So, I've had a fun day or two. The people from South Carolina's Obama group didn't get in touch with me until about eight Friday night, so I went out in Atlanta today and I will head down to SC on Monday or Tuesday. This meant I decided to go out for a drink with the idea that I was going to get home early and get to bed so I could be up and in downtown Atlanta in the actual morning.

There was a band, and they were really nice guys (they played "Just Like Heaven" for me), and then a drunk older woman came in looking to convince somebody to dance with her so hours of dancing later I am back at home knowing that I have to wake up in a few hours to get downtown and tramp about Atlanta being friendly and sore. It was an experience; I got stuck with a canvassing group that was going to Northwest Atlanta, an area of the city that actually does have projects. It's not something I care about, but the very nice insurance salesman who was leading our group gave me a short sentence about how maybe I shouldn't knock on doors by myself, I should stay with he or the guys from Detroit. Of course, I didn't make any snide comments about the typical bad-neighborhood experience I had at school and what actually happened was that we mostly spoke to sweet grandmothers who were very worried about the fact that these gentleman let me come walking outside without a hat when it was snowing. What are the chances that I decide to join up to knock on doors on the day Atlanta gets four inches of snow? Also, there were an inordinate number of hills to trek up and down in the freezing temperatures. It was an absolute blast, and the people I went out with were awesome and with the hills and trees and snow the "bad" neighborhood we canvassed looked like a wonderland. I am going to be volunteering in Atlanta more once I get back from helping in South Carolina.

Freezing temperatures were also the name of the game today when I decided to wear heels and a skirt to go see Obama speak at the church Martin Luther King was baptized at and, later, pastor of.* It turns out this was a very bad idea; there were far more people then there was room in the church and no one inside seemed at all concerned about hurrying the service in consideration for the ones of us who were outside in church clothes when it was nineteen degrees and the wind chill factor was below zero. It was a while before I could move my toes again, but the speech (sermon, really) was amazing and I met another lady who has been involved in the volunteering efforts here and who I will probably be working with once I get back to Atlanta. I've never seen so many fur coats in one place; my Mom wanted me to wear hers, but Ryan decided that, despite the fact that I was able to drag in the cold him out before coffee, he did not want to be seen with someone in a fur coat that had real eighties shoulder pads. I missed my chance.

Also, I still have to talk about the Yo La Tengo show from last week. It was marvelous and I may get around to writing about it at some point.

* I love sentences that end in prepositions.