Last week, I said some mean things to my roommate about the window situation, and then, it was fixed. It was nice, and I was pleased I had finally gotten through to her.
Then it was open last night. It was a nice week. I already miss it.
Everytime I think "Okay, now this drama is over," it comes up again.
I'm hoping she goes out and gets drunk tonight so she can't control anything.
Showing posts with label windows. Show all posts
Showing posts with label windows. Show all posts
Friday, February 25, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Forget This
One of the biggest reasons I hate this whole open window controversy is that I notice a distinct set of problems when I don't have enough sleep. Nina doesn't see this because she isn't around, and it's part of the reason she's completely unfair.
This morning, I left my bag somewhere. It took me about four hours before I noticed it was gone. I realized it was gone and then forgot again for another two hours before I finally went and got it. It was sitting at the desk, waiting me, and I thanked the man there for keeping it. I didn't have much of a panic because I realized it was probably safe, and even if it wasn't, there wasn't anything valuable in it.
But what if I had left something valuable? And it had gotten stolen?
Later on in the day, I went to church, and I forgot to bring money. It ended up being not a big deal, but it's not like me to forget things (and when I do, it's usually because of stress), and it's not like me to forget two different things within a few hours of each other.
I don't think appealing to her will really work, but I wish it did.
This morning, I left my bag somewhere. It took me about four hours before I noticed it was gone. I realized it was gone and then forgot again for another two hours before I finally went and got it. It was sitting at the desk, waiting me, and I thanked the man there for keeping it. I didn't have much of a panic because I realized it was probably safe, and even if it wasn't, there wasn't anything valuable in it.
But what if I had left something valuable? And it had gotten stolen?
Later on in the day, I went to church, and I forgot to bring money. It ended up being not a big deal, but it's not like me to forget things (and when I do, it's usually because of stress), and it's not like me to forget two different things within a few hours of each other.
I don't think appealing to her will really work, but I wish it did.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Roommate Troubles
When I was younger, I started leaving rooms when I got really angry. I didn't have to do it a lot, but occasionally I did. I did it mostly to allow myself the time and space to calm down.
At around one in the morning yesterday I realized I needed to do the same thing. So I grabbed my key and left.
I ended up in one of the common rooms, watching television. The screen was all snowy, but I watched part of an episode of Stargate Universe, which I had actually never seen before. I tried to concentrate on the show and not what was making me angry, although my mind kept wandering back to my problems. I hate this.
By the time I went back to my room, I had a compromise in mind. It was too late to do anything about it tonight, so I tried to sleep.
And couldn't. Again, even though I tried to concentrate on sleep, my mind was wheeling around problems. This is both a good and bad feature. Good in that I can usually quickly figure out how to fix something. Bad in that I have a hard time thinking about anything else, and when I'm trying to sleep, not being able to relax is bad.
But also because, well, the problem was my sleep. There's a lot of noise on the street below us, even well into the night. My roommate won't let me close the window at night because she says she gets too hot. And then the noise keeps me up. (It apparently doesn't bother her one bit.) Instead of her, say, not wearing winter pajamas to bed, which would be an obvious way to fix it, she said something that angered me last night, which is what prompted the retreat. I was trying to be the better person, but trying to do that was meaning I was up half the night, the sound of ambulance sirens and car door alarms keeping me up.
I tried to tire myself out. I have all sorts of tricks that sometimes work. I got on my computer for a half hour, hoping the harsh computer glare would make my eyes tired. No luck.
Around 4:30 this morning, still awake but in that state of "dear God, just let me sleep," another set of sirens went off and I finally shut the window. It took me at least another half hour, but I finally fell back asleep.
She woke my up in the morning, opening her drawers and doing something strange with liquid. (Every morning there's a glug, glug, glug sound and I find myself wondering why she can't do that in the kitchen, since that is where she is heading next. I am trying to be patient, but I am stunned by how generally inconsiderate she is. When she is sleeping and I'm awake, I try to do things that are either inherently quiet or if they aren't and they have to get done, I try to do them as quietly as possible. Every morning she must open and close at least six drawers.)
I got up then because it's not worth trying to fight it. I just got up and waited for her to close her drawers enough to let me walk past. Once she was out of the room to get her breakfast I changed and got breakfast myself.
I was tired at breakfast this morning. My eyes were doing that itchy thing that tells me they're red and that I'm tired. I didn't really feel like talking to anyone. I thought about offering her a compromise, trying to decide which one would be the best.
When I got back to the room, I sat down at my computer and started doing my usual morning routine of catching up with the news. And she left. I was going to offer it to her this morning, but she's gone.
