Weigh-in: Week 5

I gained 0.8 lb this week.  Less than I averaged over the past two weeks, but nothing to celebrate.  Oh well.  Time to buckle down.

Total pounds lost:  8

...........

On an unrelated note:

Recent conversation with my roommate upon returning from a department-sponsered lecture on a topic that relates to my major academic interests, as well as being relevant to a couple of the department's major strengths and life in the region (paraphrased):

Roommate:  How was the lecture?
AF:  It was interesting.
R:  Yeah, I thought about going, but I'm not really interested in [that topic].
AF:  Yeah.  I know you've told me before, but what are your academic interests?
R:  [Proceeds to list professional interests, followed by academic interests that this school has no real outstanding program in...or any real program in at all, for that matter].  I'm interested in everything, basically.

Er...except for at least one notable historical feature of life in the region, which affected millions of people and helped spur a national movement.  I guess that's not enough of a "something" to be part of "everything".  Dead monks' fingernails, however, are enough of a something to merit interest.

I get the sense that my roommate looks down on me because I'm organizing my academic career in a way that suits me (rather than the departments), and because I don't play along with her lame attempts at excusing her rude and stand-offish behavior using humor.  That's okay.  I don't like people who say they're interested in "everything", when their interests are actually quite limited, derivative, and are almost completely irrelevant to anything outside of academia and the Church.

Things I Love

I overslept and missed both opportunities to attend WW on Saturday, which is why there's no weigh-in post.  I haven't done very well for the last week or so, but I'll get back on track.

I think a secondary purpose of this blog will be to bitch incoherently about stuff that I can't talk about other places.  The sheeplike religiosity of many of my current acquaintances, as well as many of the people in my lovely little state (and it really is; too bad there's so much poverty, ignorance, and flat-out craziness), for example.  Grad school hasn't begun kicking my ass yet, so here's some more grumbles while I have the time and mental stamina to write them down.

Things I Love Find Somewhat Irritating:

1.  People who give flippant or irrelevant responses to serious questions or statements.  My roommate does this.  She also:

2.  Leaves lights on when she's not using them.
3.  Leaves the sink full of dishes for hours, if not days.  I'm not talking about a plate or two and some silverware (I do that sometimes, but I try not to make it a habit, and I at least rinse stuff off if I know it's going to be sitting for a while).  I'm talking about baking sheets, breadmaker-innards, pots, bowls with ingredients of various types crusted inside them, etc.  She also leaves food sitting out for hours (if not days).  This would be nothing more than a minor annoyance, except that it attracts roaches.  YUCK.
4.  Rarely feels compelled to check the mail.  This, along with taking out the trash, seems to have become primarly a duty for AF to perform.  I don't know why.  It's not like the mailboxes are located right inside the primary entrance to the apartment building, or something ridiculously convenient like that.

Huh.  That was shorter than I thought it'd be.

Well, I feel better.  That's all for now.

I knew it!

The apartment was kind of nasty when I moved in.  The floors were dirty, there was some pretty colorful growth in the tub (along with at least half an inch of water caused by a large amount of hair that was blocking the drain), the countertops were dirty, etc.  My first couple days were spent getting the place in order.  My roommate had described herself as a "clean" person in our correspondence, so this was not what I had been expecting.  I thought that perhaps the person whose room I was taking was responsible for the mess, but it would have been quite difficult to achieve in the short period of time between my roommate's departure and my arrival.

Anyway.  One of the first things my roommate said to me after I got back from work, was, "I've never seen the apartment this clean."  I was tempted to reply, "Yeah, well, it wasn't that hard," but managed to bite back everything after "yeah, well."  But really -  how hard is it to wipe down the countertops and table when they're dirty, and sweep and vacuum the place once a week?  Break out the mop occasionally?  Spray the shower with those little bubbly guys?  Hmmm?  I am not a tidy person, but even I can manage that.  She's probably a very nice person, and we'll probably have a lot in common, but I knew she wasn't clean!

On a related note, my roommate seems not to have cleaned her (large amount of) old food out of the fridge/freezer, and has simply dumped a ridiculous amount of new stuff in there with no regard for what she already has, or the fact that I need some space to store my food, too.  I may have to promote a fridge clean-out soon, just so I can have room for my relatively few and generally compact foodstuffs, without having to dig through all her junk (Really, 36 eggs?  In addition to the dozen that have been in there since May (at least)?  She'd better be baking up a freaking storm.).

She also brought a bunch of stuff to add to the silly amount of stuff she already has here (clothing, hats, books, board games, etc.).  Keep in mind, this person will (presumably) be moving out of this apartment after she completes her degree in a year or so.  The place she is from is not close to here.  Not even in the same region.  Although even if she got a job in town and took a nicer apartment up the street, it'd still take several trips to move all that stuff.  I don't really care, except that I'm afraid the trend will be for her stuff make its home in the common areas, which I don't think will be conducive to my enjoyment of this space.  The situation will be monitored.

None of this is a big deal in the greater scheme of things, but it amuses me, and it keeps my life from being too dull, without making it too exciting. 

In other news, I still have 4 points left for today - 6 if I eat my activity points.  I think I might have some popcorn.  Or maybe a popsicle, if I can locate it under my roomie's multiple bags of frozen chicken.

We Meet at Last

My roommate is supposed to arrive here tomorrow.  We'll be meeting for the first time; she left to spend the summer doing academic things in Europe a week or two before I moved into our apartment.  We're Facebook friends, and I suppose being around somebody's ridiculous amount of junk stuff can give you an idea of who they are, but I'll be interested to meet her in person.  Especially since she left the fridge full of her food before she hopped the pond for three months.  Who the heck does that?  There were moldy hotdogs sitting in there when I moved in. 

Anyway.  That's something to look forward to.