It was the best of times....

In the last 9 years since I moved out of my parents house (the first time), I've had 12 different roommates (including my current two). Of those 12, only 2 of them have been bad roommates. I'm not going to give those two any space on my post, but I would love to talk about my current roommates, and why they are keepers.


1. I asked Colleen and Allison if I could move in on a temporary basis only. 9 months later I'm still here and I have thus decided to stay permanently and they've been completely cool with it.

2. I only knew one of my two roommates before I moved in, and Allison was gracious enough to let me move in when she didn't even know me... props to her.

3. A month and a half after I moved in I brought home a 6-week-old boxer puppy, un-housebroken and whiny. 6 months after that, my brother moved in during his furlough from school. They've welcomed both with open arms, both literally (as in the puppy) and figuratively (as in the brother).

4. They've both put up with my unintentional, yet not-so-subtle rudeness.

Exhibit A: One of our first all-inclusive roommate movie viewings was "slumdog millionaire". I apparently talked it up a little too much because it didn't become an all-time favorite by either of the girls. However, in the middle of it, Allison asked me a question about the movie and I (according to her, and she is very truthful), stated, "I don't like to talk during movies" and went back to watching it... ouch! how rude am I? What I meant to say was that I don't like to give away things about the movie plot that will become evident later. Needless to say, I'm still working on my communication skills.

Exhibit B: If you've slept withing 20 feet of my room, you've likely experienced my annoying habit of not hearing my alarm at all. at all, at all, at all. After a couple months of hearing my alarm go off without any response from me {please note that Colleen and I sleep only about 3 feet apart, it's a small room}, her alarm goes off one morning for about 2 seconds, and I wake up long enough to say "Yours". End Scene.

That's just a couple reasons why these girls are definite keepers when it comes to roommates.

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The weather is changing, getting slightly cooler, and its perfect weather to read. Here's two of my recommendations.

The Covenant by James Michener. It's a fictional account of the history of southern Africa. I wanted to visit South Africa before reading this book, but now it's a definite MUST in the next couple of years, specifically Cape Town. Don't let the size of this book and the smallness of the font deter you, it's a great read.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. A classic, and so much better in novel form. I've read this book countless times and I plan to read it again before the year's end. This time I'll try to read all of the book, but secretly I love to skip ahead and just read the parts that involve Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. It's like eating just the icing on a cupcake. The whole thing is good, but the icing is always extra delicious.