I am now house-sitting. I always wondered what the whole point of house-sitting was--I guess it's to make a show that the house is inhabited so that it won't be robbed. This house that my boyfriend and I are staying in is amazing. It's the kind of loft one would see in a huge coffee-table book called "Silverlake Living" displayed out in the front of St. Marks bookshop where people just drool over the pics instead of actually buying the tome. It's modular, and clean-lined, and very zen in that Modernist way. There's a courtyard with only cactii. There is a flat-screen tv and an alarm clock with a remote. The bathroom has twin shower nozzles. The gadgetry is formidable.

Being in Los Angeles, I have become very nostalgic for music I listened to when I was a teenager. One thing that I find terrible is that I have stopped listening to new music. I just stopped. There comes a point when you're up to speed with the music and then the music just merrily speeds ahead of you. And you can't do anything about it. You can try, sporadically, reading Pitchfork. You can ask your sister for recommendations. But it's too far ahead. Yesterday, I was frantically searching through this modern loft dweller's i-tunes for music but everything was too upbeat so I settled for bossa nova in the "mellow" category.

I've been listening to Fugazi because that's what I listened to when I grew up. The nostalgia for music in LA is all too powerful--especially when all you're listening to is driving music and you can't help but inextricably link music with the road and passing scenery. "Waiting Room" will always be my favorite, but also all the songs in "Steady Diet of Nothing." I even love certain songs in their later album, "Argument," especially the second song (I don't remember what it's called) which has this building instrumental that brings a tingle to my sinus (a strange reaction I get when I'm especially moved by something). But I'm not sure why I'm so moved by that particular part, or say "Waiting Room" for example. There's something anthemic about it,of course, a "fuck all" kind of attitude, but it's not an insoucient "fuck all" attitude that is synonymous with Ramones but a "fuck all" attitude that feels very important, tragic, serious, visionary. Jem Cohen directed a beautiful moody documentary on Fugazi called "Instrument"--perhaps one of the more affecting music documentaries around.