It’s a Little One-Sided

It has been pretty great living with a roommate who doesn’t make me feel completely worthless. Jules and I have been spending a lot of time together after our work day is over, both at home and while going out.

Some of my good friends like to entertain at their apartment, so almost every weekend we trek over to their place and enjoy whatever silly theme they’ve come up with that time. So far this summer, we’ve been through a cocktail party and a “bro” party which involved a lot of Dave Matthews posters, N64, and a mad search for polo shirts for popped collars.

Then there are the more normal nights where we get ready to go out while dancing to Britney or Justin in our room. I’ve always wanted to have a sister to share clothes and go out with. Freshman year, the Sara(h)s and I used to do that. At least, we swapped shoes sometimes and Sara even gave me a pair of hers that she knew I coveted. And Sarah always had me do her makeup before going out.

Now, it’s just them coming to me when they need something from me (including waking me up to ask to borrow a skirt, despite knowing about my sleeping problems). But if I’m going on a date and my coat has a fat hole in it, I get a pretty resentful groan and a reluctant “Ergh… fine… I guess you can wear my coat”, which I don’t understand because I was taught always to take extra care of other people’s belongings–something the Sara(h)s never learned because my shoes will come back with scuff marks and holes. One time, Sara even admitted to me that she couldn’t stand when Sarah borrows her shoes because they are always ruined afterward.

I suppose I just can’t blame them for never having to take care of their things; afterall, they can just go buy $200 jeans when they want to whereas I have owned the same coat for six years (thus the huge hole in the pocket). Just like you can’t blame Paris Hilton for being spoiled.

It’s Only Inconvenient If You Let It Be

This time two summers ago, Sarah and I went to see An Inconvenient Truth. I’ll admit: she had to drag me because I don’t particularly enjoy documentaries, much less ones done by politicians, and even less ones done by Al Gore. But since Sarah cares oh so much about the environment, and I cared about Sarah at the time, I went with her.

The best part about it is that I caught Sarah while her eyes were filled with tears. What?! Sarah? Crying?! I know, I thought so too. Except that this was during the scene where the computer-generated polar bear drowned. Forget the San Francisco Bay/Florida/Manhattan going under water; the CG fuzzy cuddly bears matter more than people.

Either way, I ended up being pretty moved by it despite my bit of skepticism. Say what you want about it, but sometimes scare tactics are necessary to provoke progress in people who are otherwise too preoccupied/lazy/whatever to change their lifestyles. Not that Sarah’s self-absorbed lifestyle has changed in the last two years.

1. She still leaves the TV blaring when she goes to class.
2. She still leaves the lights on after she is done with the kitchen/bathroom in the middle of the night.
3. She still gets pissy when I bug her to separate her recycling, and she still neglects to help me take out our bins.

Granted, she has bought a bike. Though I think that has more to do with the fact that her hipster friends all ride self-painted bikes as a statement of their “trend-setting” ability than her effort to reduce emissions.

Yellow Dish Gloves

Having Jules as a roommate is a Godsend. Ever since she moved in, our house has gotten cleaner without me having to clean it alone and we’ve been having these amazing homecooked meals every evening. I really enjoy cooking, but making dinner for everyone alone had made me resentful and bitter about it. Now Jules comes up with the most random things to prepare, and we have so much fun doing it.

Even cleaning has become so much less painful with Jules’s help. I never have to ask her to do dishes or vacuum or empty out the tub strainer. It feels so good to come home to a cute and considerate roommate, especially since I come up with really ridiculous things for us to do together and she usually complies.

For instance, we decided that the chore of scrubbing down the kitchen would be a lot more interesting if we did it only in our underwear and the huge yellow dish gloves. I am pretty stoked for the rest of the summer’s shenanigans.

Pity Party

This weekend, my roommates and I threw a small dinner party for some friends whom we hadn’t gotten to hang out with for a while. Jules and I planned the meal, did the shopping, and prepared the food. We served mini quiche, a gorgeous salad with homemade dressing, mini kabobs, and two kinds of personal pizzas made-to-order–all made from scratch. Sarah crumbled the feta cheese.

