So, you're moving out of your parents' place for the first time.  Maybe it's for school or you finally decided to try to go out and make it on your own.  Either way, like many things in life, there are pros and cons to an experience like this too.

Let's start with the pros:

1. You might/will learn to cook for yourself resulting in learning more about your tastes and preferences.  You will also learn how much time and preparation it takes to cook.  You will either learn to love and appreciate this or not, but it will definitely make you appreciate the effort it took for your parents and anyone else who cooks for you ever again.  It, at least for me, may also help in teaching you patience for when you go out to eat.  You begin to take into account the different preparations that need to be done for each dish and how many orders have been placed ahead of your own, and so, complain less.
2. You will learn to do laundry.  In some cases, you may ruin a few pieces of clothing along the way.  In others, you will learn what to do with certain kinds of fabrics.  You may or may not learn to love this also.  Personally, I have.  I saw it as a point in the day where I could do something just for me; I didn't have to think about anyone or anything else.  It helped to clear my mind of stressful thoughts about school and work most of the time.  Other times, it might cause a touch of tension just because it has to be done while you're focused on other work, but most of the time, it can be quite enjoyable and calming.
3. You will learn to clean.  This has its own reward whether it seems like it or not.  If you are living with roommates and you don't think you're the neatest person in the world, you might realise that you prefer things much cleaner, still, than others.  As a direct result of that, you will learn what you like to keep particularly clean, how clean, and how often you need to clean that thing or space.  It's a lot of work, but you will feel so good once you have your own space that you can keep clean to your specific preferences because seeing a place that's much cleaner than what you might have lived in previously and having it stay that way brings so much peace to your mind.
4. You will learn to shop more economically.  You will look for cheaper items that still satisfy your needs.  Finding quality in cheaper products doesn't have to be difficult, it just takes a little experimentation.
5. In connection with your shopping more economically, you may also find ways to live more environmentally friendly, if you're the type of person who worries about this, while also wishing to remain frugal.  One of the best things I have happened to stumble upon online was cheap ways to be environmentally friendly, to be honest.  I didn't know that living frugally and being more environmentally conscious could be two living styles that coincide.
6. You start to realise that you may have way more stuff than you need to live be they knick knacks, towels, electronics, what have you.  You start to notice the things that you brought with you and what you use versus what you don't.
7. You begin to appreciate everything your parents do for you even more, if you haven't begun to done so already, because you learn how much money and work goes into supporting yourself and think about how many people your parents are/were supporting on top of themselves.

Some cons to living on your own for the first time are:

1. You realise that you are forced to learn to do a bunch of things on your own and quite quickly, such as how to pay your bills, how to cook, clean, shop, do laundry.  But, it's not the end of the world.  Some of these come easier than others and you might learn to enjoy some of these things.
2. If you are living completely on your own, you have no one with whom you can share the chores.  Not always a loss depending on your cleaning style and preferences, but it does mean all of the work is yours to do alone.
3. You realise how much work and money actually goes into living on your own.
4. You may have to work more to meet your cost of living depending on where you are and your particular living style.
5. You develop your own living style and rhythm to the point where it might/will become difficult to live with someone else whether that means moving back in with your parents or living with a roommate or friend.  This can lead to relationship problems with your family, friends, or roommates because if you are not particularly confrontational or generally less vocal, you may begin to develop resentments towards people you have to live with, however temporary it may be, simply because you don't feel like you could come forward and talk about your issues with whomever it is you are sharing space.
• As a side note, this can always be worked on so that you can live with people comfortably.  It just takes a while to get used to.  Trust me.  This is something I've been worrying about lately in terms of living with Boyfriend in the future, but having seen me go through what I did with my past roommates and the two of us generally being more open with each other than with other people, we can see this working out.  He's a lot calmer about it than I am and have been, but his faith and support in everything has been incredibly helpful in making me feel better about our potential living situation.

As many cons as there are, and as much detail as I might have gone into them, living on your own truly is a great learning experience that you may or may not want to leave should you get into it for long enough.  It gives you a huge sense of independence that you don't have while living with your parents and the feeling of self-reliance can be a wonderfully rewarding one.  It is definitely worth trying or getting into when you have the means and opportunity to do so.

