Life Irritates Art

I've been negligent lately, but that's nothing new.

This weekend was a bit frustrating and painful. I had plans to visit the Festival of Books and attend some panels, but there were no tickets available by the time I remembered to go to Ticketmaster. This surprised me, since I hadn't expected *any* literary event to sell out, but I should have known better. The show is always packed.

I went and browsed, but felt I'd missed a lot.

Although not at the book event, I ran across this Saturday:


I remember a similar picture on an album cover from the sixties or seventies, and have no idea how many of these there are, nor what function they perform. They're neat looking, though, and make me very curious.



On Saturday I bit one of my bullets. Although not related to writing in the "ink on paper" sense, I ... er ... did some research.

I thought it would help Big Train Show if I actually went on one of the trips my characters did. I'd hoped for company, but struck out on my own and took $3.50 worth of bus rides. Then, next, I walked up and down a thousand foot rise or so and saw for myself what Sid, Dina, and the rest would have seen if they'd gone here:

{{popup HSign.JPG TSwitch 366x688}}Hollywood Sign

I learned a lot, not least of which is that I did a moderately good job of faking it. Nothing too drastic needs to be fixed (the "trail" is a paved road, not dirt, if you're interested), but I'm wondering about the "closed at dusk" mentions. I'm sure nobody would obey that, but I wonder if you'd be caught just being up there.

It was, for me, a more rigorous climb than I'd thought, but I blame that on my having to haul my old ass five hundred feet up a mile's walk just to get to the start of the trail from the bus stop. Sid could have done it, but I think it's safe to say his knees and hips would have felt it. The girls...not so much.

I got a bunch of pics, which I may begin introducing in this blog. Not that I'm any great photographer, but I may as well start adding some flash and sizzle to this blog!