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Home, But Not Alone

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happymisanthrope
11/25/08

In reply to Home, But Not Alone
dishes. ugh. it's not that hard to take two minutes to wash them.

and, when there are eight people in one tiny flat (London, I basically lived a live action version of L'Auberge Espagnole)you really can't leave just one dish in the sink. I tried to explain this to one of my Spanish roommates and it didn't work.

But dishes in the sink seemed like a cultural thing: it didn't bother the Europeans nearly as much as it bothered my flatmates from around the Commonwealth and Scandinavia.

On the other hand, my one roommate now (American born and bred) hasn't realized that it's not nice to bake and then to not clean up after herself. I do them in the morning while I wait for my coffee to brew because I have no spine. Also because I'm considerate, and want the sink clean because it's harder to just clean the plate you just used. I wonder if she's ever realized that they're not just done by magic?
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The HZA.
11/24/08

In reply to Home, But Not Alone
My ex would never do dishes. It was nasty. And I didn't even live there with him. So I quit spending the weekend at his house because it was nasty.

Two young men with a keg in the basement and a 50 inch flat screen is a bad combo. Nothing gets done.
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ellaesther
11/24/08

In reply to Home, But Not Alone
Am I the only one who thinks this Daniel character is deeply cute and, oh yes, looks like John Lennon?
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CollegeBookworm
11/24/08

In reply to Home, But Not Alone
I've done the traditional college roommate thing, where you actually share a room. That sucked once, when I was in the lofted triple from hell (double size room, bunk beds/lofted furniture, only two closets, and bitchy roommates) and kicked ass when I moved into my best friend's double. Now I have a single. Next year my housing is more likely to include dishes and chores, since we're hoping for a suite with a kitchen. Yea for intensive chore schedules!
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brendastarlet is on it
11/24/08

In reply to Home, But Not Alone
I knew Daniel V. was from Michigan but didn't know where. Now that it turns out he is from G.R., it makes sense: he's got that medium sized town air about him.
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Mkp-hearts-NYC
11/24/08

In reply to Home, But Not Alone
Oddly enough, one of my roommates was one of my best friends in middle school. We lost touch for 7-8 years but reconnected in time to apartment-hunt together...
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booboolee
11/24/08

In reply to Home, But Not Alone
This sounds awesome, too bad I don't really want to live with anyone from high school, and every friend I lived with in college turned out to have so much drama (untreated mental disorders that made them uber sad or mad). So it definitely made me nervous moving in with my S.O. but 9 months later, its all good. We're moving to a new city together, and are looking to get married... so it looks like I am missing my window of opportunity of living with a friend "family." Maybe we will take in stray friends when we have a big enough apartment.

Well, in any case... I'm jealous. They are all badass New Yorkers!
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belle TL
11/24/08

@booboolee: Hi--are you me? While freshman year wasn't so bad (more suitemates being way too dramatic than the actual roomie), sophomore year was kind of rough because one of my good friends was going through a bad period (which my sleeptalking/walking did NOT help in making sure she got enough rest), but my junior year roommate was the WORST. She essentially guilted me in to living with her, and then halfway through the year when I told her that my then-boyfriend (who I had known for two years prior to dating and had dated six months before she and I even met) was my best friend at school. Which was the truth, because, oh look--we're now married.

It also didn't help that she was a raging pathological liar/backseat shrink who liked to assign disorders to all of her former friends.

Senior year was heaven because I lived alone (but in the next apartment complex over from a lot of my friends) and it was a sort of palate cleanser, making it much easier to adjust living with the husband later on.
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RocketRockit
11/24/08

In reply to Home, But Not Alone
As an only child, I was pretty surprised that my college years (and two post-college years) that included a range of 2 to 4 roommates at any given time worked out so well. I would have thought that I would have totally lost it within the first month or so. I really enjoyed living with other people. However, when my last batch of roommates very slowly and very surely turned into those sorts of insane pack-rat people you see on "Oprah" who need like 18 Dumpsters to clear out their bathroom or something, I knew I had to stop the goddamn madness. I've lived alone for about three years now, and I'm actually getting afraid of the day I fall in lurve and the guy wants to move in, because I worry about if I'll be able to adjust!
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mbot says Spock yeah!
11/24/08

@RocketRockit: I know what you mean. It's almost impossible for me to imagine sharing a bathroom ever again. I need the whole medicine cabinet to myself, yo!
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RocketRockit
11/24/08

@mbot: I just don't know where Potential Mate would put his stuff!
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PhDork
11/24/08

In reply to Home, But Not Alone
There's a reason I left my hometown--and the vast majority of people I know from there--behind. Hanging on to highschool life seems terribly sad to me.
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Gretchen is a new kitten mom!
11/24/08

@PhDork: I did that for 15 years and then, through a strange twist of events, landed smack in the middle of my (very, very small) hometown.

The great thing is I've been here for 15 years now and most of the people I know from HS don't even know! And as I said, I live in the very middle of the dang town.

Invisibility is one of my special talents.
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Ratinski
11/24/08

@PhDork: It's not something I would do, since I couldn't stand most of the people I graduated with, but I don't think it's necessarily SAD. If they were good friends, and have enough in common to still be good friends, then that's pretty cool.
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PhDork
11/24/08

@Ratinski: In my case, it would be sad. YMMV.
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veronykah
11/24/08

@PhDork: I'm with you. When I think back to high school it seems like WORLDS away, like a different person entirely.

