On the places we live...
And so my first year of graduate school has come to a long-awaited end...
One month from today, I'll move into a new apartment--my 6th home in as many years. It's strange to me that, since graduating from high school, I've yet to live in the same place for more than twelve months. Seeing as moving is among the biggest of life's headaches, I'm hopeful that Teschner and I will be satisfied with our new home on Baldwin street. I think we will. I've enjoyed living in my current apartment just fine, but some companionship will certainly be a welcomed change. This little paragraph I'm writing has piqued my interest. I wonder what I can remember about my last quintet of homes. I reckon a stroll down memory lane won't do me no wrong. Hell, it might be nice. And seeing as I'm thoroughly bored as it is, I'll even include pictures, which seems to be a developing trend in the life of this journal.
Off we go...
Kirby-Smith dormitory, LSU, 2003-4.
Roommate(s): Andrew Lewis
General Impressions: My first home away from home, an 8x12 concrete box shared with the always-lovable, oft-drunk Andrew Lewis. My day-to-day memories of living here are vague at best. This is perhaps due to the fact that my "BLACKOUT YEARS" began while calling room 901-A my home. I do, however, remember the following: First, I recall being woken up between 4 and 5 times a week by my aforementioned roommate, who, despite being an otherwise fantastic guy, picked up the habit of noisily barging into our room very, very late before proceeding to watch television and eat Jack-in-the-Box. Also, we didn't exactly keep the place too tidy. In fact, I specifically remember a late night mishap involving me (stoned and drunk) spilling a bottle of chocolate milk onto the floor. Incapable of cleaning it up then and there, as any rational person would've, the milk was allowed to dry and set into a viscous, tar-like blob in the center of our linoleum floor space.
Frequent Visitors: Andrew's fraternity brother, Pat, Jenny Molberg, and Cece Hyslop.
The Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity House, LSU, 2004-5
Roommate(s): Jason Walker (fall), Single room (spring)
General Impressions: There was something ineffably exciting about the chaos that came as such a natural byproduct of allowing 20 totally unsupervised, college-aged drunks to share a mansion with one another. My clearest memory of living at the Pike house is that, whenever people came by, they always ended up drinking cheap bourbon and talking shit in Jason and I's room. Literally an entire corner of #12 was set aside for empty bottles of Old Crow, Rebel Yell, Evan Williams, and, from time to time, nicer things like Jim Beam and Knob Creek. I also distinctly remember waking up each morning and making the five-step trip to the fire escape, where I smoked the first cigarette of the day and looked out upon Chimes Street. The downside of living at the Pike house was, of course, the total lack of privacy. I sometimes shudder at the idea of not having more than 3 minutes' worth of alone time over the course of an entire day. Oh, and the bathroom could've easily been declared a natural disaster. No matter what, at least once a week, someone vomited all over the sinks, or into the urinal, and the cleanup process often took days.
Frequent Visitors: Mike Sage, Patrick "Cakes" Staiano, Will Dunn, Sam Stine, Ashley Kikendall, Jenny Molberg, Tim Deano, Hunter Boynton, Austin Bachman, Will Haxthausen, Jake Chapman, Tony Tamporello, and many, many more.
1816 S. Brightside View Apt. D, aka "The New Frag," LSU, 2005-6
Roommate(s): Mike Sage
General Impressions: My first off-campus abode, a second-story, ramshackle utility near Tigerland. What I'll always associate most closely with living at the Frag is the brotherly relationship I established there with Mike Sage. I have so many fond memories of the two of us sitting in rocking chairs beside one another on the balcony, talking and drinking cheap beer/liquor deep into the night. I also remember having a lot of really, really awesome and well-attended keg parties there, namely our 3-nights-in-a-row Founders' Day keggers, over the course of which we hosted literally hundreds of guests, and our post-poetry-workshop party, when about 15 classmates came over for a day of drinking and yelling and reading aloud the works of T.S. Eliot. Needless to say, the carpet, which was clean and white upon our arrival, was tarnished an oily and awful shade of black when we moved out. I also remember that smoking indoors was allowed for about 80% of the time we lived there. The New Frag is also where I met Michelle for the first time, and the place where she and I lived together for a month directly before I moved into my last apartment in Baton Rouge. Overall, our digs on Brightside View was easily the place that I remember most fondly about my four years at LSU.
Frequent Visitors: Patrick Bush, Jimmy Conway, Benny Abbot, Will Dunn, Sam Stine, Ashley Kikendall, Patrick "Cakes" Staiano, Jason Walker, Kelsey Moses.
