Another year at Elsinore

So after much hard thinking, I have elected to remain a resident of Elsinore for one more year.

A possible alternative presented itself to me recently, and it was one I was very seriously considering. It would have been cheaper, and I would have had far fewer roommates with which to deal-- both huge plusses. The trouble, though, was my bedroom set would have only just barely fit in what would have been my new bedroom, and that would still have only worked if I got rid of a lot of my less vital pieces of furniture. Also, the street parking options were almost continually occupied. So, as much as I liked the sound of it, I had to finally decline the otherwise extremely tempting offer.

But I like this Elsinore place. I love my big bedroom, I love having the space to throw dinners and parties and unofficial BSCF. I feel comfortable and safe there, which these days is a lot of comfort when I'm so frequently so stressed. There will also be two changes to Elsinore that make staying there more appealing. One is that by the end of this lease the landlord will be putting in new windows in the place, which with any luck will be better insulated and do something to reduce the heating costs in the winter. That house is hard to heat, and the bills go up when it's cold out, but that actually might be an improvement. The second and to me more important thing is that all of the roommates I have not enjoyed living with have decided to move out. This is an enormous relief to me, as the stress of that situation was getting to be too much. With the three unpleasant ones leaving and the one nice one staying, my comfort levels at home are poised to go way up.

I'm feeling quite optimistic about what the new roommate situation will be. Ryan and I will be remaining in our respective rooms, while nennivian* and aurora_knight* will share the basement room and the last upstairs room will be taken by Emily Baum. I am friends with all of these people and have found them to be polite, friendly, and pleasant human beings. I confess I am not without worries. I would have said that some of the current roommates were my friends when we first moved in together, and since living with them I can't stand them. I suppose that's always a possibility, but my gut tells me this is going to turn out okay. I for one am willing to make the effort to be as considerate as possible. The other thing is that Emily is Ryan's girlfriend, and when living with a couple there's always the chance that if there is ever any trouble between them it can affect the living situation as a whole. But I respect them such that I am fairly certain they've considered that and decided it won't be a problem. They will have separate rooms, which may help ease any possible tensions.

I'm a pretty good roommate, I think. I'm clean and quiet; I always do my chores and I never leave dishes in the sink. Sometimes I tend to need to hide and be alone when I'm at home, which can be seen as unfriendly but I promise I don't mean it that way. I just need to be alone a lot, and home is a logical place to be so. I just want things to be as nice as possible. I plan on giving it my best effort to make the new arrangement work.