Why I love going out with my roommate

I, of course, like spending time with my friends, but getting older and wiser I am trying to do what’s best for me, and I have figured out that going out with my roommate is much better than doing it with just a friend. I’m not talking about the fun side here, it’s all purely practical: When you are going out with a friend you are basically responsible for yourself, but when your roommate is beside you, you feel (at least I do) like it is your mom’s younger and cooler version (sorry, mom).

My roommate is the best wingwoman (is there even such a thing as a wingwoman?) in the world! She keeps hoping that I’ll meet my prince charming, so she is always on the lookout for me. She scares me sometimes with her almost computerized skill to scan the room in search of a potential boyfriend. It’s like, we would be drinking and talking, and she would appear really engaged in the conversation and then: “So I told Katelyn that we should ask for Friday off this week since there are only two of us showing up in the office anyway… Have you seen that cute guy with the beard over there? With the beard… WITH THE BEARD! He keeps looking at you so intensely…No, not that one! He has a ring on… omg, don’t turn like this, you are so obvious!..”

It’s ok for us to pay for one another when we go out because there is always an unpaid balance fluctuating between two of us. Let’s say I paid our electric bill and she ended up owing me certain amount of money, then we went grocery shopping together and she paid for our groceries, but the amount she has paid is slightly bigger than what she gave me, so now I owe her, and so on.

I am not afraid of getting tipsy (read: wasted) because I know that my body will be safely delivered home and placed into my bed. I can even hope to be woken up next morning, if she doesn’t oversleep herself.

Being on a neutral territory helps us to ease the tension and discuss the issues we might be having with each other. I don’t know why is it like that, but things apear much simpler and less significant in the darkness of a bar.

It’s always an adventure going out with her, because we have completely different interests and outlook on life, so spending time together outside of our apartment is like introducing one another to our private worlds. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but it’s never boring.

And one more thing that made me really fall in love with my roommate: she has taught me one really cool russian anti-hangover trick: activated charcoal+pickle juice, that once had saved my life and my career. That is the debt I can never be repaid…

Your roommate will move out and never want to see you again if you do these 8 things — Roommate quest affordable rooms for rent

Your roommate will move out and never want to see you again if you do these 8 things — Roommate quest affordable rooms for rent.

Happy Fourth Of July… to me (stitches instead of fireworks).

This Fourth of July was good for me despite the fact that I ended it in an emergency room having my hand stitched up and missing the fireworks.

Thanks my roommate for leaving me a Fourth of July souvenir!!! PS. I’m not mad at you.

So this is how it all started: we were having a small party, only the closest friends invited, on our roof (we are technically ot allowed to go there, but we do it anyway), and that was when my roommate got aggravated with her ex (who was also invited for reasons unknown to me), and smashed her wine glass against the wall of a roof entrance.

We didn’t hear the whole argument, and all of us just stared at them in shock, when I noticed that I am bleeding. It turned that a huge piece of shattered glass had bounced of the wall and slashed the skin on my hand. I went down to treat the cut and while rinsing it I was even more surpised to see a stomach turning gash on the top of my left hand, with blood streaming down from it and quickly forming a puddle under the sink.  My roommate who walked into the bathroom a moment after me, was even more horrified and nearly passed out when she saw all the blood and flesh.

We rushed to the ER where I was congratulated by the surgeon on the fact that the glass had barely missed my tendons. So there was a sort of silverlining in the dark cloud of my injury (see, having it had jeopardized the trip to the beach that we had planned for Sunday). Another good thing was that I have learned some new things, and it never hurts to learn something new, right?

Things I’ve learned:

-The fastest and easiest way to clean blood stains from hard surfaces is to pour peroxide over it and then wipe it off with a paper towel (wikihow doesn’t teach you that!).

-People in Mississippi are not all overweight racists (watching the episode of Bravo’s  What Would You Do? while waiting to be seen doctor in the ER’s waiting area).

-If you ever find yourself in an emergency room and are asked if you have had a #%$& (something that makes absolutely no sense to you) done, your immediate response should be “yes”. Because if you say no, or even appear hesitant you will be vaccinated on the spot to prevent diseases that you didn’t even know exist.

