The scene: beautiful Monterey, CA. The situation: involving roommates. It was not a good one.
I never had any luck with roommates who were unrelated to me. I spent my first year at MIIS living in a fun apartment near downtown with another grad student. The problem was that he was a student at NPS (Naval Postgraduate School) and there seemed to be a culture clash. Things started off really well - he was very friendly, extremely clean and tidy, and he liked hanging out with me and Nick. He accompanied us to a party or two and he eagerly co-hosted a party of our own. He was quirky, but then, aren't we all. I guess it comes down to whether he is the kind of weird you like. It turns out he wasn't. The guy was honestly pretty lonely. He had an out-of-state girlfriend, he wasn't very close to his family, and he didn't seem to have made very many friends in Monterey. Truth be told, perhaps I am not the best roommate either. I never really figured out the boundaries, as in, do you share every meal? Do you share food? How much time do you need to spend together? Etc. During the weekends I was either out and about with Nick in Monterey or out of town altogether. During the holidays, I spent an entire month out of town. It is possible I came across as someone who didn't want to spend very much time with her roommate.
Whatever the cause, as spring semester wore on, things felt more and more strained. He told me that his girlfriend was moving out to Monterey in the summer and he hoped that I would be ok with that. I said that would be fine. I then noticed that certain items from the front room were no longer there, such as his fancy globe, his projector.... these were pricey items which I know because he told me numerous times. I then noticed he had begun locking his bedroom door. All very weird as Monterey is hardly a hotbed of crime and this guy was a trained expert who kept a sword in his room for goodness sake. One weekend Nick and I decided to garden and generally spruce up the yard. Apparently this was the last straw for the guy. On Monday, he told me that he no longer wanted me to live there and I had until the end of the semester. I gardened without permission and his name was on the lease. Furthermore, he considered me a safety risk. Apparently, he would listen when Nick would leave at the crack of dawn and then get out of bed to lock the door behind him. I also then began to notice the guy locking the patio door while grilling. Unlock door. Put steak on grill. Come inside and lock door. Unlock door. Go flip the steak. Come inside and lock door. More than a little weird and definitely not the kind I liked. Also, couldn't he have just told me his girlfriend didn't want another woman in the house when she moved there?
I already had a Luau party in the works for that weekend which he said of course would not be cancelled. I spent a lot of time in my car that week, just driving around, not interested in being home. I would leave for class and just stay out all day. I ate dinner out or in my car. It was pretty being out and about and it really wasn't so bad as it gave me time to process and figure out what to do about the following year. In preparation for the Luau, I was test driving my Luau mix. One of the songs was Ka Huila Wai by Brudda Iz and I listened to it over and over. I have no idea what he is saying, but I loved the melodies, his crooning voice, the Hawaii feeling just washing over me. The Luau was a huge hit, by the way, and I found a new apartment all to myself. Win-win.
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