living with boys

i've lived with boys since about july. but in july there were 3-4 boys and at least one other girl. and with 6 ppl, a cleaning lady, and some ppl living there for over 2 years, it makes it difficult to judge. the toilet seat was always down (someone must have trained them early) and the kitchen was always full of stuff. food stuff. some multiples of stuff. like 2 things of cinnamon sugar, 3 things of basil, 3 of oregano, etc. but with the number of ppl in the apartment, it's hard to tell if two ppl happened to buy the same thing at different times or if they are shopping amnesiacs.
now that i live with just two boys, i've noticed things. the toilet seat is sometimes up, the floor probably hasn't been swept/vacuumed in weeks, and the boys before me definitely had shopping amnesia. i was going through the cupboard just to see what the previous roommates left. there were SIX containers of Parmesan cheese. SIX! of varying sizes, shapes, and fullness. all open, of course. and 3 containers of oats. one was almost empty but the two others weren't even close. 4 cans of tuna but one was in the process of being opened. the flippy thing was pulled up but the lid wasn't peeled back. but.. why half open a can of tuna? oats, fine. they're less perishable. but tuna?? ew. and 3 bottles of maple syrup. all half empty or less. and then there are spices. i was actually impressed by the selection. there weren't many multiples just alot of types of seasoning salts. and allspice, pumpkin pie spice, and rosemary. i heard that one of the guys is engaged now so maybe the fiance decided to bake a pumpkin pie? but overall, these things don't really bother me. i just put the seat down when i use the toilet and wear shoes around the apt. and the kitchen is more amusing than anything else. although i would like it cleared out so i have space to put my stuff. my three different types of brown rice, 4 types of flours, two types of asian noodles, and two bags of black beans.

wonky schedule

since i started working at the bakery, i've had a wonky schedule. i sleep when normal people are awake, i'm working when normal people are sleeping, and my weekend is during your workweek. sometimes i wake up at 1pm, other times it's 6pm. it all depends on when i actually fall asleep. and how much sleep my body thinks it needs. i range from 6-12 hours of sleep. i've grown used to it an accepted it. now that it's daylight savings, there are days when i don't see the sun. i'm not happy about it but if i really wanted to see the sun, i would set my alarm clock and make an effort to do it.

last night i went to sleep at around 1. i woke up at four and saw that it was already dark. i think it's because ny is higher up so it gets darker earlier. anyways, i see that it's four so i get up and get ready to go on a bunch of errands before work. i leave the apartment think "gee, it's really not busy out. it must be because it's so cold" and "wow, why aren't these restaurants open? isn't it profitable for them to be open for dinner?" and then a thought pops into my head. "oh god, is it four AM?!??" it's pretty much confirmed by the time i round the block and i see that the bar is closed.

but here's my question. what made me wake up in the first place and say "hey, i think 3 hours of sleep is good enough. let's go be productive today!" instead of the usual "ermm.. let's sleep a bit more"

jumping high fives rock!

on thursdays, fridays, and mondays i listen to classic rock on the radio while working. it's the only station that doesn't repeat itself during the 8 hours i'm there. after a while though, you realize that while they don't repeat themselves over the course of a night, they do repeat themselves. mostly to amuse himself, randall started making up contests. the first one was to have one person pick a song and then everyone guesses what time it will come on. however, none of the songs have been played on the same night so that game was quickly stopped. then there was the two for tuesday game. that's where one band comes on and you guess the next song. that's not a bad game if you know the artist and song title. i do not. and as randall learned this, he became more and more appalled. at first he accommodated my ignorance by saying "ok, this is the rolling stones." and then i'd pick a song. then he soon learned that i also don't know titles or if that title goes with that band. so then it turned into "ok, this is the rolling stones. i'll give you a choice of 5 titles. angie, brown sugar, etc, etc". i have now been disqualified from this game. he and courtney still play it though. courtney has consistently beat randall, much to his annoyance.
but now, in an attempt to educate me, randall has given me 7 bands and if they ever come on, i have to identify which band it is. they are: the rolling stones, led zepplin, the beatles, u2, bob dylan, bruce springsteen, and billy joel. on friday, we started late so he only asked me to name four bands and i got them right! the prize in any game that i participated in has always been a jumping high five. (courtney doesn't really care about the jumping high fives so she doesn't get them after her wins though.) and i think it was the best jumping high five i've ever had. it was the really loud clapping kind and was really satisfying. i'm looking forward to more.

i hate my super

i moved to new york in october. since then, i have lost electricity, had the electricity hooked up to the fire alarm in the hall, tried to get management to refund some of the rent b/c of the electricity problems, had surprise exterminators just show up without warning, got a letter in the mail from the gas/electric company about the building not paying a deposit and that if it wasn't resolved, it would shut off the gas/electric to the building. not the individual apts though. we pay our own gas/electric bills. but last friday was the worst. wednesday and thursday was so cold (nearly single digit temps) but i didn't stay at my apt. i went to visit rina on wednesday night then spent thursday night at saritas. by friday i really felt the need for a shower and wanted to clean up for sara kondo's visit so i went to my place. i hopped into the shower and waited for the hot water to kick in. it never did. i took the coldest shower of my life that day. i couldn't bring myself to put my entire body into the water so i washed myself in sections. first my hair. then face. arms, legs, then torso. i really didn't want to but i figured after washing my hair and face, the rest of my body had gotten sprinkled with water anyways so i might as well. i got out of the shower still feeling a little dirty and a bit numb. then i went to put on warm clothes. i broke out my slippers, sweaters, long johns.. anything to get me warm again. then i realized what the problem was. there was no heat! i checked roommate's thermostat and it said 58.8 degrees. feeling that it was an unacceptable temperature, i went down to my super's apt. she wasn't there (i hate her) but i talked to a lady (aunt? mother?) who lives with my super. she said that there was no heat or hot water then showed me that she was boiling two pots of water to warm up her apt. after getting back to my apt, i got a call from my super. she said that she called a mechanic (?!?? aren't mechanics for cars?) to come in and fix it. sara k's flight was super delayed by the storm at sfo so she didn't get in until about 1am. after getting her a bit settled, we went to feed her since she hadn't eaten all day. then we went to sleep until i woke up in the morning b/c of a knock on my door. i answer the door to the super (wonder of wonders.. she came to do her job). she said that she had to shut off the water to the apt b/c a pipe burst which flooded the basement and short circuited the heat/hot water thing. i woke up sara and said that we needed to go to sarita's so we could do our morning routine. for those of you who weren't keeping track, my apt went from no heat or hot water to no heat or water. i was so pissed off at the super and the building that i stormed off to sarita's with sara trailing after me. we get there and use her lovely heat and hot water then go about our day. at about 6pm, i call my super to see if everything has been fixed. she said that the heat and hot water was back on but to watch out for the extension chord in the hallway that was the only power source into the basement.

if this place weren't so cheap, i'd move. blurgggg


times sandra has gone to the super b/c something needs to be fixed: 2
times the super has been home to fix anything for sandra: 0
satisfaction with super: -59234576543567295