-The best way to ignore a person in pain is to pretend that this person is not there (nurses in the ER to a homeles woman with a bad burn on her leg waiting to be treated by a doctor). I mean, you probably should ignore someone who smells bad and yells obscenities at you, but, am I wrong to judge them for not trying to understand that all her stunts were just an attempt to get the attention and care that she obviously doesn’t get but needs so desperately? And are they really that busy looking mad, that they can’t spare a minute to make a small talk with someone, or at least just look and smile and the person? Well… I’m sure all of it is more complicated than it looks…

–Tullie loves blood. But it gives her mad diarrhea.

If we were silver screen personalities

My roommate and I had recently watched A Game of Shadows (the Sherlock Holmes Series) and realized that we are pretty much like Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. They are both mature and responsible, so are we, one of them is on a weird side though an absolute genious in his trade (me, being modest, but realistic) the other one is a knowledgeable and respectable professional with strong moral values(my roomie), they each have different interests, but are friends, hang out together often and have each other’s back in the times of need. Well… Mostly, Dr Watson is helping Sherlock Holmes but.. who’s fault is that that Sherlock Holmes’s life is more adventurous and interesting than Watson’s, right?

After giving it a better thought I realized that these are not the only two iconic roommates who we can relate to. If you remember a movie called Interview With The Vampire the two main characters there, the vampires, were also roommates and they started out as friends with one looking after and mentoring the other one. That is just like my roommate and me, taking turns in mentoring one another.

There is another great movie about roommates, called The Fight Club, which is also quite old but is considred the undying classic (am I right or wrong?) with two psychopathic friends crashing an old abandoned house in an industrial area, taking on the national finance system. Even though one of the roommates is figment of the other’s inflamed imagination, and they are, technically, terrorists, they still remind me of us with all the fun and philosophical conversations they have at the beginning.

Also if you have could consider Timon and Pumbaa from Lion King to be roomates sharing the jungle then it could also be us, hanging out and having fun together, we are sort of missing Simba but I don’t think either of us wants the third person to enter our household.

I didn’t even realize untill now, that all the characters I compared me and my roommate to are a males. I guess it can say something about us in a psychological sense…

Meet Tullie

Meet Tullie, the cat I have adopted with my roommate’s permission. Actually we both wanted a cat but my roommate was concerned with the responsibility issues, such us, who is going to take care of the cat if we both leave for a few days, what if we forget to feed it or change its litter box, who’s going to take the cat to the vet to do all the shots etc. So I stepped in and said I am going to be responsible for the cat, but in exchange I am going to have exclusive rights on it, meaning that I get to pick a name and the cat is going to be sleeping with me most of time. We took her from the shelter this Saturday and she has officially become The Princess Of The House since that day!!! Excuse the quality of the pictures, they were taken with my Iphone 5.

Everybody who sees he says she has super smart eyes.

She is super smart, she has figured out already who can give her treats if she plays cute (me), and is now working on the fridge opening skill.

Stretching and cleaning

We still have to figure out what to do with her fur flying around the room and sticking up to the furniture but these I minor details!

Sleeping beauty

She falls asleep in less than 30 seconds, regardless of where she is and what she is doing at the moment!

There is just one thing that concerns me so far: we somehow failed to notice that our lease has a “no-pet” clause in it, so now we are researching the ways to keep the cat, in case our landlord says she has to go.

Roommates fighting (lots of door slamming).

Every once in a while we come across unpleasant people, and my friend Anna is going through an experience with an unpleasnt person being the third roommate in the apartment where she rents a room. By some reason these two girls just couldn’t connect and I don’t know how it all started, but, as of right now, they are officially at war, so that is how her typical weekday morning with the roommate goes like:

   She wakes up, sneaks into the shower and starts the water running to indicate that the bathroom is occupied. She is then pleased to hear her rommate opening her door 5 seconds later and then slamming it closed again with irritation. Too late b*tch!

   After taking her time in the bathroom she comes out to find Andrea (the roommate) monopolizing the kitchen table where Anna likes to sit and eat her breakfast before going to work. She proceeds with preparing the food anyway, taking an opportunity to boil some eggs (it’s summertime, 79 degrees outside and no A/C in the kitchen), while she, herself, retreats to the living room where A/C is on. Andrea won’t desert the kitchen table no matter what, so she has to simmer in her own sweat, while pretending she is not hot at all.

