, white, and cute -- to set up a WebTV box with. He's now surrounded by monitors at his desk. I'm afraid we'll never be able to procreate, but he will glow nicely in the dark.

Oh wait, why don't I just ask him to describe his day with Timo?

Much shorter than I expected. More frantic than I expected with 4 trips to and from Burbank. By the third time we saw the crashed flying saucer at the door to Fry's, Timo no longer thought it was a novelty; he was kind of bored with it."

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

I fell asleep this afternoon. When I woke up, the idea of putting one foot in front of the other, particularly with any kind of speed, was complete anathema. So I asked Darin, who was just quitting for the day, if he'd like to take a walk. We took a long walk around the neighborhood and looked at the houses and gardens. We probably went about 3 miles, up and down the nearby hills.

Not exactly Rob Petrie's butt-kicking 3 miles per day, but I managed to get myself out there.

At Linda's yesterday evening I picked off all my fingernail polish. Argh! I did not begin ripping at the nails, but taking off the nail polish can't be good for the surface of the nails. I went home and immediately did my nails, which now sometimes lightly tap against the keys as I type. Whee!

Yesterday, little writing. Today, about 2 pages of my Homicide script, and I'm beginning to be afraid that TV just ain't where it is for me, because I have not progressed beyond half this script in about 4 weeks.