The fourth man
Sat Oct 03, 2009 19:08 EST (UTC -5)Recently, I moved into an apartment with a couple of friends. At the time, I wrote,
There was room for a fourth person in the apartment, but we ended up not finding anyone to join us, and they didn't assign us another roommate. We're locked out of the fourth bedroom, but we don't have to pay extra or anything.
And that was that... or so I thought.
One of my roommates hit me with the news on Thursday while I was studying on campus. Our fourth roommate would be moving in on Wednesday. I had to take a study break.
I was already used to our three-person arrangement, and I wondered what would happen if an unknown person were thrown into the mix. And then I got to worrying. And then I realized that I shouldn't worry because it wouldn't do me any good, and things would turn out fine. I like to think I get along well with people. My previous random and quasi-random roommate assignments worked out just fine, and our new apartment complex actually matches people up based on compatibility and common interests.
Which is good, because we got another notice yesterday that our new roommate would instead be moving in on Monday. It also said that there would be an inspection of our common areas about 24 hours in advance of him moving in, and if anything wasn't cleaned up, they would clean it at our expense. So it's been a cleaning day.
All they've told us about him are his name and phone number. Maybe we should call him to introduce ourselves and make the moving-in process easier for him. It must be hard to move in to a new place where everyone else already knows each other.
When you think of health care reform, think of my friend Joshua McGee, who reminds us that those who stand to benefit from it the most are real people like you and me... and him: Health Care Reform Beneficiaries Are Not Anonymous.
You know how broadcasts of pro sporting events include that warning against rebroadcasting or describing the game without express written consent of the league? Major League Baseball seems to be the most infamous for this. Some guy decided to write to them for permission to describe a game to his friend. Find out how things went down. (Via J-Walk Blog)
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9 comments
#1 by kristen B.: Sat Oct 03, 2009 20:10 EST (UTC -5)
i hate living in a 4/4...
there are actually 6 people living in this one, though. and it's not ghetto or cheap by any means... i just got stuck with assholes.
#2 by Jordon Kalilich: Sat Oct 03, 2009 21:21 EST (UTC -5)
Are they all just random people?
#3 by kristen B.: Sun Oct 04, 2009 22:48 EST (UTC -5)
yes and no. we all had posts on our apartments face book looking for roommates. i clicked with one girl and we decided to sign our lease together. then 2 other girls signed up... and one of them has a boyfriend. now, i have nothing against boyfriends coming over but when you literally live here- your mail is delivered here, you have no where else to go, etc- it gets crowded. and now the girl i clicked with also has her boyfriend staying here. with no apartment of his own. it's technically against the lease policy, but yeah...
#4 by Jordon Kalilich: Sun Oct 04, 2009 22:49 EST (UTC -5)
Wow, that sucks. You could get them all kicked out and have a little more room to yourself, though.
#5 by kristen B.: Mon Oct 05, 2009 00:59 EST (UTC -5)
that'd be mean!!!
#6 by Joshua: Fri Oct 09, 2009 21:26 EST (UTC -5)
Thank you, Jordon.
#7 by Jordon Kalilich: Fri Oct 09, 2009 23:04 EST (UTC -5)
It's the least I could do.
#8 by Fan: Sun Oct 11, 2009 04:58 EST (UTC -5)
I could go on and on about healthcare, especially after talking to friends in countries with publicly-funded healthcare systems, but I hope that most people will be able to empathize with Joshua or at least understand the need for healthcare reform.
Maybe people who argue that "my healthcare standard will go down" believe that private healthcare options or options of similar quality* would be entirely cast aside in a reform. Canada's healthcare system is really just government insurance for privately-run care (Yeah, the link is to a blog (Is this a legit source of info? I have to be careful talking about this in the current context :)). After speaking with Canadian friends about their healthcare system, the entry seems to be accurate).
Bah, It's too late to focus. Sleep would be nice.
Here's an interesting series of opinions from two random people concerning healthcare and government.
*One doctor told me to take a series of herbal supplements and to try cutting out fiber from my diet (at my own monetary expense) rather than taking medicine I've been on for several years now. Only after I explained the circumstances under which I had started taking the medication, complained a bit, and had her speak with the specialist that prescribed the medication did she agree to write a prescription. But other than that, I've had excellent medical care.
#9 by Jordon Kalilich: Sun Oct 11, 2009 10:05 EST (UTC -5)
I would think that more members of Congress would be in favor of health care reform, considering how geriatric a lot of them are. They probably get the best medical care, though, so they don't know what life is like for their constituents.
That blog post, which I would assume is pretty accurate, is excellent. I never really knew all the facts about the Canadian health insurance system, but it definitely sounds like something we should be adopting here.