Hollywoodland

That’s the title of one of the few Billy Joel songs I actually really like.

Last night’s TV viewing consisted of the amusing Treasure Hunters (the annoying Fogel family was FINALLY eliminated :cheer:) and the new BBC America show Life on Mars. The latter is a quirky time travel fantasy that might not be a time travel, but simply the protagonist’s subconscious helping him solve a string of serial killings that started 33 years before (while he’s in a coma after being hit by a car). Wasn’t sure I’d like it, but I’m hooked. Now if I can survive all the dreadful 1970s clothing…

Wrote about a page and a half yesterday. My kids have come to the conclusion their car’s got a tracking device on it somewhere since the bad guys found them. Now they’ve switched cars and will soon be back on their way to the safe house. Need to figure out how the bad guys find them there. *g*

I’ve got some fun horoscopes today:

“Have sympathy for those who need to vent today. Don’t be surprised if people fall into line outside your door in order to get a chance to have your ears for an hour or two. (Okay, kids, I’ll listen to your problems. I need to rest my hands anyway. I’m tired of them being numb.) Your mind is sharp and keen (Still waiting for this to happen… at the moment I’m doing well to keep my eyes open. :zzz:) and you will be able to see through to the core of any issue that is brought to you. More than likely, you will understand things quite intuitively and people would do well to take your advice on any issue that they bring your way. (Oh, goody, free rein to meddle! :wave:)“

“Why wait around for someone else to treat you specially? You don’t have to max out your credit cards to give yourself the gift of some TLC. Buy yourself a little bouquet or a quick massage—whatever pleases you. (I would love a massage! But do they not know how much they cost??? The going rate around here is $50/hour.)“

“A troubling secret is suddenly lifted, as word spreads (Wasn’t much of a secret then, was it? :roll:) and all the power of what might have happened is gone. Your sense of relief will lead you to make some big decisions about the direction your life can now take. (This might be more effective if I knew what this Big Secret was supposed to be…)“

And here’s my personal favorite for the day!

“Ideas just flow from you. The stars want you to make sure that those good intentions bear fruit, so apply all that creativity and knowledge and get something down on paper (or in clay, or in paint—whatever it takes). (That better mean I turn into a lean, mean writing machine today!!!)“

I’m reading a fun book right now. The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury. It’s pretty fast-paced (has some really short chapters which makes it seem like it’s zipping by) and the story is fun. It’s sort of Da Vinci Code-esque. In fact, that’s how I found out about it. It was on one of those “if you liked THIS, you might also like THAT” lists. I also read another book I found on one of those lists that I didn’t enjoy nearly as much. The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell & Dustin Thomason. It was good, don’t get me wrong, but I found the ending rather unsatisfying. But The Last Templar is quite exciting, thus far, so we shall see.

Last night was the last of the two-part Miss Marple episodes on Mystery! The Sittaford Mystery (aka Murder at Hazelmoor). The thing is, that book isn’t a Miss Marple book (under either title)! Not only that, they totally turned the plot upside down! The killer in last night’s show had NOTHING to do with the murder in the book! I was feeling quite disturbed by the whole thing because I kept thinking I knew who did it and then it was someone else. So I dug out my copy of the book and looked at the end and I was right! Bastards. It’s not nice to play with people’s minds when they already have memory problems!

I managed to write another 3/4 of a page. Made an interesting discovery. Stefan & Stacy’s world has shapeshifters, but not vampires. And Stefan gets very huffy when the subject of vampires is brought up. It was highly amusing. *g*

And now for the infamous horoscopes:

“There may be a bit of aggravation occurring in a certain part of your life that is urging you to get up and do something. (LOL! There are a LOT of things that I find aggravating. How do I narrow them down?) It could be that you are becoming overly emotional about a certain issue, and that you need to consider more of the cold hard facts of what is really going on. (Overly emotional? ME??? :rofl:) There could be something extremely obvious that you are missing, simply because you are caught up in your own emotional drama. (Well, I’ve certainly never been called a Drama Queen before! It’s too funny for me to even be offended.)”

“Discussions about the direction things are headed will dominate all day. (I guess that would be discussions about all the people I know who are going to Atlanta to RWA National…. :blah:) Rumors are flying and you may want to be sure of what is real and what is imaginary. (Real: It’s darned hot! Imaginary: My books! :book:) A leader has the story; make sure you ask questions in order to get all the facts. (I better put Stacy on the job then. Stefan thinks all she does is ask questions. :D)”

“Are you doing a double-take every time you look at your packed schedule? (LOL!!!! Yeah, my schedule is just SOOOOOO time consuming.) Never fear—the stars put on the brakes, and just in time. Learn your lesson and don’t overbook yourself in the future. (They’ve got me confused with someone else again. Sad. LOL!)”

Those of you into ’80s music, did you know Bananarama has a new song out? Yep. It’s called Look on the Floor. Only now there appear to only be two members of the group instead of three. Wonder what happened to the third?

Anyway, I love having the Sirius satellite radio music stations on Dish Network. Especially since the radio stations I can pick up around here aren’t that great. Unless you’re really, really, really into country. Which I’m not. (Shut up, Bella. Just because you’re into it doesn’t mean I have to listen to it every minute of every day. Especially since I’m not working on your story. So just go back to digging in Dex’s garden or something.)

Ahem. Where was I? Oh, yes! Dance music. Lots of cool dance music on this station. I love it!

Today’s horoscopes:

“Your passions have been stirring about like a caged animal for the past several days. (Oh, I could think of so many tacky things to say right here… :rofl:) Now is the time to let them out. Some of what you express may elicit surprise or disapproval, but that’s no reason not to speak up. (Be that as it may, I don’t want to be TOO bitchy. I’d hate to run off those readers of you who are still with me. My blog stats are bad enough as it is. ;) ) If you don’t express yourself, illness may result. (Ah, in other words don’t sit quietly and stew. Gotcha!) Your goal should be to be true to your inner self; that’s the only way, ultimately, to be happy and healthy. (So I guess the question is, is my inner self that Bad Girl who keeps threatening to show up? :cooldance:)”

“All things fresh and new are favored by the stars, and you’ve got great personal energy to boot. (What the heck does “strong personal energy” mean???) Why not put yourself out there and make a romantic overture or two? You’re very hard to refuse now. (LOL! I wish! “Send me lots and lots and lots of money!” Oh, wait. That was supposed to be a “romantic” overture not “financial”. Never mind. Hmm. I wonder if George Clooney could fall under my spell…?)”

“Aren’t you tired of being a martyr? (Well, duh! :roll:) Frankly, you’re not even sure what cause all your self-sacrifice has been for. (To be honest, I didn’t realize I had been…) Think about your quality of life for once. It’s time to get your sense of self back in balance. (Would that be my sense of INNER self? :D)”

And if you’ve stayed with me this far, you’ll see I wrote about 3/4 of a page last night. Not great, but better than nothing.