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From: ganns@hound.UUCP (R.GANNS)
Newsgroups: net.singles
Subject: ramblings on roomies and living alone
Message-ID: <1320@hound.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 23-Aug-85 08:50:12 EDT
Article-I.D.: hound.1320
Posted: Fri Aug 23 08:50:12 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 24-Aug-85 20:15:26 EDT
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ
Lines: 46


    Living alone seems to be more desirable for some personality types
than others; I have known people who were so gregarious that they couldn't
stand to be alone for more than a few hours, and the other extreme --
the hermits. An advantage of living alone is that you have more control
over when there are others around -- having your own place means that
you can escape to solitude generally when you want to. I work around a
lot of people during the week, and usually have weekends scheduled with
social activities, so I really like having the peace and quiet of my own
apt. in the evenings during the week; week-day evenings are rather
rigorously scheduled anyhow: after work, go running, make tomorrow's
lunch, cook dinner, clean up, practice fiddle & banjo for 2 hours,
read for 1 hour, go to sleep -- get up, make coffee, go to work, etc.
etc. 5 days a week-- somewhat of a grind, but directed towards an
end, and the presence of others in the apt. would be an unwanted
distraction. However, weekends are entirely different, typically a
sleep-over party/jam session, an outdoor music festival, a ski or
sailing trip, a hike, i.e., always something going, hence week nights
don't seem lonely at all.
    My experience with roommates has led me to conclude a few things:
1) it is very difficult to tell during the "interview" whether or
not the potential roommate will be compatible; 2) people who are
good friends will not necessarily make good roommates; 3) there will
be "surprises" from new roommates -- things that they didn't
tell you during the interview; a potential roommate with a dog will 
tell you that the dog is quiet, clean, house-broken, well-behaved,
and always stays outside -- none of this will be true;
if you are the "senior" roommate --i.e., have been there the longest,
you inherit all the utilities accounts, get to front the money on
each bill, and have the pleasure of constantly dunning the others
for their share; after a while they come to resent you;
a single sloppy roommate has infinite capacity for creating messes;
if your are a light sleeper, you have to get used to having your
sleep disrupted frequently -- there is what I call the "central
tendency of volume" theory -- whatever your roommates are doing,
they're doing it too loudly; if you ask them to quiet down, they will
be very quiet for about 3 minutes, then somewhat audible for the
next 5 minutes, then gradually get louder until, after about 15
minutes, they return to their original volume; if you again ask
them to quiet down, they will start to resent you;
any given potential roommate has about a 50% probability of being
compatible; If you have female(s) roommates, get used to having
very large phone bills, many late-night, loud, animated conversations
in the kitchen, and lots of strange dudes lounging around at all hours;
 A neatness fanatic is just as big a PIA as a slob;
vegetarian/non-vegetartians are incompatible;
Etc. Etc.