Thursday, September 16, 2010

Project:Runway - bonding clothes and people

After almost a week of living in a new home, with 2 roommates, I think we finally hit the all-important bonding moment.

Over Project: Runway on Lifetime.

I'm not sure why it is that television seems to be the best medium for bonding with others, but it's working for me, so I won't rock the boat.

I came downstairs just after one roommate came home, and I saw Project: Runway was on, so I flipped it on and zoned out for a bit. It had been a busy day, having spent 3 hours applying for one job (stupid government jobs and their ridiculous application process - create a profile, answer questions, apply to actual position, answer questions, read instructions for part 2, answer the same questions again...ugh), and then I applied for a few more just for sport, so I thought I deserved some time off from my strenuous efforts.

My roommate came back up, apparently with the idea to watch a movie (her usual after-work ritual), and after I said it'd be fine if she wanted to watch it, she realized I was watching P:R, and she cozied up to the other side of the couch, ready to catch up on the show after a few years absence from it. Our final roommate came home near the end of the episode, and we quickly caught her up on which outfits we considered to be great, and which were hideous. We generally agreed on the choice for winner and bade a relatively emotionless farewell to the loser of the challenge.

When my roommate was about get up to pop in her movie, we saw another episode was on next, so she sat back down, and we sat, the 3 of us, and waited to hear about the new challenge with as much anxiety as the contestants (well, nearly as much, though we probably had slightly less angst than they did. Who knows?) We gabbed about who might actually be snakes, who just got it tough by the editing department, which were impressive designers, and which needed to go home.

My roommates were also vocal in their opinions about topics raised by commercials, or whatever else might be on their minds. I learned that I'm living with 2 girls that hate medications and would be all over the natural medicine bandwagon if they got sick. I have roommates who are very sure of their opinions, and I, the little girl who fears absolutes and opinion-facts, spent most of the serious moments of discussion as pushed back in the couch as I could get, with my eyes on my phone. It was interesting to hear how other people thought and reasoned through things.

I also learned that I've forgotten how to be a good and effective listener. I'm pretty sure I zoned on half the things either of them said to me; hopefully my responses of "Seriously," or "Yeah, that's crazy" fit what they had said. I'm pretty sure they did - the stories always seemed to be about something crazy or intense. I just couldn't tell you what they were.

But they are both pretty cool, so all is good in the House on 27th Street S. And after a long day by myself, talking only to myself, sitting on my bed, not leaving my house at all (what? It was raining!), it was quite refreshing to talk to real people who were physically here.

I really need to make some more friends...

But I am going to NYC this weekend, with one of my roommates. Ironically, the other one will be there as well, biking through Brooklyn - my weekend sounds much more relaxing than hers, but shoot, I haven't been doing much, so I don't know what I need to get a break from. We're going with 3 of her friends, 2 of which I met last week. But trips make friendships faster than anything (I should know - I have experience with friendships and relationships coming out of random, last minute trips), so this should hopefully work in my favor. It's a weekend I won't be meeting anyone through church or anything, but really, I've got all the time in the world to make up for that, so I'm not too concerned.

I'll let you know how it goes. Maybe I'll get some good pictures worth showing. I will, in the words of Tim Gunn, "make it work!"

Speaking of pictures, I just wanted to include a really cute picture of Max from while he was here - he had a really fun time here, I think, but he was definitely exhausted and tired of walking and looking at things by the end of the afternoon. So when we finally got to the Washington Monument, and Caleb went to get a picture in front of it, Max followed and slid down the monument to sit on the ground, his tiredness evident on his face.

He's got a slight grimace, but I just thought it was an adorable shot of him. He got his energy back by the time we made it to the Lincoln Memorial (and even more after getting an ice cream sandwich all over his face):

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