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Tuesday, February 3, 2015

roommate row

I texted Chaco...

"Is your refrigerator running?"

He texted back...

"Yes"

So of course...

"Better go catch it! Bahahahaha!"

Okay, no I didn't.

See, we recently got him his own little dorm fridge because his roommates were eating all of his food.  Like ALL his food.  Recall that he shares a dorm apartment with three other guys.  One is a friend from high school whom Chaco has roomed with since they were freshmen.  The other two are randoms.  They all get along okay for the most part, except for the food thing.

Seems like last year Chaco and his roommates shared pretty equally in the purchasing and eating, with an occasional indiscretion, but no biggie.  But this year, he's had to resort to having his own fridge in his bedroom that he can lock up.  Things you gotta do!

We were talking about it last week, and it got me thinking about my roommates from days past.  I started taking a mental inventory, and I think I lucked out pretty well in the roommate department.

Exhibit A:  Roommate 1 (and 2)

When I left my hometown for Denver, I couldn't wait to do so.  I packed up with a friend from high school, who was mainly a good friend of Guano's.  We had a third girl roommate in our 3 BR apartment, which  made for a bit of a "Three's Company" set up, but it worked.  Strictly platonic, of course.

As I recall, we all had very different schedules and didn't really see each other a whole lot, but we would manage to go out dancing quite regularly.

I'm still in touch with roommate, "R".  No idea where the girl is.  And... that may or may not be Guano in the fedora...


Exhibit B:  Roommate 4

After moving out of the Three's Company apartment for Boulder, I lived for a while with an older divorced woman who rented out rooms in her house.  She was nice, but it was never meant to last.

Next, I  met "A", who I think just ran an ad in the paper for an "single female" or some such.  She was fresh out of high school.  The condo belonged to her parents, so she took good care of it.  Great roommate.  She sorta became my little sister.  That's her, on my right (if you can find me), the short little sis one.

We still keep in touch, kinda like sisters.  She met her now-husband during one of our nights out.  She is not quite 5 ft. tall.  Her husband is 5'3".  Their eyes literally met across the dance floor.

So they got hitched, and she moved out, leaving me in her parents' condo.  They let me screen for a new roomie, and along came "I", all the way from France.

Exhibit C:  Roommate 5





She was a French exchange student, attending CU for one year to become an English teacher.  Very fun and outgoing!  She wanted to make the most of her one year, and we had some good times.  She broke a few hearts too!

I have no idea where she is now.






In the meantime, I'd been dating Magnum for a while, so when "I" went back to France, Magnum and I shacked up to live in sin in a two-story 4plex.

Exhibit D:  Roommate 6



We split all the bills and shared equally in the housekeeping (yeah, riiiight).  It was a nice cohabitation, until he left me...

...because he graduated a semester before I did and got a freaking job.

So I was left to find another roommate until I would graduate and get a freaking job.






I have no Exhibit E.  Hmmm, maybe because we were only roommates for a few months?  I dunno, but she was yet another exchange student.  This time from Japan.

Like "I", "H" was adventurous and wanted to make the most of her stay in the U.S.  She had rich parents, as in VERY rich parents.  The only problem I had with "H" is that she would take forever to pay her portion of the bills, so I would pay the whole thing and she would eventually give me her share.  She just didn't understand the urgency, having piles of money.  I knew she was good for it, though.  On top of that, she had a boyfriend in Montana and would spend hours each month talking to him on the phone, racking up the phone charges - remember life before cell phones?  Vaguely?

But she was nice, and we had some good times.  Strangely, though, I will add what I found to be a weird thing with her.  Recall this was my last semester in engineering school, so I mostly had group projects.  When group members would come over, "H" had a habit of walking around with nothing on but a big shirt.  Walking around to where we were for  no apparent reason.  I think she had a thing for one of the guys in my group, but that was pretty weird.

...but she didn't eat all my food.

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14 comments:

Betty said...

That's funny! I keep thinking about people I used to know and how they are. Now he can eat their food while his is locked up! hehehehe

terri said...

I'm glad Chaco got himself a fridge to protect his food. Pretty sad that his roommates can't be a little more respectful of his stuff though.

Between my kids, the roommate stories are limited to one from the Netherlands, who kept bags of onions in the little dorm fridge and wanted to know which coffee shops had pot for sale. The other is one who kept turning the heat off during one of the coldest winters on record and got upset when others "wasted" money by running the heat.

Oh yeah ... there was also Stinky Steve. Nuff said.

ShadowRun300 said...

When it comes to food, you gotta do what you gotta do. Hence the reason I keep blow pops in my underwear drawer. It is a little sad, though, that his roommates eat stuff they didn't buy.
As for roommate stories - I have none. I lived at home, then lived by myself, then moved back home, then got married. My college life was pretty ho-hum. I envy yours. Even if your roommates weren't perfect, they left you with fun memories. And I'm sure Chaco will have some stories to tell...

Abby said...

Ha, right! First, they'll have to go buy some since they won't have Chaco's to eat.

Abby said...

You're reinforcing my feelings that I lucked out in the roommate department!

Abby said...

No roommates! Well, I never lived in a college dorm, but I still went through the roommate struggles. Good adventure.
We were noting that all of Chaco's roommates are only children, and we wonder if that has anything to do with their lack of boundaries. Hmmm...

Rock Chef said...

My son has been lucky in his 3 years in dorms. The worst that has happened is having some of his cutlery and stuff borrowed - so he borrowed it back! I can't imagine what he would do if someone started taking his food...

Abby said...

Yeah, that's pretty lucky. Chaco says that they only leave the raw meats because, apparently, he's also the only one who will cook.

Anita said...

You do what'cha gotta do. The fridge sounds like it was a must.

You've had some interesting youthful experiences - so independent you were! I like seeing all the photos. The first one is a l-i-d-d-l-e gross.

Abby said...

Ha, I can actually hear you saying that! - "... a l-i-d-d-l-e gross"

agg79 said...

Funny what we put up with in our younger days. I spent most of my years in a dorm so the roommate thing was communal gig. My first roommate was a real character, a real clown always looking for trouble (and usually finding it). That lasted two years before I began shacking up with Mark for the rest of my college career (you remember him - the ladie's man in the tux at the reunion). Our last semester was off campus at some dive apartment complex with fleas in the carpet and a house cat. I remember the refrigerator thieves as well. Someone was always stealing our Lone Star beer. But my roomie had this thing for Guinness Stout and NOBODY ever stole that stuff.

Abby said...

Looking back, it seems kind of like a whole 'nother life. Of course I remember Tuxedo Mark!
It's "fun" to watch Chaco and Wolfgang going through their roommate dramas. One of Chaco's from last year had his future mother-in-law stay in their dorm for a cheap overnight. Whaaaat?!?

Riot Kitty said...

Ooooh, the 80s hair! You are brave, woman.

I don't think I've ever blogged about roommate adventures. Thank you for the idea ;)

Ginny said...

Wow that's a lot of roomies. I've had 3 roommates and I'm still very good friends with one of them. We each had our own shelf in the fridge and shared condiments. Luckily we never had a problem.