so, i moved into my new room last week. unfortunately my ex-roommate apparently misses my presence and decided to ask me to return to my old room and clean! how incredible is that! to illustrate what i had to deal with the whole week, i've decided to copy and paste our fb message exchange (her messages are in bold and my replies are in blue):

Hey Zq
Hope your moving out done well.
Since you are gone, I left alone and I see washroom, kitchen and the floor where we shared together about a month.
I didn't expect to clean up, but I would appreciate your sharing to clean up together.
I cleaned up the dust washroom floor last.
So can we clean up together our room lastly? I heard if you are moving out, your spot should be clean up with your responsibility.
I will wait for your reply. Thanks!

this was so ridiculous that i didn't know what to say. my friend actually joked that she might ask me to clean the room, and voila, she really did! what i really wanted to say was "fuck you" (that's what i was suggested to say; another friend told me to go back and leave a pile of poop on the floor). but i thought the better of it.

hey, sorry my schedule is crazy and i'm super busy even on the weekends so i don't know if i can spare time to help you

Yes. I am busy too. I think you misunderstood the message. Cleaning up is responsibility belong to you. Just call me or send me facebook message asap when you are able.

you have no idea how pissed i was at her tone when i saw this. maybe it's due to her language ability, but still.

note that in her first message she said she didn't expect me to clean up, but obviously there was something in that sentence that i apparently misunderstood. also, i think i laughed when she said she's busy. i don't know how busy you are if you're asleep by 11pm almost every night, and you're skyping or talking on the phone all the time. i only know how lazy you are when you can't even be bothered to pick up earbuds you dropped on the floor and throw them into the bin, or clean up the makeup foundation residue you left in the sink, or clear the oil splatter you left on the stove with a simple wipe (i can go on, seriously). for someone with such a big mirror, please take a look at yourself before you decide to lecture someone about being responsible. but i guess we have different definitions of "cleaning". she probably thinks it means letting dirt and dust, no matter how easily they can be cleaned at the moment they appeared, accumulate until the next person's cleaning duty.

so i decided to finally give her a small piece of my mind, which i should have done a long time ago.

i want to point out firstly that so far this semester (4 weeks) i have not really been utilizing the room. i only cooked once in the kitchen (yes i counted) and i cleaned up afterwards, including any oil splatter on the stove or spillage on the counter. and when i used the bathroom, i avoided leaving mess behind (e.g. hair, other residue in the bath and sink). i'm not certain if you've been doing the same.

i agree that cleaning is my responsibility, and i believe in cleaning up after oneself. if i left any mess behind, it is mainly in the loft space and table area, so i don't mind cleaning those areas.

Alright. Even though you cleaned up after you used washroom and kitchen, how it can be cleaned as cleaning up with vacuum and rag. Not only for the washroom and kitchen, but also the floor we shared together and your closet area; the dust. Right? You don't have to come if you don't want.

passive-aggressiveness ftw! uh huh, like she cares whether my closet is dirty. more probably she just wants me to wipe the fucking bathroom. "how it can be cleaned as cleaning up with vacuum and rag"? look who's talking. did you clean the bathroom with a rag when i asked you, twice, to do it last semester? oh, right. you insisted that you did when obviously you didn't. so that's how you roll huh. just insist and the truth changes to fit your story!

ok, i would have gladly cleaned the closet and floor before i left if i'd known i had to. but lindsey didn't say anything when she checked the room, so i thought everything was ok.

now i don't have the key anymore, if not i would take an afternoon off to clean it. everything would have been much easier before i returned the key and moved out the vacuum cleaner.

i'll try to ask lindsey to let me into the room on sunday morning/afternoon and i'll clean the closet, floor and loft space.

lindsey is my RA (resident advisor). and i did ask her about it cos i wanted to clean to shut the ex-roommate up. see what lindsey says:

hey lindsey, is there any way you could let me into my old room this weekend? i want to do some final cleaning and i'd prefer to do it without my ex-roommate being there (cos of tension between us). sorry if this request sounds strange, but it was the best solution i could think of and yeah, let me know if it's possible.

yeah sure! what day were you thinking?
oh wait actually i dont have your key anymore
and i cant let you in but you really dont need to clean, if there is anything in your room you need i can try to get it for you
i can ask my supervisor if you really want to go back and clean but its not necessary

so this is what i replied the ex-roommate:

i checked with lindsey, she says she can't let me in and she already ok-ed me when i checked out. so i'm not going back, sorry.

sure hope it ends here. if not i'll just ignore whatever she says from now on.

to my ex-roommate: perhaps your next roommate will be so nice she'll actually clean the poop off your butt for you. if so, good for you! but i sincerely wish, from the bottom of my heart, that you'll get a new roommate who's lazier and more selfish than you. if that happens, i'll actually be kinda sad that i don't have access to the room anymore cos i'd really wanna see what becomes of your kitchen and bathroom. have fun!

this is what my sched looks like this semester:

monday
9am to 4pm - intermediate typography
6pm to 9pm - feminist film theory seminar

tuesday
9am to 4pm - scientific illustration (field museum)
4.30pm to 9pm - work

wednesday
free day (aka do work)

thursday
9am to 12pm - post-bacc project and seminar
4pm - 9pm - work

friday
9am to 4pm - letterpress

for the coming week, i have type project 1 final and project 2 book concepts; and 2 responses to readings for film class, all due on monday. i will need to find time to do solo printing for letterpress (either tuesday after work or wednesday), and i have a sculpture due for post-bacc project on thursday. i think the main class that's killing me is feminist film theory because i've been falling behind by a week since week 1 (because my textbook arrived late). i feel so overwhelmed right now. really glad i took scientific illustration, cos i don't have homework for that class.

also, i don't think i mentioned that i've been working as lab monitor. i'm in charge of the resource room on the viscom floor and usually i just do my own work there but i also have to check the classrooms to see if the printers are working and there's enough paper. it's not really a must to do that every time but because my boss teaches on the days that i'm working, it's kinda stressful with her around, although i usually get my freedom after 6 when her classes end. it is a pretty easy job, but i'm considering just working one day a week because i think it might be better to have thursday afternoons off to do work for letterpress class next day.

it's only week 4 and i'm already feeling a little burnt out. i have no time to breathe other than on friday nights when i feel that i cannot do any more work.

i'm in the midst of moving to a single room in the school's other residence hall!

things happened so fast: i only got news that a single room was available last week and now i'm moving in... can't believe it! i checked out the room this morning when i started my first shift of moving, and it's really tiny-ass small and i still have to sleep in the loft. but i'm happy. :)

be sure to ask me for my new address if you wanna send me stuff, hurhur.