Writing for Interactive Media

Journalism 122/Communication Studies 122

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How to lose a roommate in 10 days
By Lynn Penkingcar
Daily Titan, CSU Fullerton
August 23, 2004

Warning: Try these tactics at your own risk. The Daily Titan is not responsible for any disturbances in student residential life.

Day 1: Obsessive Compulsive Behavior Follow your roommate around and wipe off everything he/she touches with sanitizing spray. Arrange all the food in the cabinets in alphabetical order.

Day 2 : The Next American Idol Sing the Annie theme song every time you’re in the shower. Hang pictures of yourself in the hallway, bathroom and outside your roommate's door. Practice Britney Spears; dance moves when your roommate has company over.

Day 3 : Home Sick Pound on your roommate's door at 4 o'clock in the morning and tell him/her you had a bad dream. When your roommate does something to your disliking, threaten to tell your mom.

Day 4 Dumb and Dumber Exchange all of your roommate's laundry quarters for pennies. Constantly forget to bring your keys with you when you leave the building. Call your roommate from across campus and ask for directions to get home.

Day 5: Weird Science Tell your roommate you were a cat in another life and constantly interject meows and purrs into daily conversations. Chant spells in a foreign language and blow handfuls of glitter at your roommate.

Day 6 Good Grief, Pig Pen! Before your roommate gets into the shower, get everything in the bathroom wet. Open all the soda cans, throw away the bread bag ties and cut off the cereal box tops.

Day 7 ; Kleptomaniac Steal one sock from your roommate’s laundry each week. If you have multiple roommates, play Trading Spaces and makeover their bedrooms. Eat your roommate's food; collect 10 bonus points if it's labeled with his/her name.

Day 8 ; Princess Sophia and Binky Winky Insist that you only get cell phone reception right in front of your roommate's door and have intimate conversations with your significant other there. Be sure to use pet names, talk like a baby and make kissing noises.

Day 9; Confessions of a College Drama Queen Accuse your roommate of not caring about you and being the reason you seek outside counseling. Sob hysterically for no reason.

Day 10 ; The Last Straw Cut out advertisements for new roommates and stick them to the refrigerator door.

Living Nightmares

Living Nightmares

Finding the perfect roommate can be a challenging task, be appalled by some CSUF students' roommate horror stories.

By Lynn Penkingcarn
Daily Titan, CSU Fullerton
August 23, 2004

“I lived in the dorms my freshman year and my roommate constantly smelled. He would shower maybe once a month when he went to his parents’ house. He finally got the hint when I started lighting candles and Febreze-ing his bed.”

J.J. sophomore, psychology major*Anonymity was granted to protect the privacy of the individuals involved.

“I had a roommate who snored so heavily that even my roommates next door could hear her. For a whole semester I had to sleep in the living room or make sure I was asleep before she was. My other roommates and I had a couple other issues with her as well and at the end of the semester we told her we were all moving to another location. She moved out, but we ended up staying in our apartment.”

P.M. senior, business major

“During my freshman year, I had a roommate whose girlfriend would come to our dorm early in the mornings to avoid the parking crunch. Sometimes they would be getting it on in our room when they thought I was still sleeping. This put me in an awkward situation because I didn’t know if I should get up and let them know I was awake. I ended up having to set my alarm clock to go off so they would know I wasn’t sleeping.

S.T. senior, art major

“The first time I met my roommate, she came into my room and was looking at a picture above my bed when she farted. She said, ‘Excuse me’ and left. She farted a lot in public. Also, she would spend hours in the bathtub at the dorms. That’s fine if you’re at home, but not when you share a bathroom with other people.”

M.M. senior, communications major

“One night, at around 1 o’clock in the morning, I went to the bathroom. When I was finished doing my business, I opened the door, which faced my roommate’s bed. The light was shining directly on him, lying naked in bed.”
J.F. alumnus, kinesiology major.

Daily Texan:

The Daily Texan - Top Stories
Issue: 9/22/04

Cramped campus life
By Noelene Clark

For Kema Johnson, 004 isn't just a dorm room number. It's also the number of inches between her back and her roommate's when they are both sitting at their desks.
Johnson and her roommate Heidi Lau had to set their beds on lofts in order to fit desks, dressers and a dehumidifier in their converted dorm room in the basement of the University's Carothers Dormitory. From her bed, Johnson can reach the fire alarm, Lau's bed and the window, which faces a cement wall.
"The rooms are ridiculously small," Johnson said. "It's just cramped. Usually, if my roommate is here, I just leave. I spend as little time here as possible, because I don't want to get angry. It's frustrating being in such a small space with someone else. I feel like I can't be in here, and it just isn't a good living situation."
Johnson and Lau weren't the only students who opened their doors to find abnormally small rooms on move-in day; four other basement rooms of varying sizes house nine women in Carothers. And the room sizes weren't their only surprise.
"When we got into bed the first night here, the sheets were cold and damp," said Amanda McGlothlin, a Plan II sophomore. "It was so humid in here that our clothes felt wet. You could kind of shake out any wrinkles and wear your clothes outside to dry."
Because Plan II is constructing new seminar rooms and a library in what was formerly a study lounge adjacent to the basement rooms, humidity levels in the basement have been fluctuating. Residents are also concerned about exposed pipes and wiring and emergency exit windows that are nailed shut.
"We've had a difficult time balancing the humidity," said Douglas Garrard, associate director of the Division of Housing and Food Service. "A few residents called in with concerns about mold, so we have staff monitoring humidity levels with a dewpoint recorder, and we've issued dehumidifiers. We're trying to be proactive about this."
Completion of the new honors center, originally scheduled for this summer, was delayed due to the unexpected utility problems. When complete, "it will be a place where students can meet, relax and do group study," Garrard said. "It will strengthen the overall community between the honors students and between the residents of Blanton, Andrews and Carothers."
In the meantime, residents are living daily with the inconveniences of noise, paint fumes and emptying dehumidifiers.
"My roommate puts her laptop against her pillow and stands on her chair and leans against the bed to do stuff on her computer, because we can't really both be at our desks at the same time," Johnson said. "I was trying to do laundry, and there's just no room to sort everything. I go to the bathroom to dry my hair and get ready. I go anywhere else to study. We wouldn't be able to walk if we put anything else in this room."
Garrard said residents of Moore-Hill, Brackenridge and Jester are living with similar problems. As study lounges and storage closets are converted into dorm rooms, they're bound to vary in size.
"It seems unfair that some people get really good rooms and some people get the shaft, especially when we're all paying the same price to live in the dorms," said Jenn Whiddon, a Plan II sophomore.
The University is dealing with students' concerns as they are discovered.
"One of the ways we become aware of these problems is when people make calls and tell us it's not working out," Garrard said. "It's our goal to provide quality housing, but there's also a demand issue. Overall, we feel it's in the students' best interest to provide as many housing spaces as we can."
For now, the students beneath the surface are adjusting to their unique living conditions.
"We're doing OK, and it's not as bad as it was at first," said Jasmine Erdener, a Plan II freshman. "It's like one of those little homes in Japan where there's a spot for everything and you have to put it there, or everything doesn't work."
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