悪夢を覚えた

Yesterday on my way home from work, I saw an old Toyota Eclipse which I have not seen for a long time. My ex-roommate had one of those when we were living together. Then it dawned on me that we had never bumped into each other, not even once for the last 10 years, despite working in the same area and my house is a bike ride away from her work. But that's a good thing. A very good thing indeed, at least for me.

I started to remember what a nightmare it was living with her... I found the apartment and she was a friend of a friend's friend who heard about it and wanted to share. She came by to look at the place and immediately gave a check as the move-in deposit. A quick decision-maker, I like that, so I thought. She moved in almost right away with just a bed, a desk+chair and some of her personal belongings. Little clutter, that's good, so I thought. I have been living by myself for more than 7 years by then so I have the full living room set, dining room set and kitchen and bedroom stuff. I filled the 1100 sq. ft apartment comfortably with TV, sofa and everything one would need. That's when problems started.

First, there is only one garage parking and we both drive, so the rule was based on first come first serve. Ok, I was working with Apple Computer then which is less than 3 miles from the apartment so I thought I would have a fair chance of parking inside sometimes. But no. I think I parked in the garage only maybe 1/10 of the time while we were living together. But that was fine and the least of the problems.

She abused my stuff and me. She would climb onto the sofa feet (sometimes shoes) first before sitting down. She would always had Friday night gatherings with friends over making a mess in the kitchen and the shared areas using my stuff while I was out with friends. When I come home, it would always be messy if they had already left or very noisy if they were still around. The worst thing was they never clean up! My roommate always just sent them home and go to sleep and started driving back to her parents' house in San Francisco the next morning. I always ended up having to be the one washing the dishes and cleaning up the mess! It wasn't fair, of course, so I naturally talked to her. Her reply was, "Sure, that's fine." But guess what, she picked a floor scrub to clean the pots and pans and decided to use the cleanest towel for the dining surface to wash oily dishes instead of using a sponge. She would also put the non-dishwasher safe items into the dishwasher! So she basically wanted me to tell her, "Oh, no!! Not like that! Never mind, let me take care of it." Also, because it was my vacuum cleaner, she said she's not comfortable using it and would not want to get a new one if it breaks. Great!

Then one time, I was home during lunch time and I saw her and her love interest at our apartment. She was finishing the lunch she cooked and he was watching TV! I wondered how often do they come over, but anyways, I just said Hi and did my own thing. He started talking to me non-stop and she did not like it and quickly got him out and left. That night, she lectured me for an hour to please leave them alone. I really did not do anything but that was fine with me. I tried not to go home during lunch time.

Then it was her best friend's wedding. They wanted to borrow my car for the day with a bunch of other cars and in return I was invited to the wedding. I wanted to say "No" but then they sort of begged so I said "Ok". Long story short, in the end, the car came back all scratched up because of the decorations they put around the car and on the hood with the metal ties scrapping the paint while driving in the wind on the freeway. And the back side bumper has a small dent. Yeah, they did that to my bearly 2 year old car. I talked to my roommate but she forbidded me from telling the groom and the bride saying the repair would be covered by my own insurance! She said the couple are in their honeymoon phase and should not be bothered by the minor mishap. I waited for a few months before I finally told the couple. They questioned the scratches and the dent but luckily, the scratches were in the form of a heart-shape and along the side of the car in equal distance meaning they were really their decorations! Anyway, they just gave me a check for $500.00 and asked me to sign a release of liability. It was a nightmare but a lesson learned.

Finally, we could not stand each other any longer and we started looking for a place to move separately. She found one first and told me one night. The next day upon coming home from work, all her belongings disappeared!! Yes, just like that. One day notice, with no strings attached!? But guess what? I have things missing!! The kettle, the floor lamp, the tea pot and some mugs! What happened? I had to contact one of her friends to try to get back my stuff, but that guy said "Could you guys take care of this between yourself? I don't want to get involved." It was a bit of a shock but that's fine. I emailed her using her non-work email address. There was no reply. I gave up despite of being mad. A few weeks later, the stuff came back. It was delivered inside the apartment lying on the floor at the front door. It was scary! So, she can still come into the apartment whenever she feels like!? Anyway, it was all in all a 1.5 year nightmare... I am glad I never bumped into her thereafter.

I quickly shook off the image of her and the memories from those days. I really wish I had never met her.