Parents of the HS Class of 2009 (Part 1)

<p>So, D’s non-FBing roommate emailed; and D reports “she seems perfect for me.” Nice to have a positive vibe going in.</p>

<p>Great news, Z!</p>

<p>I’m so sorry NM. My thoughts and prayers are with you.</p>

<p>Zetesis, that’s wonderful. I completely agree about the positive vibe. </p>

<p>missypie, it’s a good question. I know that D has said she would have been happier freshman year if she’d had another athlete as a roommate, but it had nothing to do with disliking non-athletes, and everything to do with wishing the roommate had really understood about practice schedules and needing to sleep before a road trip or an early game, and things like that.</p>

<p>Missiepie - D’s school indicated to us early that they typically will room athletes together although usually on different sports. Sounded like a good idea but who knows. I will say that she typically does gravitate towards athletes and most of her friends are athletes in some sport - not always a runner. The roommate is a mid distance runner so they won’t compete against each other so that works. We’ll see how it all works out. They have “talked” on facebook and so far the vibe from my D has been good.</p>

<p>NM–so sorry to hear of your loss. Is so odd to feel bad for someone you don’t know in real life, but after awhile all of us seem to understand a bit about one another and truly sympathize. </p>

<p>Z—great news on the roommate front.</p>

<p>Not much further to report here on the roommate front. D exchanged a couple of facebook messages with her. Both participated in the same HS sport (neither will do so competitively in college). The funny thing is DD had actually answered one of her questions on facebook earlier this summer. The new roommate is at an optional intensive summer program at the university now so not much free time I suspect. Anyone have an opinion as to whether D should try to meet her prior to move-in? D doesn’t want to seem too pushy and it was my suggestion. We live only about 1/2 hour from campus.</p>

<p>One further bit of facebook advice. Don’t stress if the roommate’s not on facebook. I noticed that for the incoming class at D’s college less than 1/2 were on facebook or had joined the group for the school.</p>

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<p>rrah - I think the chance to meet briefly before move-in sounds like a great idea (but then I’m a mom too ;)) If your D is comfortable she might email something like “I’m going to be in college-town next week - want to meet for coffee?” Very casual and easy for the roommate to decline if she is too busy.</p>

<p>D and her roommate are now both back from summer camp jobs and communicating. It all looks and sounds good, although D noticed on FB that her roommate supported the other candidate in last year’s presidential election. Well, I suspect they will learn from one another…</p>

<p>NM - still thinking about you and your family. {{{hugs}}}</p>

<p>Son and roommate (vs suitemates) are now facebook friends. That’s the extent of things. Not even a “Hi.” I think he seems interesting and enough alike with enough differences that I think they’ll actually get a long fine. I can understand the different sport thing but I think it’s a little stereotypical to assume athletes aren’t in the choir. In fact, there is a kid who graduated a few years ago who is currently at S’s school in the top cappella group, just made his first “professional” DVD and starts on the baseball team. Now, to be fair, my son finds him to be a “tool” which I’ve never really understood the definition completely, but that has nothing to do with his interests and everything to do with a cocky attitude. :)</p>

<p>I like the matching athlete idea for the time management as well. My “five foot and a whisker” D’s roommate pays volleyball and basketball, so it will be a “Mutt and Jeff” pair (and I guess they can’t borrow each others’ clothes either lol)</p>

<p>It took about 2 emails for D1 to realize she and her freshman roommate were not compatible – and it was a horrible match. So it’s some relief for D2 to start her college experience on a more positive note. We’ll see what they learn about each other in subsequent exchanges – and then next year!</p>

<p>PRJ–D did mention that her new roommate did indicate on facebook that they share the same political leanings. It was kind of funny though when D said a few days ago, " I don’t know what I’ll do if my roommate is a “fill in the poli party here.” Also mentioned that they have some musical tastes in common.</p>

<p>NM–sending sincere condolences on the loss of your step father. I know this is already a challenging time for you.</p>

<p>NM also send condolences. My best GF in the world just lost her 40 yr old D to a heartattack this weekend leaving a 4 and 17 yr old behind. Makes us all stop and take a deep breath.</p>

