Today the DC city Council solidified the no-smoking ban for the city\’s restaurants and clubs in an 11-1 vote. The ban will go into effect next January.

I always said I\’d put roots down in a smoke-free city. I had thought New York, as they were the first in the USA. Scotland is on their way there, as is Brisbane. But now, so is DC.

How can you tell if someone is just passing through or if someone is truly devoted to where they live? Ask them what they do for the holidays: if they say they go home, that\’s a key indicator that they don\’t feel wholly attached to where they are now. If they say they go to visit family, then there\’s a good chance that they consider where they are now to be home. Personally, I visit my folks and then get the hell out of the suburbs back to home as fast as possible.

Home. Most of my friends here don\’t smoke. We\’ve all eagerly been anticipating the smoke-free legislation passing. To be able to spend a night out being able to breathe and not come home reeking like an ashtray: that\’ll be glorious.

I want to buy the house my grandmother was born in, down on Capitol Hill, and live there, and the building that used to hold my great-grandfather\’s hardware store in Brookland, and turn it into an after-hours members-only club. Hell, if DC can really become smoke-free (which apparently, is really going to happen), then a girl like me can continue to dream some crazy ass dreams and maybe some of them will come true. Like attending Howard on full scholarship as a history student, and then getting a job with the now defunct City Museum. Dream baby, dream.