4600 Burbank Dr. Apt. 331-H, LSU, 2006-7
Roommate(s): Mike Sage, Benny Abbot, Jimmy Conway, WIll Dunn (summer '07)
General Impressions: Seeing as both Jimmy and Benny were institutions at the New Frag, Mike Sage and I decided that our best bet was to live with them. Although I can't say that I completey regret this decision (I do, in fact, have many pleasant memories of that year, and all of my roommates), retrospect tells me that I should. Because of major differences in personality, a pretty noticeable amount of tension was present, and by the end of the spring semester, we were all pretty fed up with our living situations. Anyway, that problem was resolved once Dunn moved in, and the summer that followed, despite its ennui, was pretty fucking great. Overall, I remember 331-H involving a larger than life projection screen, courtesy of Jimmy, which facilitated a ton of "The Office"-watching and Mariokart tournaments. A foosball table, also courtesy of Jimmy, provided Mike and I with endless amounts of entertainment. By the end of our lease there, I honestly believe that he and I could've held our own on Foosball's world circuit, if such a thing exists. This apartment also offered a pretty righteous balcony, which, night after night, served as the venue for another seemingly infinite stream of parties.
Frequent Visitors: Jason Walker, Alex Wommack, Sam Stine, Ashley Kikendall, Michelle Gardner, Megan Porter, Will Dunn, Tereza Valny, Hunter Boynton, Bailey Edwards, and various "randos."
201 N. Jefferson St. Apt. C, Georgia College, 2007-8
Roommate(s): None
General Impressions: My first time living alone. This house, which is apparently haunted, represents being unwillingly thrust into my early adulthood. Here, unlike anywhere else I've ever called home, I became pretty self-sufficient. I've learned to cook, tidy up, and, above all, keep myself entertained. While I feel that my time on Jefferson St. has been well-spent, I also associate this place with a relatively insane amount of privacy and silence. I concede that it's been hard to cope with such a drastic decrease in company, but I've honed a pretty enjoyable existence here. Now, instead of sleeping late, eating out for every single meal, and being sedentary, I relish my early mornings, plan nutritious menus for myself, and run 6 days a week. I also work pretty hard, as far as school is concerned. And though I've never hosted a party here, I've had plenty of fun watching basketball/NCAA football and drinking beers with friends. So better in some ways, worse in others.
Frequent Visitors: Nathan Tucker, John Teschner, Carrie Anne Tocci, Shawnsey Rudolph.
Well, that was somewhat rewarding, if not extremely exhausting. Though this entry may be a little esoteric, I'm glad I indulged my curiosities on this subject. As I've mentioned before, if this journal's good for one thing, it's the opportunity it provides me to document my past. Five years from now, I'm confident that I'll read this and be entirely captivated by it.
Hope everyone is doing okay...
One month from today, I'll move into a new apartment--my 6th home in as many years. It's strange to me that, since graduating from high school, I've yet to live in the same place for more than twelve months. Seeing as moving is among the biggest of life's headaches, I'm hopeful that Teschner and I will be satisfied with our new home on Baldwin street. I think we will. I've enjoyed living in my current apartment just fine, but some companionship will certainly be a welcomed change. This little paragraph I'm writing has piqued my interest. I wonder what I can remember about my last quintet of homes. I reckon a stroll down memory lane won't do me no wrong. Hell, it might be nice. And seeing as I'm thoroughly bored as it is, I'll even include pictures, which seems to be a developing trend in the life of this journal.
Off we go...
Kirby-Smith dormitory, LSU, 2003-4.
Roommate(s): Andrew Lewis
General Impressions: My first home away from home, an 8x12 concrete box shared with the always-lovable, oft-drunk Andrew Lewis. My day-to-day memories of living here are vague at best. This is perhaps due to the fact that my "BLACKOUT YEARS" began while calling room 901-A my home. I do, however, remember the following: First, I recall being woken up between 4 and 5 times a week by my aforementioned roommate, who, despite being an otherwise fantastic guy, picked up the habit of noisily barging into our room very, very late before proceeding to watch television and eat Jack-in-the-Box. Also, we didn't exactly keep the place too tidy. In fact, I specifically remember a late night mishap involving me (stoned and drunk) spilling a bottle of chocolate milk onto the floor. Incapable of cleaning it up then and there, as any rational person would've, the milk was allowed to dry and set into a viscous, tar-like blob in the center of our linoleum floor space.
Frequent Visitors: Andrew's fraternity brother, Pat, Jenny Molberg, and Cece Hyslop.
The Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity House, LSU, 2004-5
Roommate(s): Jason Walker (fall), Single room (spring)
General Impressions: There was something ineffably exciting about the chaos that came as such a natural byproduct of allowing 20 totally unsupervised, college-aged drunks to share a mansion with one another. My clearest memory of living at the Pike house is that, whenever people came by, they always ended up drinking cheap bourbon and talking shit in Jason and I's room. Literally an entire corner of #12 was set aside for empty bottles of Old Crow, Rebel Yell, Evan Williams, and, from time to time, nicer things like Jim Beam and Knob Creek. I also distinctly remember waking up each morning and making the five-step trip to the fire escape, where I smoked the first cigarette of the day and looked out upon Chimes Street. The downside of living at the Pike house was, of course, the total lack of privacy. I sometimes shudder at the idea of not having more than 3 minutes' worth of alone time over the course of an entire day. Oh, and the bathroom could've easily been declared a natural disaster. No matter what, at least once a week, someone vomited all over the sinks, or into the urinal, and the cleanup process often took days.