Why do I always end up with crap roommates?  Does this ENTIRE school year hate me or something? 

I'm not even at school anymore, but I'm living with people I can't stand.  It sound harsh, especially since what we're doing is staying at a cottage for a week with all of Mom's side of the family...well, just her siblings and their kids.  But, we just got here, and her youngest sister is with us.  Her 2nd husband, I suppose, is such a power-tripping chauvanist.  I mean, we get into the cottage, settle a bit and all I hear is, "No kids here, don't do this, women doing this..." BLAH, FREAKING BLAH! 

The worst thing is that this is only the beginning.  We just got here today and we're here for a week.  Somebody save me? Dx

I'm already in a horrible mood after that.  I'm hiding out in my room refusing to go downstairs or anything because I don't want to deal with people.  A few more people are coming tomorrow and I don't know when everyone else is supposed to be here. 

Of all the things he could be though, does my uncle really have to be like that?  If he shoos me away telling me, "No kids here."  I'm going to give him something to think about.  I mean, I'm 19!  I'm legally an adult.  Yes, he's my elder.  Yes, I should be respecting him too.  But, although younger, we deserve to be treated with respect and dignity too.  I mean, dear God!  We are people too.  We are here to have a good time, and the first thing he does is piss me off. 

Yeah.  Thanks a lot.

Looks like I'm going to be hiding out in my room a lot this week.  I'll keep you guys updated on how this all goes.

Wish me luck, and I really hope you guys are having a better time wherever you are than I am.

Dusk

That's right, guys!!!  I AM OFFICIALLY NOT IN RESIDENCE ANYMOREEEE!!!! =D

All is good now!  CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES COME ON! =P

Alright...that's all... *throws confetti in the air* if you feel this needs more of a celebration, feel free to comment. xP

Dusk

Hai Guys!

Get your celebratory hats on!  I'm going to be officially checking out of residence today!!!  Yes, it's finally happening!!!  The keys are handed in, I just need to give an overview of the condition of the apartment when I left it, then sign out.  I will be doooooooonnnnnnnnnneeeeeeeeeeee with that place!!!

I'll be honest, I am sad that I'm leaving my roommate (the one that I actually shared a bedroom with).  She was definitely the best of all of my flat mates.  I still have a couple of classes with her and we've been talking a bit still online.  She really is the most caring of them.  She would listen and we could have good lengthy talks about things that we were interested in.  I really do hope that the two of us can stay friends. 

Just so you guys know, she wasn't there when I had the huge fallout-plosion with one of our flat mates about the mess disaster area that that apartment was is.  She was in class.  I'm kind of glad that she was too.  I would have hated to end things with her...

Anyway, I'll let you guys know how checking out goes.

See you around!

Dusk

Hai Guys! :3

Yeah, so, for those of you out there that don't know, my roommates and I just went through this MASSIVE explosive fight.  Remember how I told you that the place is disgusting and nobody does anything?  Well, I finally got sick of it and tagged them all in a Facebook status saying that they have to clean up EVERYTHING in the sink by 7:00PM on Wednesday or I would throw it all out.  I had no complaints...until Kelsey saw it. 

Basically, she called me out of my room and started screaming at me asking me why I had posted that on Facebook, telling me how embarrassing it was, and how I should have just told them.  Wellllllll, clearly she hadn't finished reading the post because I had said that I posted it since I didn't know all of their schedules and this way I knew they would see it.  But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

She called me out and we had a verbal smackdown in which nobody wins.  Nicole knows.  She was there lying on my bed listening to it happen.  But, honestly, clean the dishes!  There was NO space to clean ANYTHING.  The dishes in the sink piled right up to the faucet!  I was going to throw everything out because I couldn't do anything in the kitchen!  Besides, how in the world was that embarrassing at all for her?!  She always has people coming in, everybody's seen the mess!  What are they going to care?!

