An Introduction

It’s like... She’s not a bad roommate. I can’t say she’s utterly unpleasant. It’s just … You know when you have a really good friend? And you’re out with that really good friend at Starbucks and then your really good friend runs into one of their friends? And then the three of you talk a bit while you smile and nod along at this new person. Then all of the sudden your really good friend goes to the bathroom and leaves the two of you alone? And there’s this kind of consuming awkwardness. You are both clearly aware of the awkward situation and your brain is going a mile a minute trying to think of random uncontroversial things to talk about. You know that feeling? That’s kind of like the feeling I have with my roommate who I have lived with for two years.

We found each other on a roommate-finder website. It asked about a hundred lifestyle questions and then pairs up matches (kind of like what I assume online dating is like.) Rebecca* and I matched, added each other on Facebook, saw that we both seemed like real-life-non-pyscho young ladies and decided to begin our quest in finding an apartment in Manhattan together. The first time we met, she went in for a handshake, I went in for a hug and somehow her Venti Iced Green Tea came crashing to the sidewalk and I suppose that was really a foreshadowing moment of our relationship.

We don’t know much about each other’s personal lives. Really just the basics. And the truth is, neither of us actually care enough to really invest in the other’s life either. Listen, we went into this thing looking for a roommate, not a best friend. And while making a good friend in the process would have been nice, we came to realize that that just wasn't really in the cards for us. We're that match that is great on paper but no chemistry otherwise. And that’s just the way it is. So it’s awkward when we both enter the kitchen or living room at the same time because it’s like do we say “hi” or “hey” or “how’s it going?”  or “wow, the floor is so cold this morning!” There’s this kind of elephant in the room and a consuming obligation to ask "what’s up" which can often lead to even more awkward situations. Like her going into oddly explicit details about a strange Tinder date she went on. (Awkward because long ago I told her how I think Tinder is dismal and sad. No judgement.)

I was telling a friend about our “hard-to-pin-point-why-it’s-weird-but-it-just-is” living situation when I found it was difficult to describe Rebecca as a person. I could, however, get the gist across by telling some stories I’ve gathered over the past two years. Hence, I give to the world this little (hopefully relatable to some or maybe just amusing to others) blog explaining how My Roommate is Just Kind Of…


* I've changed my roommate's name for her privacy.