Part of me is still really angry. Like, ready to pick a nasty fight angry. But the other part of me so wants to make this work, since other then the noise thing, I mostly don't mind her. I can try to forgive the early morning wake up if I can just manage some decent sleep in the first place.
At around one in the morning yesterday I realized I needed to do the same thing. So I grabbed my key and left.
By the time I went back to my room, I had a compromise in mind. It was too late to do anything about it tonight, so I tried to sleep.
And couldn't. Again, even though I tried to concentrate on sleep, my mind was wheeling around problems. This is both a good and bad feature. Good in that I can usually quickly figure out how to fix something. Bad in that I have a hard time thinking about anything else, and when I'm trying to sleep, not being able to relax is bad.
But also because, well, the problem was my sleep. There's a lot of noise on the street below us, even well into the night. My roommate won't let me close the window at night because she says she gets too hot. And then the noise keeps me up. (It apparently doesn't bother her one bit.) Instead of her, say, not wearing winter pajamas to bed, which would be an obvious way to fix it, she said something that angered me last night, which is what prompted the retreat. I was trying to be the better person, but trying to do that was meaning I was up half the night, the sound of ambulance sirens and car door alarms keeping me up.
I tried to tire myself out. I have all sorts of tricks that sometimes work. I got on my computer for a half hour, hoping the harsh computer glare would make my eyes tired. No luck.
Around 4:30 this morning, still awake but in that state of "dear God, just let me sleep," another set of sirens went off and I finally shut the window. It took me at least another half hour, but I finally fell back asleep.
She woke my up in the morning, opening her drawers and doing something strange with liquid. (Every morning there's a glug, glug, glug sound and I find myself wondering why she can't do that in the kitchen, since that is where she is heading next. I am trying to be patient, but I am stunned by how generally inconsiderate she is. When she is sleeping and I'm awake, I try to do things that are either inherently quiet or if they aren't and they have to get done, I try to do them as quietly as possible. Every morning she must open and close at least six drawers.)
I got up then because it's not worth trying to fight it. I just got up and waited for her to close her drawers enough to let me walk past. Once she was out of the room to get her breakfast I changed and got breakfast myself.
I was tired at breakfast this morning. My eyes were doing that itchy thing that tells me they're red and that I'm tired. I didn't really feel like talking to anyone. I thought about offering her a compromise, trying to decide which one would be the best.
When I got back to the room, I sat down at my computer and started doing my usual morning routine of catching up with the news. And she left. I was going to offer it to her this morning, but she's gone.
Part of me is still really angry. Like, ready to pick a nasty fight angry. But the other part of me so wants to make this work, since other then the noise thing, I mostly don't mind her. I can try to forgive the early morning wake up if I can just manage some decent sleep in the first place.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Library Fantasy #2
I spent a ton of time today and last night doing reading for various classes (a piece on the Crusades, one of Saint Louis, part of a book on Shell Oil in Nigeria, Oranges are not the Only Fruit, "Recitatif," a Winterson article.) Mostly, when I'm doing a lot of reading, I wander around until I find a comfy/semi-quiet spot to work in, since I don't have a couch at my place right now and I get antsy if I'm not moving.One of my favorite quiet places are on the second floor of the building I live in. There's these two different rooms in two different corners of the buildings, and they're perfect. Generally, no one's there, and there are leather couches and tables and chairs. One of the rooms has tons of books, which I cataloged as a sophomore. Last night and today, I opened the windows, and enjoyed the nice weather and the perfect atmosphere for productivity. The weather has been a big help in keeping my mood up, and being left alone made it possible for me to really concentrate. I actually don't mind interruptions, usually, from friends. (It's when it's people I dislike it's a problem.)
As I was sitting in this reading room, I found myself fantasizing about having a large library someday. A nice library is a real steal. (The picture is from a conceptual piece for Buffy the Animated Series, which never happened. As of right now, it's my ideal library, except I want there to be comfortable, huge chairs, like the kind you find at Barnes and Noble, and blankets and even Snuggies.) I want to have lots of books, strange ones, leather ones, fugly ones. I want there to be no room for anything else, so there's no art on the walls. Except for Roman Empire busts. When I was in London, I hung out a little at the British Library, and one of the workers told me of a library they had received was cataloged by whatever Roman bust was on top of the shelf. I can say that I'm probably not that crazy, but I definitely want a collection: Julius, Augustus, Caligula, Nero, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, Sepitimus Severus, Caracalla, Elgabalus, Valerian, Diocletian, Romulus Augustus, Justinian. And then of course, when I have visitors to my library, I'll see who's up on their stuff. Maybe to throw them off, I'll throw in Suetonius and Catullus and see who's really on their game.
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