My roommate is a complete stranger–last May I told her I’d live with her because a)all my friends and former roommates were graduating and b)she needed a roommate, and lived in an area of campus I’ve always wanted to live in. And instead of being thankful for all of the things she doesn’t do: she doesn’t sleep on the couch after a long night at the bars, she doesn’t come in late at night/early in the morning being loud and boistrous, she doesn’t have sex in another person’s bed, she doesn’t eat my food or drink my beer, she doesn’t break the phone because she’s drunk after a football game, and she doesn’t wait a couple days before doing her dishes.[sup]*[/sup] She pays her rent and utilities on time, and cleans up after herself.
But in the past couple months, I’ve really started to get annoyed with how meek she is. It’s not like I’m an overwhelming or intimidating person, but she’s always so soft-spoken. I don’t even recall her ever having a friend over, and most weekends she studies or rents a couple movies. Sometimes her sister (who’s maybe my age or a year older) comes over, and she’s the same way, too! They talk to each other at the lowest possible volume. It’s not as if I’m trying to eavesdrop–I just feel like “You have a voice–use it!” I mean come on, let loose, have a big chuckle or something!
Then last night, I was sitting in the living room and doing some homework while “The X-Men” was playing on Fox. She walked in and said “Oh, what’s that?” I told her, and she said “I wanted to see it, but it doesn’t look like my type of movie. Too scary.” TOO SCARY? You’re an adult in college, and this isn’t a horror movie! Grow a backbone! She also seems to get easily grossed out (we watch ER together) and, get this, she wants to be a doctor!
The worst part about all this, is that I feel really petty because this stuff has been getting under my skin. I should be more tolerant and understanding, live and let live, etc., but I just keep finding little ways that she seems to be too nice and it gets me all frustrated again! Maybe it’s just because the last time I lived with complete strangers, it worked out great. They were all fun girls, and we had all sorts of “wacky hijinks.” Maybe because this is my last year of college, I wanted a roommate who would be a little more fun.
Though she doesn’t close the lid of the toilet when she flushes it, and when putting in a new roll of toilet paper, it faces the wrong way.
*All things that I have done at some point, though never all at once, and usually with my other roommates’ permission.
