Western Oregon Journal

Issue date: 4/22/05 Section: Culture

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While being a college student, most people have the chance to experience a number of different living situations. It's easy to try living with one roommate, two roommates, three roommates, and, when fed up, to try living solo.

Here's a compilation of the top five reasons living alone rocks, and the top five reasons to never trade your roommates in, from a girl who's tried it both ways. These things might not be the most obvious, but they are important nonetheless.

LIVING ALONE: The only way to live

1. No one acts like Mom.
It's awful when roommates act like a mother. Living at home would be better than when roomies make reminders to pick up the bedroom, or begin lecturing about school attendance. No one likes to be mothered!

2. There's no one to hound for rent money.
Getting the bills paid on time when living with roommates is such a pain! It just never seems like anyone is ever capable of paying their share of each bill when it's due. Maybe people should just refrain from buying a PlayStation or a laptop with their rent money. Living alone eliminates this annoyance!

3. Sex noises--yuck!
Getting to know people is great, but no one, under any circumstances, needs to know how their roommate sounds when they're doing the deed! Surely all roommates can agree on this point. 'Nuff said.

4. Everything is mine.
Ever had a roommate who tried to tell say that the sweater or picture on the wall was really theirs (when it isn't)? Living alone means no more fighting over property.

5. Freedom to just be!
Everybody has quirks and rituals that come out only when no one is around. Living alone means being able to watch re-runs of Beverly Hills 90210, sleep with a blankie, drink milk out of the container, go to bed early on a Saturday night without being hassled about not going out and listen to that favorite annoying song over and over without starting an argument.

LIVING WITH ROOMMATES: Hard to deal with 'em, but it sure isn't the same without them...

1. They help create new excuses to tell profs.
Everyone misses a class here and there (some more than others), and having a roommate or two to help think of a good story to tell that uptight professor so the skipped test can be excused is priceless. Not that that's ever done happened before....

2. "Does my butt look cute in these jeans?"
This is probably one of the most important questions that need to be answered before leaving the house. Risk being in public in jeans that make the booty look flat or show panty-line? Not if there's someone to look those jeans up and down before leaving. No one's a better mirror than a roommate!

3. Ever not remember what happened last night?
A good roommate will always be there in the morning to say what happened the night before at a drunken get-together. A really good roommate will leave out the part about giving a lap dance to the goofy guy in computer science.

4. There is always someone else to blame.
Living with roommates means that the pile of dishes or the smelly trash can be blamed on someone else. When guests sneer at the dirty house, explain a roommate had a bunch of wild friends over last night and hasn't cleaned up. It's so simple to appear as an angel in front of friends.

5. They are there when there's a broken heart.
Just about everyone has had their heart broken, and it's always nice to cry on a roommate's shoulder in the middle of the night. Or, if the heartbreak is reversed, it's nice to know the crushed person won't shrivel up and die alone in their apartment because they have a roommate or two.

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