But, nope.  Nicole's mom was concerned for me because girls are bloody vicious creatures.  I don't like many of them, however, the few that become my friends are REALLY good friends (ie. Nicole =P).  I was very lucky.  Nicole's parents took me in.  We just finished taking the last of my stuff out of that place.  I swear that was the 7th layer of Hell or something...what did I do in a past life?! D'x

It sounds like due time to celebrate my leaving that filth pit, yes?  Not quite.  I still have to do a proper check-out of residence with my floor don (dorm advisor, if you will).  So, I'm trying to get a hold of her so we can set up a sort of appointment and I'll return my keys and everything.  I don't want anything to do with that apartment ever again.

I'll let you know when we can start celebrating my freedom of that stupid place. 

In the meantime, keep it real, keep true to you.

Peace,

Dusk

Well, hello, World!

Thought I'd let you know how my day went today.

I got back to residence after my morning class to find about four to five bottles of alcohol on the kitchen table standing in a line from biggest to smallest.  I will update later to show you what I mean.  This made me worry and the first thing that I thought of was, "I'm NOT getting any sleep tonight..."

Being me, my first thought was to see if I could crash at Nicole's only to realise that she finishes classes much earlier in the day and the buses stop running an hour before I get off class.  Not a problem, right?  You can just skip that last class, it's okay, right?  NO!  I don't skip class, I'm a good student. =]  Not to mention, I had a quiz to write in that class. 

So, I started to feel down because I couldn't think about how to handle the noise my roommates would make tonight.  THEN, because Nicole is brilliant and I am not (yes, I did say that), she reminded me that I could go to Ian's to sleep.  It would mean that I am on a couch, but it also means that it'd be quiet and I get sleep tonight.  Of course, I gave Ian a text and now, HERE I AM!  I'm at Ian's.  He and Nicole are seriously the ones keeping me sane while I have to deal with these darned roommates.

Yeah...so...I don't really know how to end this...

So, here, have a sleepy Corgi.

Dusk =]

You know what I really hate?

I hate the fact that we've had all of these apartment meetings talking about how we're going to keep this place clean, and the only one pulling their weight around here is me.  I hate how we talked about keeping dishes and pots out of the sink and off of the stove so others can use it and I'm the only one doing that.  I hate that I live with a bunch of IDIOTS that lie their way through things.  I hate that, although I don't work as hard as I could be, they still work less.  I hate that they email professors saying that they're ill or have an exam so that they can get extensions on things while I work my butt off trying to keep with that due date.  I HATE that I do what I do quietly without bothering them and they're so damned loud all the freaking time when I'm trying to work, trying to sleep, or just doing nothing. 

I hate it.  I hate living on this floor where people destroy and steal property.  I hate that I have to live with these people. 

I hate that I have to deal with the stench in our apartment while no one else cares.  I hate that I have to clean off what is not my mess just so I can use what I need to.  I hate that I have to live in this sorry dump that we're supposed to call an apartment.  That we're supposed to call this HOME during these few months of school.

I hate that I keep my stuff out of the way while they just leave their crap everywhere.  I hate that.  I hate that they don't care.  I want to take everything that they're supposed to do and dump it all on their stupid little beds so that they can see even clearer than things already are, that our place is a filthy, digusting, vomit-inducing MESS.

I hate that we can't open the windows.  I hate that they don't know how to cook.  I hate that they don't know how to clean.  I hate that they think they're so amazing because they're NOT. 

They're not!  And I want to hit something.  I want to live away from this.  But really...just really...I just want to leave this stupid place and never come back.  I never want to see their faces again, I never want to hear their names or their voices.  I just want out. 

I don't like it here.  I never did and I never will. 

People are never what they seem to be.  Don't take them at face value.  Get to know them better before you say whether you like them or not.  See if they really are the people you want to be around or be like because half the time, they're not.

Hi World!

So, as you've most likely seen in the title, something mad has just happened in my life...I most probably overexaggerated, but with my flat mates, welllllll you never know, do you? 

You see, one of my flat mates was planning on frying something for dinner...so naturally, she started heating some oil in a pot.  Me, being the antisocial creature that I am here, was quietly sitting in my room talking to Boyfriend online and watching Youtube.  Part way into my conversation about coffee with my boyfriend (I was trying to prove to a friend that real men take their coffee black....I'm just teasing him, if you drink it flavoured or whatever, it's fine with me) I heard screaming.  This wasn't the usually excited and seriously annoying screaming that I hear all the time preventing me to get any rest whatsoever, but it was more frightened.  When I heard someone say, "fire extinguisher," THEN I was worried...

