Up the Tree

There is this misconception that you can’t walk Los Angeles and I’m here to say that is total crap… It’s just something that Los Angelinos say to convince themselves that their asses belong in cars. LA has some of the coolest sidewalks this side of the Mississippi and a brisk walk down Beverly yields little shops much like soho.

And the hills (more like mountains) in the middle of the city!? How great is a hike on the way home from work? That is something I’m really going to miss back in NYC.

The more time I spend in LA, the more I realize that New York isn’t the only great city in the world. My New York centric view is starting to give way to a much more sensible view of the world.

My favorites so far:

* New York City
* Los Angeles
* Rome
* Boston
* Naples
* London

Anybody know any others I should know about? I’ve heard great things about Dallas.

You know it’s bad when it’s cooler in Los Angeles, than it is in Manhattan.

_Why do I live in Manhattan again?_

Maybe it can be chalked up to my youth, or maybe it can be chalked up to my immaturity, or perhaps my love of sweets, but I have decided…

*I hate cottage cheese.*

I never tried the stuff before. It’s lumpy texture put me strait off. I had always assumed it was something akin to yogurt, a dairy product of some culture sold to health freaks that hit it’s heyday in the 80’s.

Jesus! It’s like eating wet feta! Wet feta with fruit!? It has a definite flavor of cheese and I’m not too good with runny cheeses. I get all queazy just thinking about ricotta. It seriously took me years to approach lasagna in good faith and I just ate a whopping mouthful of wet cheese and apple.

Diane got me a smallish tub of cottage cheese and said “Do you like cottage cheese? I love the stuff.” I should have known better than trust a woman who’s love of cheese could be defined as _the stinkier the better._ She enjoys cheeses that taste like country barns and smell like death, cheeses that ooze bluish mold, cheeses that could quite frankly end a marriage.

*I’m a pussy cheddar boy myself.*

bq. How can one conceive of a one party system in a country that has over 200 varieties of cheese. _-Charles de Gaulle_

I guess you could say my taste in cheese is tame, but then again the wonderful thing about cheese is there’s enough cheeses for everybody’s tastes. Now where are my “Baked Doritos?”:http://www.doritos.com/

On Friday night, Diane and I went over to “Housing Works”: to see an acoustic performance by “The Fountains of Wayne”:http://www.fountainsofwayne.com/ and quite frankly they rocked. Sure it’s super-fine high calorie pop-rock, but it’s really good super-fine high calorie pop-rock. Plus if you are a New Yorker, it’s kind of your duty to see Fountains of Wayne, because they are such a New York centric band.

Other highlights were Diane’s favorite new male rocker, other than me, “Jesse Malin.”:http://www.jessemalin.com/ Jesse Malin used to be the lead singer of “D Generation”:http://www.nytrash.com/dgeneration.html the famous glam-rock outfit from New York. He’s adorably dorkey and a very honest songwriter and Ryan Adams’ most favorite thing since sliced toast. I liked him purely because he had *KISS* written on the inside heel of his converse sneakers in ball-point pen.

And of course the biggest highlight was seeing one of The Fountains of Wayne’s biggest fans, Paul Simon. I didn’t peg him for a FOW fan either, but he was smiling away from the balcony. I am a huge Paul Simon fan, he’s just someone you can like, without worrying he might have a horrible secret lurking in the background. He’s a sweetheart.

I would recommend anyone out there to come to Housing works to see the next _Live from Home_ music performance. It is an eye opener and helps homeless people with HIV and AIDS.