I have a plan for tonight, and it involves meeting new people socially who have absolutely nothing to do with politics or unions, and drinking lots of beer and listening to live music. Yes. A plan. I love it.

The weather here in Wisconsin is lovely, except when it's been flooding and tornadoing (see: first week in state) but the loneliness is a bit much, and I wake up almost every morning wondering if this is, perhaps, the craziest, most impulsive decision I've ever made, and will I actually survive until November? But hey, I've already been here a month(!!) and accomplished so much and managed to do things I've never done before (like, um, buy a car in one day) and, here's the key: it's only temporary. This has been my philosophy of life for the past couple years and it seems to serve me well. Punter even told me the other day on the phone that my "it's only temporary" outlook on life has helped her out, too, so I'm sharing it now in the hopes that it might, maybe, help you too.

Let me tell you this, also: They've never seen anything like me before in Wisconsin. Even in the big city of Milwaukee. Also, Everyone's Favorite DC Rollergirl and I came to the conclusion a few weekends back when she was in town visiting that Milwaukee is to Chicago as B-more is to DC. Which, if you're not familiar with either part of the country, can be explained this way: Milwaukee & B-more are the smaller, scruffier one-hour drive away step-sisters of the bigger cities of Chicago and DC.

Off to start my night!

Oh Jenna...

One of many rules casetheplace lives by: If a White House wedding is an option, always choose the White House wedding.

# # #

The ATLien mutates

I'm quickly morphing from an Atlantan to a Washingtonian, and I have decided to posit Saturday as the official day I start saying I'm from DC. I'll still be originally from Atlanta, of course, since it is, after all, impossible to change the city you grew up in, but from Saturday on I officially live in DC.

(I chose Saturday and not the day I signed my lease because Saturday is the day I will actually take up residency in my new house.)

# # #

Bounce wit me

Last night in Baltimore, HT pointed to me and said, "You can always tell ATL kids by the way that they bounce when they dance."

And yeah, I was bouncing. (To house music. At a rave. With glow sticks. I don't want to talk about it too much, but I will say apparently the universe has preserved a little bit of the late 90s rave scene in Baltimore. JNCOS, people! And the rhinestone bebe shirt every girl in my high school and every other high school in America sported when I was a freshman in 1997. And did I mention there were actual glowsticks??)

The DC kids with ATL connections loooove to talk about ATL when I'm around. "Remember that one time in ATL? Did you ever go to that club in ATL? Did you ever drink at that bar in ATL? Remember that party in ATL? Where did you live in ATL? ATL ATL ATL..." Which is kinda sweet and cute, all the ATL love, especially since I rep the A pretty hard up here (although I think I should be slapped, personally, the next time drunk casetheplace shouts and signs "Peace out! A-town down!" for no good reason, cause I do it waaaay too much, I'm not gonna lie...), but hey, look, I'm not in ATL anymore, and I don't plan to return anytime soon, and all that's for some very good reasons, and you're not in ATL these days either, so can we maybe not talk about ATL all the damn time? Thank you, 'preciate it.

But, um, while we're on the subject of ATL, here's some funny, funny, funniness. Especially if you've ever been a MARTA rider ("Isn't the Metro so much better than MARTA?" "SmarTrip's like a BREEZE card." "The buses here don't suck like MARTA buses." "I got hit by a MARTA bus once."). Oh, and in case you don't know what HT meant by bounce, there's some definite bounce in this:

# # #