The 4-course meal was executed perfectly with dishes coming out just as our guests were finishing up their last plate. Jules and I served our guests while Sarah sat and watched us. Figures. At least she volunteered to pull out her iPod and speakers to provide the music for impromptu dance party afterward. We all had a lot of fun dancing and being ridiculous, even Sarah and her snobby hipster friends.

Jules and I had a great time entertaining, and our guests all thanked us profusely for the lovely evening afterward. I felt pretty happy that all of us got along for an evening… until I overheard Sarah on the phone with Sara the next day.

“Last night, Roommate threw a dinner party…. It was all right, and only tolerable because Rob, Paul, and Jared were there. When Rob and Jared left, I just sat there pretending to have fun with her lame friends,” she lamented.

Nothing unexpected there. After all, Sarah is an aspiring hipster, and therefore she has to act like everyone else’s mainstream tastes and pastimes are totally beneath her. Good thing Paul and Jared told me that I knew how to throw a good party and suggested that I host another one when I ran into them on campus today.

Two Beds are Better Than One

When Sara told us that she was accepted to an internship program in D.C., all of us were supposed to find a subletter for the summer so that she wouldn’t have to pay rent while not living here. Of course no one else stepped up to the task, so at the last minute I scooped up a lovely girl to take Sara’s place. Jules was in a school organization with me this past year, and from that I know that she is sweet, responsible, and (best of all) neat. Our landlord is a huge stickler for paperwork and contracts, so I made sure that everything was filled out and submitted to her lawyers properly. Although Sara was the one that should have taken care of everything to save herself the rent money, she didn’t lift a single finger except to cram some of her things under her bed so that Jules would have some space during the summer.

Since Sara and I are currently sharing the double room and Victoria and Sarah are each in a single room, Jules has moved into Sara’s place as my roommate. Sarah took this personally, as I found out when I heard her ranting to Rob during one of their cigarette sessions on the porch.

“I guess Roommate must really dislike living with me because she gave up a single room,” Sarah griped.

“What do you mean she gave up a single?” Rob asked.

“Technically it’s my turn to take the double room and her turn to take over a single, but she voluntarily stayed in the double… she must really hate living with me,” she complained angrily.

Obviously we all make decisions based on the fact that the world revolves around Sarah. Of course she doesn’t consider the fact that Jules has no furniture of her own and it only makes sense for her to take over Sara’s place in the double. Of course she doesn’t think about the inconvenience of swapping rooms with Sara only to move back again at the end of the summer. Of course she doesn’t realize that she is a complete nightmare to live with and there is no way I’d want to put up with her attitude and slobbiness in my room.

“Um, aren’t Roommate and Jules friends?” Rob pointed out.

“Yeah, they know each other from some club, so it’s cool that they’re living together. Plus I get to stay in the single for three extra months,” Sarah said nonchalantly.

… So why the hell did she have to bitch about it in the first place?!

Let’s Hope the System Works

Sarah has decided to take the MCAT at the end of the summer, so she’s taking night classes and studying for the next two months. This means she will be even moodier and more pretentious, and there will be less cleaning on her part (I doubt we’ll even notice the difference).

I’m more than a little concerned about her career choice, seeing as she doesn’t really seem to care about people, much less her future patients. One of my aunts, who is a pediatrician, swears that unless you are passionate about medicine, you won’t make it through to the M.D. because it takes more than just brains to survive. So the best we can do is hope that the system will weed out people like Sarah.

Masochism?

A lot of people have asked me why I renewed my lease with these girls. I ask myself that every time they do something crappy and make me feel like I’m a second-class citizen. But then we have moments where we get along really well, and I feel like we’re connecting. It’s hard to believe, but after living with Sara and Sarah for two years and sharing a huge part of my life with them, I’ve seen their weaknesses and they are just like me in that way. Even though Sara and Sarah have been best friends since they were 10, right now we’re all girls going through tough classes, dealing with difficult family situations, and insecurities about our bodies. And once in awhile I feel like they care about me too. So I guess this next year is me being hopeful about them opening their eyes and seeing how all the little things I do for them should mean something. Call me crazy… but I suppose that’s what hope is all about, right?

(And the apartment is really nice)