<p>rrah–gosh I would insist that D invite the new roommate over for a good homecooked meal—and then send a nice bunch of leftovers back to the dorm with her. Do you know where she is from? as in could she ever need to stay with your family over a long weekend? (my D did this a number of times as we were on the West coast and school/roommates where on the East coast and I will forever be grateful for their generosity and plan to do the same for S’s friends and roommates since we live 45 miles away from the school).</p>

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<p>I think the artsy boys’ fears of having an athlete as a roommate are totally steroetypical…that they will bully them or merely deem them unworthy to be talked to. Yes, my son was in choir all four years with a guy who also played a sport all four years. There are always a few football players cast in the musical. But then there are the guys that were in elementary school with Son who didn’t speak to him in HS, even if they were in three classes a year together. </p>

<p>The kids who will just die if they get a [Republican] [Democrat][Emo] [whatever] roommate are also stereotyping to some degree. But I refuse to cast judgment on a single one of them because I simply can’t comprehend sharing a tiny room with a person not of my own choosing. I know I did it, but the very concept is bizarre.</p>

<p>NM, so sorry to hear about your loss. </p>

<p>Zetesis, hopefully roommate situation will continue to be a positive.</p>

<p>Missypie, I agree with you totally about the political leanings. For my D’s sake I would hope for a roommate who is closer to her political persuasion since we live in an area where she is fairly alone in her views. On the other hand I think that college is a great time to learn about folks who are different than you and as long as they are sane and calm about their views I don’t see any great problems. I think sleep and study schedules are much more important. Having said all that, I had two awful roommates in a row in graduate school (university run housing). One kept bringing home males to sleep over with no consideration of my wishes (in a 1 bedroom small flat) and the second was just nuts. Woke up one day to the common area of the apartment being covered with feathers and apartment mate screaming at top of her lungs. Had nothing to do with me but she was just nuts and I did manage to get her evicted.</p>

<p>On laptop #3, due to receive on Tuesday so we’ll have 5 days to get it up to speed with everything copied over that D wants to keep. Could have been closer right :)</p>

<p>thought I would share with you guys a link a friend posted on her blog (my friend’s blog is not the one shown below, she referred to this list on her own blog)</p>

<p>[The</a> 100 All-Time Best Dormroom Hacks | Online Universities.com](<a href=“http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2009/08/the-100-all-time-best-dormroom-hacks/]The”>http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2009/08/the-100-all-time-best-dormroom-hacks/)</p>

<p>D’s assessment that her roommate-to-be is “perfect for her” derives almost entirely from the fact that their sleep/study schedules are essentially identical and they are both avid readers. So far, so good.</p>

<p>Couldnt agree you more Missypie. Can I just ask though… what the heck is EMO? I really don’t get that one. Do Emos self identify like athletes and artists? It’s right up there with “tool” as far as I am concerned. :)</p>

<p>Sharonohio… What the…? I am thinking third time is not a charm but time to say I think we need to go in a different direction. And bigger question, what kind of technical support will be available to D when she gets to school?</p>

<p>As far as I understand it, an “emo” is what used to be a Goth…there could be differences, or there could be a new term by now…but I think they’re the black hair/black nail polish crowd who sit together in the cafeteria in lieu of attending the school pep rallies.</p>

<p>I’ve actually been teasing my D16 with the possibily of an emo roommate…if I’d let her, she would already be buying pink stuff for her future dorm room at a to be determined school…I’ve told her “what if your emo roommate wants to decorate all in black and hates pink?” (BTW, that D is getting her braces off right now.)</p>

<p>emo not so much goth, as just put upon- goth tries to imply a “dark side”, emo is more life is hard, and I am soooo sensitive, as opposed to goth, which is “harder” and don’t care enough</p>

<p>anyway, jury duty right now. siting in the jury room, supposed to be watching the orientation video. at least I am here. sigh. I am sad, I forgot my tinfoil hat. At least there is free wi-fi. I should be reading the ny times I brought,but eh,this is better.</p>

<p>As for daughter, she leaves in three weeks, and informs me that after she comes back from a week camping, her boss is taking her and her fellow employee to a spa for two days. Double sigh.</p>

<p>Who here is not a bit envious of their students? They need to have a program for parents, we get a week on a college campus, stay in the dorms,eat the food, sit in on classes, use the gym, and have parties. Of course, no qctual students would be there, just a bunch of middle aged people who want to have a taste of what we are paying for.</p>