I can't imagine how different my life would be if I didn't have the motivation to pack up and leave it all...a few times!
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PhDork
11/24/08

@Gretchen: Your powers intrigue me. Do you have a newsletter?
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gra
11/24/08

In reply to Home, But Not Alone
When I was living in a London flat with 5 other girls, we had very strict laundry/dishwashing rules. Other people thought it was way too regimented, but it totally worked and helped us avoid unecessary drama. My laundry day was Wednesday and it totally helped me get shit done. I was always like, "If I don't do laudry today I'm screwed!" So, then I would do it and everyone was happy. The end.
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gra
11/24/08

Laundry, not laudry.
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CrossWord
11/24/08

@gra: Ha. I knew what you meant, but it still made me think about "doing" a guy named "Laudry," which may or may not be a British name. It sounds like one, to me anyway. And then being "screwed" if you don't do him.

/returns to seventh grade hole.
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Mkp-hearts-NYC
11/24/08

@CrossWord: hahaha...'Hole'....*retreats to 5th grade crevice*
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Sukie in the Graveyard
11/24/08

@gra: my day is Tuesday, tomorrow!

And I take out/bring back the trash Dec 5th.

I may have the best roommates ever.

(we have an unspoken rule that if you want clean dishes to eat off of, you had better get used to loading the dishwasher. no problems so far)
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westvillagegirl (exiled in chicago)
11/24/08

In reply to Home, But Not Alone
Good on you, Daniel. Like any young new yorker, I did the roommate thing. Thankfully, we did not progress to this point:

[www.passiveaggressivenotes.com]
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tomatoheart
11/24/08

@westvillagegirl (exiled in chicago): i had a roommate who left me notes that were from the objects that needed attention. As in...on the fridge there would be a note that said "Please clean me this weekend" and on the toilet paper roll there would be a note that said "Change me when my roll is empty"

Ugh.
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Ratinski
11/24/08

@delicatetbone: In college, one of my roommates left a note that said PLEASE CLEAN THE SINK. On the mirror. In pink lipstick.

Yeah.
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jemandtheholograms
11/24/08

@Ratinski: did you clean the sink but then leave a note in toothpaste in it asking her to clean the mirror?
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Sukie in the Graveyard
11/24/08

@westvillagegirl (exiled in chicago): oh, man. I just discovered PAN.com - LOVE IT. I showed it to the boyfriend, it was that funny.

He has roommates that he is not fond of either. The notes are his inspiration.
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CrossWord
11/24/08

In reply to Home, But Not Alone
I try to get my friends to move to New York. So far, no luck. This sounds freakin' awesome, except that I would always be sleeping with dishes.
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Mkp-hearts-NYC
11/24/08

@CrossWord: hee hee...At least you'd never be sleeping alone!
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veronykah
11/24/08

@CrossWord: My advice, don't wait for your friends to want to move.

Save your pennies and go alone.

Moving to NYC in my early 20s was the BEST decision ever. I wouldn't trade the experience for the world.

If I would have waited for my friends from high school to come with me, I'd still be sitting in my parents house in the midwest.
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CrossWord
11/24/08

@veronykah: I'm here! I paved the way! I'm just waiting for them to come out and play with me.
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hamburgerhotdog
11/24/08

In reply to Home, But Not Alone
I actually had a nightmare last night that I, by some mistake of my own, lost my apartment and had to move in to a new one where I'd have three roommates. I woke up screaming. The charm of having so many people in your space making noise, messes and whatnot wore think in my late twenties.
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Gretchen is a new kitten mom!
11/24/08

@hamburgerhotdog: I have fantasies about living by myself in the perfect small apartment. I live in a 4,000 sq. ft. house with husband, daughter, 9 cats and 2 greyhounds and I would totally die to have no mess or noise other than what I myself had made. For maybe a week.
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Lizawithazee
11/24/08

In reply to Home, But Not Alone
I did a big house/many roommates thing for awhile and it was divine. We had a very precise chore rotation plan, though. That was KEY. Very important to alternate between the OCD types and the slobs so you know the chore is actually getting done at least every two weeks.

Everyone also had a night to cook. So weekdays you know you'd get at least one hot, homecooked meal.
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Snowbunny
11/24/08

@Lizawithazee: I would LOVE to live in a house like that but right now we're basically hermits and never home at the same time. I live with people in my ACTUAL family, but we still never hang out.
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ChuffedLittleMuffin
11/24/08

In reply to Home, But Not Alone
Dibs on the 5th bedroom!
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ChuffedLittleMuffin
11/24/08

@ChuffedLittleMuffin: And by "dibs" I mean I'll move in, seduce Daniel, become his lover, and leave the 5th bedroom vacant again.
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ChuffedLittleMuffin
11/24/08

@ChuffedLittleMuffin: Oh dear, Muffin, your lust for Daniel V. has fucked up your reading comprehension yet again: that bedroom's full. Plan B: Murder one of Daniel V's roommates and hide the body very well, perhaps turning roomie into delicious tacos, which you sell on a streetcorner under the guise that you will donate the money to support the arts at a local high school. (In fact, keep the money to get lipo.) Leave a note that makes it seem as if roomie has simply decided to leave town for a while, and has deactivated his/her cell phone and not told any other friends relatives where he/she is going. (Include the phrase "Curse this fast-paced, modern life!") This will keep Daniel V from getting too sad. Then, proceed with Plan A.
then proceed with Plan A.
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