Frequent Visitors: Mike Sage, Patrick "Cakes" Staiano, Will Dunn, Sam Stine, Ashley Kikendall, Jenny Molberg, Tim Deano, Hunter Boynton, Austin Bachman, Will Haxthausen, Jake Chapman, Tony Tamporello, and many, many more.
1816 S. Brightside View Apt. D, aka "The New Frag," LSU, 2005-6
Roommate(s): Mike Sage
General Impressions: My first off-campus abode, a second-story, ramshackle utility near Tigerland. What I'll always associate most closely with living at the Frag is the brotherly relationship I established there with Mike Sage. I have so many fond memories of the two of us sitting in rocking chairs beside one another on the balcony, talking and drinking cheap beer/liquor deep into the night. I also remember having a lot of really, really awesome and well-attended keg parties there, namely our 3-nights-in-a-row Founders' Day keggers, over the course of which we hosted literally hundreds of guests, and our post-poetry-workshop party, when about 15 classmates came over for a day of drinking and yelling and reading aloud the works of T.S. Eliot. Needless to say, the carpet, which was clean and white upon our arrival, was tarnished an oily and awful shade of black when we moved out. I also remember that smoking indoors was allowed for about 80% of the time we lived there. The New Frag is also where I met Michelle for the first time, and the place where she and I lived together for a month directly before I moved into my last apartment in Baton Rouge. Overall, our digs on Brightside View was easily the place that I remember most fondly about my four years at LSU.
Frequent Visitors: Patrick Bush, Jimmy Conway, Benny Abbot, Will Dunn, Sam Stine, Ashley Kikendall, Patrick "Cakes" Staiano, Jason Walker, Kelsey Moses.
4600 Burbank Dr. Apt. 331-H, LSU, 2006-7
Roommate(s): Mike Sage, Benny Abbot, Jimmy Conway, WIll Dunn (summer '07)
General Impressions: Seeing as both Jimmy and Benny were institutions at the New Frag, Mike Sage and I decided that our best bet was to live with them. Although I can't say that I completey regret this decision (I do, in fact, have many pleasant memories of that year, and all of my roommates), retrospect tells me that I should. Because of major differences in personality, a pretty noticeable amount of tension was present, and by the end of the spring semester, we were all pretty fed up with our living situations. Anyway, that problem was resolved once Dunn moved in, and the summer that followed, despite its ennui, was pretty fucking great. Overall, I remember 331-H involving a larger than life projection screen, courtesy of Jimmy, which facilitated a ton of "The Office"-watching and Mariokart tournaments. A foosball table, also courtesy of Jimmy, provided Mike and I with endless amounts of entertainment. By the end of our lease there, I honestly believe that he and I could've held our own on Foosball's world circuit, if such a thing exists. This apartment also offered a pretty righteous balcony, which, night after night, served as the venue for another seemingly infinite stream of parties.
Frequent Visitors: Jason Walker, Alex Wommack, Sam Stine, Ashley Kikendall, Michelle Gardner, Megan Porter, Will Dunn, Tereza Valny, Hunter Boynton, Bailey Edwards, and various "randos."
201 N. Jefferson St. Apt. C, Georgia College, 2007-8
Roommate(s): None
General Impressions: My first time living alone. This house, which is apparently haunted, represents being unwillingly thrust into my early adulthood. Here, unlike anywhere else I've ever called home, I became pretty self-sufficient. I've learned to cook, tidy up, and, above all, keep myself entertained. While I feel that my time on Jefferson St. has been well-spent, I also associate this place with a relatively insane amount of privacy and silence. I concede that it's been hard to cope with such a drastic decrease in company, but I've honed a pretty enjoyable existence here. Now, instead of sleeping late, eating out for every single meal, and being sedentary, I relish my early mornings, plan nutritious menus for myself, and run 6 days a week. I also work pretty hard, as far as school is concerned. And though I've never hosted a party here, I've had plenty of fun watching basketball/NCAA football and drinking beers with friends. So better in some ways, worse in others.
Frequent Visitors: Nathan Tucker, John Teschner, Carrie Anne Tocci, Shawnsey Rudolph.
Well, that was somewhat rewarding, if not extremely exhausting. Though this entry may be a little esoteric, I'm glad I indulged my curiosities on this subject. As I've mentioned before, if this journal's good for one thing, it's the opportunity it provides me to document my past. Five years from now, I'm confident that I'll read this and be entirely captivated by it.
Hope everyone is doing okay...