she's BAAACCCCKKKKK

Hey bloggers and/or Kate enthusiasts!

I am beginning a new chapter in my life, a new genre of adventures to write about.

What? Are you going to start committing crimes and writing about them?

No. I'm living in Chicago.

Woot!

I rolled into town yesterday after a nice sleepover with some AHS alums living in the area, with an Outback packed with all my worldly possessions. As I was waiting at a traffic light, trying to figure out where I was in relation to where I needed to be and it struck me that this was such a movie scene:

the southern girl, shedding her old life and striking out into the city to make her way with nothing but hope and an effervescent 20-something personality.

Even though that's actually the situation, I sort of feel a little out of the cliché by virtue of being really well educated and aggressive about goals and all, so maybe this story will have a happier ending. I don't know.

After a few hours of schlepping boxes from the car to the third floor, sweating my behind off (Yankees don't seem to believe in air conditioning), I sort of had to confront the eternal conflict:
go out and get food or sleep.


What a choice, and it's either/or, sadly.


I chose sleep, and I passed cold out on my bed for a few hours and then unpacked the rest of the car. As I was unpacking boxes and trying to find a place for everything (I still haven't completed this mission) I chatted with my really friendly roommates. They are very much liberals, student types, and quirky in a really cute way.

Another bit of good luck: the girls in the room before me seem to have r-u-n-n-o-f-t-ed in a right hurry, so not only did they sell me the bed there; they left tons of shelves, bookcases, and a chest of drawers, so I am quite please about that. I had planned an ikea run, but this saves the trouble.

I was invited that night to a welcome dinner, so I tried to throw myself into some kind of order, and then I went off to the restaurant for pasta and wine. I was just what I needed, AND the waiter could explain to me what a caper was, so double-plus!

I know what you are now!!!!

The night ended with an invitation to a party held by a Chicago mover and shaker, but I declined for a few reasons:

1. I didn't know the guy even though he supposedly went to school with me, my freshman, his senior year.
2. I was too tired to be effectively charming and/or conscious.
3. I was being invited by a friend of a friend, wearing an Ed Hardy tee shirt, to which I can only say "no" and if you don't know why that is, check this out.

I just went home, watched Howl's Moving Castle and went to bed.

I am writing this Sunday morning at a coffee joint, watching the young, alternative, and young&alternative walk by on the street. I am hoping the city treats me as well as it does them.

We shall see.