   While my friend chills in the living room, her evil roommate changes the water running mode in the kitchen sink from stream to soft flow (water running like from the shower head). Anna doesn’t know how to switch it back to normal when she starts the water running to wash the dishes after herself. So Andrea smirks quietly while she is struggling with the kitchen faucet. The two exchange an eyeroll and a sigh without looking at each other.

   My friend is done with her breakfast, dressed and ready to leave for work, but before, she wants to use the bathroom, so she starts walking there, only to be cut off by her roommate, who comes out of the kitchen and starts walking in front of her leisurely, with theatrical yawns, and slams the door behind herself in Anna’s face. Anna leaves the apartment slamming the front door behind her and dumps the water bottle she just finished into the basket attached to the front of Andrea’s bike, parked by the house.

What an amazing beginning of the day!!!

6 points to check if you live with a roommate

I just had a conversation with one of my friends who asked me (yet again), whether I am happy living with a roommate, and that made me think. Why is sharing an apartment something so controversial that you almost feel embarrased telling it to other people. Maybe something is wrong and I have to change my life, get myself a separate apartment and “grow up already”? But then I analized my feelings and came to a conclusion that I am perfectly happy with my present situation, and feel really comfortable and not at all depressed having to share an apartment with Marina. In fact I am happy to have her living with me and really hope that we’ll stay in touch, after each of us get’s her own nest. And that realization lead to the following thoughts formed in my head:

It is good to live with roommates when:

You are in college or a college grad settling in a big city.

You need to save money for a greater purposes

You are going through financially turbulent times

You feel like you want to have (a) roommate(s)

It is not good to live with roommates when:

You can not afford your own place and are not doing anything to change this situation

You hate your roommate(s)

You don’t feel comfortable in your apartment and prefer to go out rather than stay in the apartment

You are in a bad relationships with your roommate(s)

Things that your roommate is for you:

Your buddy, your style advisor, your confidante (to a certain degree), your drinking companion (on occasion), but most important, your roommate is rightful and respected member of your household.

Things that your roommate isn’t for you:

Your roommate is NOT your: babysitter, housekeeper, bank, psychiatrist, parent, teacher, boss, cry-shoulder or legal guardian.

Acceptable behaviour :

Joking, light pranking, time-to-time arguments, issue resolution

Unacceptable behaviour:

Fighting, passive aggressive behaviour, pressure, silent treatment, abuse (like exessive drinking or partying in the apartment).

And now, after checking all the above points I realized that not only I am happy living with my roommates, but also, I feel that I am doing a good thing for myself, because I am doing it fot greater person (I really hope to buy a2-family house for rent in the nearest future), I am really comfortable with my roommates and I am pleased to know that we are both mature adults and are solving our problems in a rational adult way. And I actually do feel myself a grown up now.

Mother knows best!!

The pearl I have found on a website called Arts-stew.com

A Mom visits her son for dinner who lives with a girl roommate. During the course of the meal, his mother couldn’t help but notice how beautiful his roommate was. She had long been suspicious of a relationship between the two, and this had only made her more curious….

Over the course of the evening, while watching the two interact, she started to wonder if there was more between him and his roommate than met the eye. Reading his mom’s thoughts, his son volunteered, “I know what you must be thinking, but I assure you,we are just roommates.”

About a week later, his roommate came to him saying, “Ever since your mother came to dinner, I’ve been unable to find the silver plate. You don’t suppose she took it, do you?”

He said ,”Well, I doubt it, but I’ll email her,  just to be sure.” He sat down and wrote….

Dear Mother:
I’m not saying that you ‘did’ take the silver plate from my house, I’m not saying that you ‘did not’ take the silver plate, but the fact remains that it has been missing ever since you were here for dinner.
Love,
Your Son

Several days later, he received an email from his Mother which read:

Dear Son:
I’m not saying that you ‘do’ sleep with your roommate, and I’m not saying that you ‘do not’ sleep with her, but the fact remains that if she was sleeping in her OWN bed, she would have found the silver plate by now, under her pillow…
Love,
Mom.

The best roommates notes ever

Oh the fun you have when you live with roommates… It doesn’t only help you financially, but also awakens your creativity;)

Unfazed optimist

It’s not a threat, it,s a warning

Better safe than sorry

“Talking” cans

You better trust him, trust me…

Now, this lucky toilet paper spool has a house!!

These little cookies screamed your name…

Bon Appetit, friends!!

