It’s definitely better than usual! After several dry years I’m thrilled we’ve finally gotten some good rain.

I grew up in NH and now I live in Los Angeles (and have for a decade) - I like it here, but I miss home a lot. My husband jokes that he has to make sure I get back once a year to recharge my batteries. The last time we were home, for a friend's wedding, I made him just sit on a rock in the woods with me for a bit to enjoy all the greenery because there's just not much like it out where we are. There's beauty everywhere, and I'm sure you'll find things you really love about AZ, but it's hard not to miss New England!

I kind of figured it might be because he knows it's normal to have some kind of connection to music? Like he's got the clothes and consumer goods as a way to show off on material level, and then he can use the art he displays in his apartment and the music he seems to know a lot about to make himself seem cultured, but in a way that doesn't really take any reflection or real emotional connection on his part.

Or maybe he just does love commercial pop music and he goes on and on about it because it's the only thing he feels a connection to?

To my memory, and it's been a while since I read it, it almost felt like him trying to be deeper than he really is? Like the things he talks about sound like they're directly pulled from reviews or magazine articles or interviews, and as mentioned, they're almost always talking about the most "commercial" album of whatever artist he's talking about. It's like he knows there's supposed to be something there, and it's something he's supposed to feel deeply, but all he can do is parrot what he's heard about the least challenging music available.