I watch much less TV, mostly because I used to keep the TV on as background noise while doing other tasks, whereas he’s opposed to the TV being on unless we’re specifically watching something.
I’ve also taken to eating a lot more rice (my default starch used to be potatoes unless I was eating stir-fry) and refrigerating all my condiments (rather than storing them in the cupboard as I always have).
All told, nothing huge in the grand scale of adjustments required for peaceful cohabitation.
Viridiano has a much better sock-folding method than I did.
I also never used to sleep under all my covers, just the little blanket on top. Now because he does it I sleep under the comforter/covers 80% of the time (but I still hate sleeping under the sheets).
His family liked to leave leftover potted food on the stove till the next day whereas my family always put everything in the fridge. I think we capitulate to each other 50/50 on that.
And I feel wrong if I don’t eat dinner with someone now, whereas I used to prefer it by myself with books or media (his family always ate together at the table).
I think he’s getting used to watching TV with closed captioning on (I find it amusing), and to folding towels my way (so they can be hung easily). He says he plays console games a bit less now, since the consoles are in the living room and I’m usually in the bedroom and it gets lonely. 
I think I do the same thing.
I don’t know how to vote on the noodles. Generally I prefer less sauce on most things than the people around me do. I wouldn’t want clumpy noodles, though.
Having had more than one roommate (and one SO) literally carted off either to jail or the madhouse, I no longer have roommates or an SO.
This is about the oddest food-related thing that wasn’t about cannibalism I’ve ever read.
I’m all about noodle separatism!
As to the OP, I watch alot less TV when I’m with my boyfriend. Ironically, his nickname round these parts is TVMan because he restores antique televisions for a living. He just doesn’t watch TV.
And also, I tend to be better about actually going to bed when I am staying at his house. Left to my own devices, I’d be up all hours of the night which is not good for me at all.
This pretty much sums it up for me too. I’m hard pressed to think of anything that I haven’t changed.
No kidding. To this day, as I approach 42 years old, I’ve still never seen anybody else eat spaghetti that way. Not sure if my mom still does it that way.
My old roomie taught me a handy tuna-making trick. You run a sharp knife through the tuna while it’s still in the can, using five or six evenly spaced strokes. Then turn the can 90 degrees and repeat the cuts. You want to create a grid-like cutting pattern in the tuna puck, essentially dicing the tuna in place. When you dump the contents out onto your plate, the process of mashing the tuna into the right consistancy takes about one quarter the normal time and effort.
A really great tip. Thanks, Colleen, wherever you are!
Eating in the kitchen - I’ve always done the livingroom/bedroom eating most of the time… while watching TV/DVD or playing on puter.
Communicating - sharing secrets. Never did this with any other SO!
Not sleeping with so many pillows on the bed.
Sleep naked (TMI)
Drink more homemade coffee vs Starbucks
There are more than 2 ways to fold a towel - the right way and the wrong way, his way and my way (and my way is always right unless he beats me to the laundry room!).
(We’ll need an updated thread in a few months)
I can no longer pile the books I’m reading on the other side of the bed.
I don’t play computer games quite as much as I used to.
The house is getting cleaner.
I’m eating more ‘real’ meals now rather than whatever happens to be in the freezer. Both of us cook, I just wasn’t motivated to while living alone.
And my way of folding towels is the correct way, I just don’t make a fuss when she does it her way.
I used to watch and clear shows off Tivo in 6 or 8 hour sessions, now the tv marathons are shorter.
re: spaghetti. I splash in some olive oil after it’s cooked to keep it from sticking. Then served separately of course as decreed by the omniscient and omnipotent FSM.
Gosh I can’t think of anything. I do the same things I did before as does he.
I guess I do less cooking as he does most of it. There are still some dishes I make better so I make them. There are others that I like his better so he cooks them.
There are things we buy now because he likes them but I don’t know if that really counts.
The only thing that really sticks out is the dogs no longer sleep with me. They lay in bed with me until he comes to bed and then they are booted off because there is just not enough room for us two and three large dogs. That is about it though.
And no spaghetti sauce and noodle shall meet until they are put on the plate.