NASA people sh#t too

Group messaging old school

Breaking news

When your roommate becomes almost like family

Oops…My bad

Dear roommates, please help yourself with some delicious typhus germs..

We want to change the world

Inspired by a heated conversation I recently had with my highly conscious tree-loving roommate, Marina, about whether or not we should rinse plastic stuff before throwing it to a recycle bin, I came to realize that no one is going to change the world (ugh, sounds so cheesy, thanks, Hollywood) tomorrow, it is us who have to begin doing things differently today, starting right this second. We have gone so far away from our parents, judging by how different our mind set became, comparing to the previous generation, how different our outlook on things are, how conscious we become of political propaganda, financial manipulations in the world, etc. I think it is not a secret to anyone now that we have drastically depleted our planet’s resources  are by careless consumption and greed. So today, a lot of attention is turned to saving and restoring The Earth’s ecology, and I bet you are nodding enthusiastically, imagining that somewhere in Uruguay people are re-planting the trees that they have chopped out to produce tobacco.  But you will be surprised how little it takes to make your apartment more eco friendly, and how much it is going to improve the global environment in the long run.

Recycled paper goods and green cleaning supplies like toilet paper, paper towels and facial tissue cost as much as the white paper goods but mean so much more. And yes, just like everybody esle, I am not too happy about how thin and non-absorbent the Seventh Generation paper towels, that my roommate has stocked us with for two years ahead, are, but the good thing is, we started using microfiber kitchen towels more than paper towels, and, by doing this, reduced the paper waste in our household, which makes me really proud of myself.

Beauty and personal care products not tested on animals will become a nice addition to your bathroom shelf and cabinet, as they will not only mean that you take care of yourself, but also, that you care about the planet, and are an animal lover. Search the web to find a list of companies that don’t use animals for testing their products. Since I became aware of it I gradually switched all my products to all organic and natural brands that are cruelty free, like Kiss My Face, Jason Natural Cosmetics, MillCreek Botanicals, and Artistry.

First I wanted to post a video of an actual animal testing the beauty products but then decided not to go hard core saving your fragile mental health. So here is a nerve racking video of a human undergoing the test that is usually performed on animals.

Food suppliers, like Newman’s Own Foundation, who donate part or even all of their profits to charity. How does helping the world to change tastes? Good? That’s right, enjoy. As matter of fact a lot of big companies are giving backto the community, just pay attention to what the labels say, in the store.

Recycling. 

Interesting facts about recycling in the US:

-Americans make more than 200 million tons of garbage each year, enough to fill Busch Stadium from top to bottom twice a day.

-We generate 21.5 million tons of food waste each year. If we composted that food, it would reduce the same amount of greenhouse gas as taking 2 million cars off the road.

-Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to listen to a full album on your iPod. Recycling 100 cans could light your bedroom for two whole weeks.

-The Container Recycling Institute (CRI) estimates that the 36 billion aluminum cans landfilled last year had a scrap value of more than $600 million.

-In 2010, paper recycling had increased over 89% since 1990.

-A glass container can go from a recycling bin to a store shelf in as few as 30 days.

Saving energy

I think we all know how to save energy, but I could never understand why is it so important. Now I finally realiazed that energy production not only deplets the planet’s resources but also pollutes the air, producing harmful emmisions, everytime the electricity is used on a large scale.

Things that I still have to improve. 

I need to start carrying a fabric tote for groceries, so that I don’t have to use plastic bag. Marina has been trying to guilt me into doing it for the past two month (since she moved in with me).

I need to start setting my A/C in the eco-mode instead of a non- stop 69 degree cool, but I’m not sure if it is ever happening, because i just feel cosier sleeping under a thick blanket, and I have setup a unique microclimat with the ideal temperature in the room for myself, so…

I am seriously thinking about excluding meat from diet, but now, honestly,  it seems like too big of a commitment to make.

It is true that all-organic green products are more expensive than the generic ones, but I guess this is more a question of your own priorities in this case, what are you ready to save on, and what is so important for you that not a dime should be spared to get the best possible? My own personal list of no-sparers is: my food, my health, my future (including the environment I am going to be living in tomorrow) and my family.

Things on which I refuse to spend more than average price are my clothes, my bags, my jewelry and accessories, my home decor elements and my rent. That is exactly why I have rented out a spare room in my apartment and did not regret doing it so far.