Thoughts and Opinions, Please
It's been 5 months since I began my attempts to secure a roommate, via ads in roommate sites, getting countless calls, conducting interviews and giving tours, and I am still without a roommate, and still minus the monthly money from a roomie. My cousin, who used to be my roommate (ugh), had always complained that my Lego city did not belong in the dining room, that normal people don't keep an 8 foot long, 3.5 foot wide, 33,000-piece Lego city in their dining room where a table should be instead. Waddeva.
He also said before moving out, and has repeated in the five months since, that other people will not want to live with an 8 foot long, 3.5 foot wide, 33,000-piece Lego city in the dining room where a table should be instead, and has advised me numerous times to dismantle the city and store it somewhere out of the way. I have not done that, because 1. doing such a thing is not easy and I don't really have any room to store it (the 3 base pieces are a few feet wide in and of themselves), and 2. because I love the city which I am proud of and consider a representation of myself and my lifelong creativity.
So a typical conversation on the phone sounds like this:
"Did you get a roommate yet? No? Damn! I told you before, Ron; I'm telling you again, nobody is going to move in with that 8 foot long, 3.5 foot wide, 33,000-piece Lego city in the dining room where a table should be instead. You have to take it apart and put it in storage."
Meanwhile, a typical conversation with a majority, in fact nearly all potential roommates I've shown the townhouse to, has been like this:
Me-- "How do you feel about having this 8 foot long, 3.5 foot wide, 33,000-piece Lego city in the dining room where a table should be instead? And by the way, I'm planning to buy a small dining room table and put it here in the small space between the city and the wall there."
Them- "I don't have a problem, this thing is incredible...I am so impressed you built this, this is amazing! I don't care about a table, I like to eat in front of the TV. Really, this thing is so cool."
(many of them spend several minutes, and one fella spent up to 15 minutes, looking it over and asking me questions about it.)
My cousin counters my informing him of that by saying, "Of course they're not going to admit to your face that they don't want to live with an 8 foot long, 3.5 foot wide, 33,000-piece Lego city in the dining room where a table should be instead. But when they leave they probably say 'no way' to themselves."
I even had a few sci-fi fans and sci-fi geeks go ga-ga over the city, pouring their eyes over it like a kid in a toy store. Those types most of all I figured would have no problem at all with an 8 foot long, 3.5 foot wide, 33,000-piece Lego city in the dining room where a table should be instead. But yet person after person who tells me they love my condo and the lake view and the kitchen, blah blah blah, say they have a couple of other places to look at before they decide...and then I never hear from them again (presumably because they found a place they liked better).
One guy, who loved all the same sci-fi and fantasy TV and films that I love, who I got along so well with that it was a joy to accept him as a roomie, gave me a deposit for $100 and announced plans to move in the following weekend. I thought it was finally a done deal. But then he later backed out, changed his mind. I kept his $100; the mudder fugger.
Then, a lady came over and we talked for an hour and a half. An hour and a half! We definately clicked, for sure. And she assured me she had no problem living with an 8 foot long, 3.5 foot wide, 33,000-piece Lego city in the dining room where a table should be instead. She did say she had another place to look at, but she also talked extensively about her plans for her living space in my condo, about the stir-fry dinners I told her about which she was eager to try, about her own prize recipes she was eager to share with me, about her relief that we had clicked and were getting along so well, a sign of the times to come with her living there. When she left I felt funny asking her for a deposit, even despite my former experiences.
Sure enough, despite her announcement that she planned to rent a truck and move her stuff in this very weekend, I never heard from her again, and she never returned the voice mails I left her.
*sigh*
So WTF? Are they simply finding other places to live that are bigger and nicer? Or do they really have a problem living with an 8 foot long, 3.5 foot wide, 33,000-piece Lego city in the dining room where a table should be instead? Should I dismantle my 8 foot long, 3.5 foot wide, 33,000-piece Lego city in the dining room where a table should be instead, and shove the boxes in storage? Or should I continue to be broke and yet enjoy my 8 foot long, 3.5 foot wide, 33,000-piece Lego city in the dining room where a table should be instead?