After walking in on a couple college roomies while they were milking the lizard, I became adept at compartmentalizing memories. It’s impossible to have a normal conversation with someone if, the whole time you are talking to him, all you can see is the memory of him sprawled naked in the middle of the floor making a monkey face and bopping the bologna.
Before I got married I used to: express my opinion, have an opinion, smoke cigars, smile, have sex.
…there are people who don’t refrigerate ketchup?
I actually stopped refrigerating my fruits and some vegetables, like tomatoes. He hates cold fruit and says cold makes tomatoes mealy (I think he’s right about that). I grew up with the fruit always cold, and it was a pretty hard adjustment for me. But I prefer it his way now.
Every restaurant I’ve ever worked in.
I always figured it was volume thing. Ketchup will keep at least for a while, and a restaurant would have enough ketchup turnover that it wouldn’t go bad before the bottle was finished. They also use smaller bottles, so less time to go bad.
Two people, enormous ketchup bottle…it always seemed like a good idea to refrigerate. Maybe it doesn’t matter. (For the ketchup, I mean, not for me. But maybe for me, too.)
I’m much, much tidier.
As a single girl living alone, I would either be very, very messy or very, very clean. I’d have a cleaning fit every month or so and my apartment would be spic-and-span. And then it would degenerate for the next few weeks til I did it again. I’m not talking anything foul, like food growing legs or anything…but clothes on the floor, toiletries/hair dryer/makeup left out…books and mail everywhere…crumbs on the rug…shoes left wherever I take them off…
I moved in with an OCD clean freak.
I now clean as I go, and pick up after myself on a daily basis, so the mess never gets out of hand. (And as of two months of living together, I find that the mess I would have initially picked up only out of respect for him has begun to bother me too. I am being brainwashed, I think.)
And he has relaxed his standards somewhat so that if I do leave my shoes and socks in the livingroom, he doesn’t have a panic attack.
I still have a pile of clothes–in various states of cleanliness–in the closet, but as he says, “At least it’s all in one place.”
Oh, and since this thread was inspired by mine, I should state that I still refrigerate my own food, and he still leaves his out. I don’t see this changing, and that’s OK. I don’t have to eat his food, and if he wants my leftovers he has to heat them up.
I live in southern california. If not for my SO, that would probably have never happened.
… I almost forgot… no chewin on my fingers anymore or I get my hand slapped =(
As for drug use: no actual change in behavior has taken place, since I hadn’t done any hard drugs for a while before I met my girlfriend and I haven’t since. But I’d definitely be more hesitant to do it now, as she saw a lot of drug addiction in her family and would be uncomfortable with me doing it–not because I’m any more convinced that hard drug usage is inherently bad, dangerous or immoral, but just because I value her more than (say) cocaine. Again, though, it’s a moot point since I don’t come across the stuff anymore and I wouldn’t have the money to partake if I did.
I also keep my room cleaner, though it still looks like a Colombian warzone in there. (Without the cocaine; see Paragraph 1.)
Now that I think about it, I end up drinking a little less, since the only thing she likes is tequila and I’m more of a beer and rum guy. (Er, not in the same glass or anything.) I have plenty of rum and tequila, but we never break it out for some reason.
I sleep with all of the covers on when I’m by myself, but I get really hot when I’m sharing the bed with someone. All the body heat gets to me, so I often try to redistribute the blanket and comforter so it only covers her, when she sleeps in my bed.
My taste in movies tends to be less eclectic when I’m with my GF; there’s a long list of American classics I’m trying to catch her up on before I try to watch my movie-buff stuff with her (for example, I’ve been into postwar Italian neorealism lately). The end result is that my movie-watching behavior has become polarized: I now watch strictly American somewhat-mainstream fare when I’m with her and strictly foreign/avant-garde film when I’m alone. (I really wish I had someone to watch my more out-there stuff with, though!)
TMI:
I also trim a lot closer because of my GF.
You know, I wouldn’t mind if my insurance company sent me a food plan. It’d be nice not to have to follow it, of course. But I’d sincerely appreciate the gesture and I’d probably use it as a guide.
