The Reel Life of Josh

Living with a roommate is an eye opening experience. Being around your best friend all the time can be a burden but also has its benefits. There are things I never would have experienced without my roommate. Here are some of them:

1) Foods -- I was exposed to Clementines and Spam (both of which I hated, but can now hate them with due reason). I was also forced to switch to Strawberry jelly instead of my usual Grape for the past few months.

My roommate and I at the bus stop during Snowpocalypse

2) Expenses -- My roommate is possibly the cheapest person on the planet. And I’m not somebody who likes to spend money. But I have learned to become even thriftier. His Costco card and our penchant for thrift store shopping have kept costs down.

3) Cleanliness -- I learned that if you never clean and your roommate never cleans, things get dirty.

4) Video games can be social – I’m not a huge video game person, but I do like playing sports games and have since high school. Since then, it has always been a solitary experience, but having my roommate play Madden with me adds a new dynamic to the game. It also makes you feel some sympathy for the other person when you are beating them (and hopefully visa versa) rather than when I play my brother at home and reel no remorse.

5) 90s references – This is something pretty specific to my roommate situation. My roommate and I love to make pop culture references, especially from the 90s. It’s rare that you could go a day without a sing along involving something in the vein of “Two Princes” or “Follow You Down”. (I hope people reading this know what I’m talking about. Otherwise I’m really starting to date myself. But I don’t want to be like adults who explain things to me that I was alive for – like when people say, “Oh, you don’t even remember what cassettes were like.” Rant over) Without my roommate, how would I constantly remind myself of these things?

6) Vitamins – I now take vitamins daily because my roommate is constantly sick.

7) Diet – Having a roommate around makes you realize what you eat, when you eat, and how much you eat. With someone there to judge you for your 3 AM UniMini run for a Chicken Parm, you may think twice. Try and open that fridge in the middle of the night too without waking him up. It’s tough.

8) Fighting isn’t always a bad thing – My roommate and I have lived together for 3 years now. And we lived down the hall from one another freshman year. We’re bound to get under each other’s skin. And living together only makes it worse. We tend to bicker a lot, but at the end of the day, we can still laugh and have a good time.

I think living with a roommate is a great learning experience. It teaches you a great deal about how to deal with others and about yourself. One day soon, I’m hoping to be in a place of my own, but for now, I’m happy where I am.

Here’s to hoping you enjoy your roommate experience like I have.