The Meeting

First impressions are very important in the realm of college life; If people first view a man saving babies from a burning playground, they are much more inclined to want to be that man’s friend than if they first saw him, say, singing a karaoke version of the Oompa Loompa songs from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory complete with costumes to match. People decide just about how well they would want to get to know someone within about 1.8 seconds of meeting them. If you screw up your first 2 seconds with someone you really want to meet, you’ve got your work cut out for you, my friend. It sometimes takes weeks, months, or even years to convince someone that their first impression was inaccurate and that you’re not really some idiot who can’t even breathe without the help of multiple self-help booklets.

Obviously, I hoped my roommates’ first impression of me would be more along the baby-saver’s side of the scale than the Oompa Loompa singer’s. Unfortunately for me, in my life I have proven that I am much more likely to do the latter. I only wished my new roommates would be able to handle and accept my insanity and perhaps even embrace the madness alongside me. I knew that three of the five(named Josh, Daniel, and Steven) were safe, as they had gone to my high school and had been friends with me for years and thus knew what to expect. The two I did not know, however, could have gone either way. I did a brief amount of facebook stalking of both of them, attempting to get a feel for how they’d react to our dorm and the chaos that would surely arise within. This is very hard to do only having pictures and random wall posts to work with. However, the day soon came to move out, and with it, the day of the first meeting.

Now on that note, I’m sure some greater power must have intervened in my meetings with my roommates. Surely mere coincidence couldn’t have created such perfect situations; for instance, I met my roommate Keenan by walking in my dorm to see what it was like, seeing Keenan down the hall, deciding I didn’t recognize him even with my aforementioned facebook stalking, panicking, muttering a very awkward greeting, and running back out the door to the much more comforting environment of the outdoors. It must have been fate. Naturally, I wish this is the same way in which I meet my future wife.

I was soon told by Daniel, one of the roommates that I knew from high school, that this stranger was indeed my roommate so I didn’t have to panic, and I soon gathered up the courage to reenter my dorm. In no time I had unpacked and was taking a very lovely nap. I was awoken by the noise of the door opening and the sight of a stranger peeking into my room. This time my facebook stalking did not fail me, and I knew he was my roommate Evan. I was very sleepy, so I am not entirely sure what I said to him at this point, but I am very certain that it made little to no sense. It was a very tender first meeting, though. Of that I am sure. However, even in our limited first meetings, I got the vibe from both of these newfound companions that they would indeed be very fun to live with. I was certainly not disappointed. But so began the adventures of Nate, Josh, Steven, Daniel, Evan, and Keenan.