I do have a lot more amenities to my housing situation now than I did back then, none the least of which is the fact that I own a stove, oven, large refrigerator, and dishwasher as apposed to a hot pot, and coffee pot being my only means for preparing food for myself. But in many many ways, I am still in the dorm life. Here is my top ten:
10. My desk is still covered with crap.
Back in school, my desk, which I think was supposed to be used for studying, was used for pretty much anything but that. I would cook food in my hot pot, drop all of my dirty laundry on it, drop all of my mail on it, hang bras from the knobs of the drawers, and fill the drawers with various papers that I swore were important until the end of the year when I threw them all away, not remembering why. Now, my desk is still covered, but with different crap. Kid art, junk mail that needs recycled, various keys, some candy that I am not sure whose it is, half drank bottles of water, Hello Kitty duct tape, hats, and all of my weight watcher junk. In my drawers are still the old papers that I swear are important, but when I go through them, I really have no idea why I kept them.
9. I am still making pop tarts, Spaghetti O's, and canned ravioli
My freshman year I had classes all morning and afternoon, and I didn't have a break until after lunch was over during spring quarter. So I would head back to the dorm and crack open a can of spagetti O's or ravioli, or eat cold pop tarts for lunch. I am still making these, just not for myself. And thankfully not in a hot pot anymore.
Oh those hot pots.... We were not allowed to have microwaves, toasters or burners of any kind in our room. We WERE allowed to have a hot pot (a tea kettle looking thing, that you plug in, that is for boiling water or soup. It has a metal plate heating element on the bottom.) I would make ALL KINDS of stuff in that thing. One night, after a particularly late night out, I even made bacon in it. Hey, desperate times...
Back in the day I would save all of my laundry, because it cost money,( money that I did not have a lot of), to wash clothes. So I would either save it all to take home over a weekend, or I would shove as much as I could all into one load, including what I was wearing to the laundry mat. I would strip down to my jogging bra, and my workout shorts, and wash everything in one load. (Oh to have THAT body again) This style of housekeeping would leave my room with a giant mountain of dirty clothes in the bottom of my closet. Now I still have loads upon loads of laundry, of which I will wait until it is cascading down upon me to do. Not because I have to or because I have to take it to the laundry mat. I just hate doing laundry.
7. I can't take a shower alone
In the dorms there is usually a couple of shower stalls per housing section. So ineveitably while you are in the shower someone else is going to come and shower beside you. Chances are they will not appreciate the song you want to sing, or any other noise that you make while showering. So you shower with a sense of guardedness. Now, I have my own bathroom, but I am NEVER EVER EVER alone. SOMEONE is going to wander in and need something from me. Still no one appreciates the songs that I sing while I am in there, and now that I have a tween son, I shower with a sense of guardedness similar to back then. I will say, I fully appreciate that I don't have to wear shower shoes anymore though.
6. Subsequently, I also can't go to the bathroom alone
In college, there are also a couple of bathroom stalls for each housing section. So most of the time you are not peeing, or otherwise, alone. In fact, I can't otherwise with people around me, so I would try to go when I knew almost no one would be around, and STILL almost always, someone would walk in while I was in there. Now, I can count on someone walking in, or banging on the door if I lock it, while I am in there.
5. I still have to hide my favorite foods.
Many of my roomates in college would steal my snacks if I left them out on top of my desk. And if it wasn't them, it was their friends. So I would hide my favorite treats, little debbies, cookies, or cheetos, in some creative places. Cookies were in tampon boxes, cheetos were in a dry cleaning bag, and little debbies were behind books from previous quarters. I also went through a toast phase, where all I would snack on was cinnamon toast. Since we were not allowed to have toasters, I hid my toaster in my dirty laundry basket under socks and underwear. (I shudder to think about that now....ugh) Now a days, I still have to hid my favorite treats, for the same reasons. But my toaster is proudly displayed on the counter, and no, it is not the same one from college. 4. I still hit people up for alcohol.
In college, everyone wants that friend that can get you booze. I had a couple of them. Until you are 21, half of the students in your dorm can drink because they are 21, the other half can't because they aren't. So you find a sympathetic one to help you bridge the gap. I still have people get me booze, but not for the same reason (obviously). When I am at the grocery, I am on a mission. I like to get in, get out, get done. My kids are normally with me, and I don't want to dilly dally. I am on a ticking time bomb of tantruming, and I have to snip the black wire and go home before it goes off. So I bypass any superfluous stuff, or anything that could potentially be a hazard (like the bakery because they will scream for cookies, donuts, and cupcakes, and any isle that has a multitude of breakables, because lets face it, little man is a bull in a china shop.) So we avoid the liquer isle. So if I know of anyone headed to the store, I will ask, "Hey! Would you mind picking me up a bottle of pinot grigio? Or a bottle of vanilla vodka? Thanks! You are ever in my favor!"
3. There is a lot of random yelling
You would be sitting at your desk (or for me, my bed) studying in perfect silence, and all of a sudden you would hear a scream, followed by hysterical laughter coming from the hall. Or you would hear the door open to the hall, and people would be yell-talking all the way by. Or you would just hear someone yelling down the hallway for apparently no reason. My house is no different. But it is children, that go from playing silent, or amicably, to all of a sudden out of no where, "HEY!!!!! GIVE THAT BACK!!!!!!!" or "MOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!" or my favorite, "NOO!!!!!!! THAT IS MIIIIIIIINE!!!!!" But sometimes it is also just Little Man yelling just to hear his voice because he likes the way it sounds.
2.I still have to be like a secret agent to have any kind of make out time with the Admiral
In college, you live with multiple people. The general rule for guys is, you hang a tie on the door, you friends know not to come in. Girls are different. We don't like to be shut out of our living spaces. At least that was the way it was with my roommates, there WAS no time that you got the room to yourself. So If Admiral was coming to visit, I would have to do reconnaissance, "when are they all in class at the same time? When are they all at the dining hall? Is there a basketball game they are going to tonight? How long will it take them to walk back??" Now it is the same kind of questions, but just a little different. "How long is nap time? How long have they been asleep? Will they hear the lock click when we shut the door? How long before they wake up??"
And finally
1. There are still naked people running around randomly.
This sort of explains itself. But back then..it was friends, and random people that lived in the dorm. And now......it is my children, who for some reason, have an aversion to clothing.
But sometimes I do too......
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