So, I left my conversation about coffee to go check out the situation.  Turns out that this brilliant flat mate of mine had set fire to the oil she was heating up.  I was pretty freaked out, after all, it's the middle of winter, and although we haven't much snow right now, it is freezing cold out, not to mention, our windows don't open and the only thing we have to get the smoke out is opening the door to our flat, and turning on the fan over the stove.  The fire alarm is right in the kitchenette, being a flat after all, we were all afraid that it would be set off.  BUT!  For some strange reason, it didn't go. 

When I was told about the situation, I was then asked if I had any flour to throw onto the fire.  This sounded very off to me, and later I found out why.  Flour is inflammable!!!

For those of you confused, "flammable" is technically not a word.  The proper term is "inflammable," while "noninflammable," means that it won't catch fire.  My friend has harped at me about this and told me about this crazy misconception. 

Thankfully, nobody got their hands on flour...my roommate left the apartment and managed to come back with baking soda (I swear she's the smartest of the 5 of my flat mates)...so the one who set fire to the oil in the first place took the box and dumped half of it into the pot...yeah....that was a bit much, wasn't it?...

I saw a huge puff of smoke, and went back into my room, now that I figured that the excitement was over.  After a while, I figured that we should prop the apartment door open.  I went back out to see if we have anything to prop it open with, and realised that they had already done so, along with set up fans blowing the smoke out, and the contents of the pot had begun to foam and spill all over the stove. 

Amazing things happen in this flat...I'm surprised I'm not dead yet, to be honest...

Well, if I live to write another post, you'll know.

Oh, the madness that ensues here...

Anyway, until next time!

If there is a next time...

Dusk

So, it's been two weeks since I've last been home.  Not long I know, but long if you have to live with roommates who don't clean up after themselves leaving you dying in a toxic wasteland of an apartment...I'd say it's not really that bad, but I kind of wonder how much I'd feel like I'm lying to you.

Honestly, it might sound ridiculous, but living with girls is not as awesome as you'd think.  Mind you, I've never really liked girls.  Being a girl myself, I still prefer to have guy friends.  They're a lot more straight forward.  I mean, if something is bugging them, they'll come right out and say it.  Girls?  Oh no, no, no.  They'll hide it and just maybe ignore you all day or something, I don't know.

You'd think they'd be cleaner too, but NOPE.  There's always dishes in the sink, on the kitchen table, trash everywhere...I can't even eat on the kitchen table anymore.  I have to bring my food into my bedroom if I ever want to eat where it doesn't smell like the rotting food from the stupid little filter we have for the drain.

ANYWAY, getting to what I really meant to start talking about.  I'm FINALLY home for the holidays!  4 months gone, 4 more to go.  Yes, I am counting down until I get to move out.  I REALLY don't like living in that apartment...if anything, next year, I want to live with my friends or alone.  At least I know my friends clean after themselves and I actually get along with them.  They aren't the girliest things in the world.  That really killed me about these roommates.  But my friends, we met over the summer, living with them was the best!

...Wow...I'm deviating from what I want to talk about a LOT...yeah, so home after 2 weeks of Hell which was kindly interrupted by one of my best friends at school, Nicole!  She had me over for the weekend, and it was awesome.  Definitely different considering I've been home every week.  But now that I am home, it feels so...strange.  Like I'm more of a guest here.

I don't know if I like living away from home or not.  The two weeks I was away with my university friends was bliss.  I found home really restricting before that, but you know, that's kind of how it is.  But then, moving out means more freedom, and as cliché as it is, with more freedom comes more responsibility.  Moving out for the school year was BLOODY HELL in comparison.  Different roommates, different habits, all girls.  Again, I stress my dislike for girls.  The girls I hang around with, are not THE girliest, and even the one that is, isn't annoying in that stupid girly sort of way.  By "stupid girly," I legitimately mean stupid and girly.  I can't STAND my roommates...

Anyway...this is getting really ranty, and I apologize.  I will stop now.

More to come,

Dusk