Most of all, how do normal (IE, not me) people really feel about an 8 foot long, 3.5 foot wide, 33,000-piece Lego city in their dining room where a table should be instead?
(Click for pics)
(Damn...I can't upload pics because my subscription expired.Have to get them from Photobucket then)
He also said before moving out, and has repeated in the five months since, that other people will not want to live with an 8 foot long, 3.5 foot wide, 33,000-piece Lego city in the dining room where a table should be instead, and has advised me numerous times to dismantle the city and store it somewhere out of the way. I have not done that, because 1. doing such a thing is not easy and I don't really have any room to store it (the 3 base pieces are a few feet wide in and of themselves), and 2. because I love the city which I am proud of and consider a representation of myself and my lifelong creativity.
So a typical conversation on the phone sounds like this:
"Did you get a roommate yet? No? Damn! I told you before, Ron; I'm telling you again, nobody is going to move in with that 8 foot long, 3.5 foot wide, 33,000-piece Lego city in the dining room where a table should be instead. You have to take it apart and put it in storage."
Meanwhile, a typical conversation with a majority, in fact nearly all potential roommates I've shown the townhouse to, has been like this:
Me-- "How do you feel about having this 8 foot long, 3.5 foot wide, 33,000-piece Lego city in the dining room where a table should be instead? And by the way, I'm planning to buy a small dining room table and put it here in the small space between the city and the wall there."
Them- "I don't have a problem, this thing is incredible...I am so impressed you built this, this is amazing! I don't care about a table, I like to eat in front of the TV. Really, this thing is so cool."
(many of them spend several minutes, and one fella spent up to 15 minutes, looking it over and asking me questions about it.)
My cousin counters my informing him of that by saying, "Of course they're not going to admit to your face that they don't want to live with an 8 foot long, 3.5 foot wide, 33,000-piece Lego city in the dining room where a table should be instead. But when they leave they probably say 'no way' to themselves."
I even had a few sci-fi fans and sci-fi geeks go ga-ga over the city, pouring their eyes over it like a kid in a toy store. Those types most of all I figured would have no problem at all with an 8 foot long, 3.5 foot wide, 33,000-piece Lego city in the dining room where a table should be instead. But yet person after person who tells me they love my condo and the lake view and the kitchen, blah blah blah, say they have a couple of other places to look at before they decide...and then I never hear from them again (presumably because they found a place they liked better).
One guy, who loved all the same sci-fi and fantasy TV and films that I love, who I got along so well with that it was a joy to accept him as a roomie, gave me a deposit for $100 and announced plans to move in the following weekend. I thought it was finally a done deal. But then he later backed out, changed his mind. I kept his $100; the mudder fugger.
Then, a lady came over and we talked for an hour and a half. An hour and a half! We definately clicked, for sure. And she assured me she had no problem living with an 8 foot long, 3.5 foot wide, 33,000-piece Lego city in the dining room where a table should be instead. She did say she had another place to look at, but she also talked extensively about her plans for her living space in my condo, about the stir-fry dinners I told her about which she was eager to try, about her own prize recipes she was eager to share with me, about her relief that we had clicked and were getting along so well, a sign of the times to come with her living there. When she left I felt funny asking her for a deposit, even despite my former experiences.
Sure enough, despite her announcement that she planned to rent a truck and move her stuff in this very weekend, I never heard from her again, and she never returned the voice mails I left her.
*sigh*
So WTF? Are they simply finding other places to live that are bigger and nicer? Or do they really have a problem living with an 8 foot long, 3.5 foot wide, 33,000-piece Lego city in the dining room where a table should be instead? Should I dismantle my 8 foot long, 3.5 foot wide, 33,000-piece Lego city in the dining room where a table should be instead, and shove the boxes in storage? Or should I continue to be broke and yet enjoy my 8 foot long, 3.5 foot wide, 33,000-piece Lego city in the dining room where a table should be instead?
Most of all, how do normal (IE, not me) people really feel about an 8 foot long, 3.5 foot wide, 33,000-piece Lego city in their dining room where a table should be instead?
(Click for pics)
(Damn...I can't upload pics because my subscription expired.Have to get them from Photobucket then)