Last night I decided to be nice to my roommate. I mean, I don’t want to fight, and I don’t want to discuss any of the issues that resulted in our impending moves. It’s not going to get anywhere, we’ll probably argue if we do try to discuss it, and the results are exactly the same – I’m still moving, and nothing anyone can say or do will change that. So I’ll be nice.

She seemed a bit taken aback that I was trying to have a civil, chit-chatty conversation with her like we used to do. She really wasn’t expecting that. And since I put a deposit on my new place today, she definitely won’t be expecting me to tell her tonite that I’m moving in a month. Of course my portion of the rent will be paid for the last month of the lease even though I won’t be there. I have a contractual obligation to do that. But the utilities are all mine, and I do not have any legal obligation to provide them for her. If she’s super nice to me and I’m in a good mood, perhaps we can work something out, but for now I’m thinking no.

I’m going to start packing tomorrow. I like to get a head start on this sort of stuff, because experience has shown me that if you pack at the last minute, it’s extremely disorganized and things get lost and broken. I’ve done that, and I’ve done the extremely organized move. I want a trouble free-move, so tomorrow all knicknacks and decor get packed up. Then in the next few days, I’ll start on other areas. I have a list of what to pack together, so it should go pretty smooth. Then on moving day I’ll borrow some friends for a few hours, schlep the stuff over to my new place, and voila! I’m home.

Well, I have solved the mystery of the glasses. Turns out someone that I live with who shall remain nameless is fucking with me. See, the glasses are in 3 rows in the cabinet, set up like this:

1.2.3
4.5.6
.7.8

Numbers 7 and 8 are closest to the edge of the shelf (and centered because symmetry is nice), so those are the ones most frequently used. This morning when I went to retrieve a glass for my juice, it looked more like this:

1.2.3
4.5.6
7.8.9

So, of course I was very perplexed. But when I returned home this evening it turns out that the glass in the #1 position was removed and placed to make it look like there were now 9 glasses. I fixed it of course, and if things keep moving like that in the future I will continue to move them back to their established locations, the places where these items have been living for the last 2 years. I’ll do it all without saying a word or appearing to let it get to me. Other people in this house can’t remember where things go or even seem to care that various items have an established home, but I do. It’s frickin common sense – put things away where they belong.

I was also informed that I will not be allowed to watch tv in the living room at least half the nights of the week. See, this is what I do. I come home from work and I watch tv. It doesn’t matter whether or not I have a “life”, it’s just what I like to do. Now I’m being told that it’s not fair that other people can’t use the living room. Yes, you can. With our opposing schedules you can watch tv all you want when I’m at work, since you come home from work not that long after I leave in the morning. You have the whole darn day to watch tv in the living room. You also have a tv in your room. So if I can’t watch tv, what the heck else am I supposed to do – change my entire lifestyle because of your stupid games?

First of all, I will watch tv for those few hours when I come home at night in the living room, since I do not have the option of watching tv in my room like you do. I’ve made a reservation, so to speak, that will ensure my tv time and that I will be able to stick to my established schedule and routine. I’ve also decided that if someone persists in playing these games to keep me from the living room and basically banning me from the tv, well, that might be financially advantageous for me. See, the cable bill is split in half. If I can’t get access, then someone else pays more. And the rent is paid based on how much space we have exclusive use of. If I am denied any use of the living room, then someone else’s rent will go up. Simple as that. I am well prepared for these games.

I was going to wait until I had a deposit on my place to start packing, but I think I’ll start now. I don’t have much space at all in my room to start piling up the boxes, so the dining room will have to serve as a staging area. No one eats in there anyway. I’ll just start by packing things I don’t need, like decorations and such. Then I’ll move on to things in the kitchen that I won’t need in the near future – like my Braun Multi-Mixer that someone uses a lot and has twisted the cord up something awful. Yeah, my stuff that I won’t need in the next 8 weeks.

You know, I’ve also been thinking a bit. If this apartment that I am moving into will be ready in May, maybe I should just move in May and forget the last month. I’ll still pay her for my portion of the rent, less her portion of the utilities (utilities that are in my name and come with me when I move), but it would mean that I get peace a month sooner. I need to figure out the finances of that and buckle down, but I think I can manage it. Actually, she still does owe me some money for a computer she bought on my credit, so that last month could end up being a wash. So I need to work the numbers and see how the next couple weeks go, but that might end up being the plan. I like that plan – I’d have peace by my birthday!

I own a set of the glasses shown at left. I bought them when I moved into the apartment I’m about to move out of. It was a nice set – 8 large and 8 short glasses, 16 in all, plenty to go around. In the past 2 years, 2 of the small glasses have been broken by a clumsy roommate who shall remain nameless. So that leaves 6 short and 8 tall, and it’s been that way for quite some time. What I can’t figure out is this: When I went in the cabinet to get a glass for my juice this morning, I had 6 small and 9 large glasses. I counted and re-counted them. I can’t figure out where the heck this 9th glass came from. I know drinkware does not reproduce in the same way that say, cockroaches would (thank goodness I don’t have those!) so where on earth did this come from? All I know is that when I move, I am taking with me everything that I brought into the apartment, at least, what’s left of it. So when my roommate asks me why I left 1 glass, I’ll just tell her that I bought 8 large ones, and I’m taking 8 with me. Wicked bizarre.

Photo courtesy internet search