come and knock on our dooooor

lots of new developments in the last few days.
home has been a sanctuary for the past year or so.

before that, i lived with my wonderful sig oth for several years - mostly happily, but as the end was near, it got really tough. i requested my space, and eventually, i spent some time in a one-bedroom apartment while i navigated through this major breakup - then after, several other wastes of time. despite the toughies, the space i had was mine and made me feel like i knew me better than i had before. that time was so interesting - hard but good time, sort of exhilirating but draining - it was work. when it started, i was anxious for freedom in my renewed space; by the end when i knew i wanted change, i still couldn't imagine what roommates would be like.

then, the perfect opportunity presented itself... me and three lovely ladies had a chance to move in together. despite my hesitancies, i went for it, because it seemed like a window of opportunity that wasn't often at hand. my life has been wildly more easy since - the ladies were wonderful. it was nice to have a home where you decompress by talking over dinners and laughing about your day with someone without needing to plan it. and now within a year's time - believe it or not - i think living alone sounds sort of lonely.

so, as the year has passed, people have had reasons to move or go. beth took a job on the SC boat, floating on the tank doing two shows a week in the bahamas and otherwheres. amanda was next - she decided to move to vegas to do the second city stage out there. megan? she hadn't lived alone in her life, so made the leap to a one bedroom in lincoln park just this past weekend. she's all grown up!

technically, beth is still my roommate, though she doesn't return until january. she's gotten to come home twice since may, and both times have been a blast. beth is the kind of friend you can sit around with, get drunk with, talk with, and do nothing with - just about the best. i'm looking forward to having her here in mid-coldtown months.

so, the living sitch has changed, and our world - well, i guess MY world (and Niles the cat, his too) - has become a virtual revolving door of new entrants.

philip is our subletter - he is currently renting from beth until november 15th. he came here for the io summer intensive back in june, and has stayed to see if he wants to move here for sure.

jon is an improviser, and just took over the back room. jon and i didn't really know each other more than just passing in the street before, but he seems nice. here's what i know: jon's been here about 4 years or so, is on team Rattlesnake High School at io, runs lights for Armando at io on Monday nights, and is a huge white sox fan. jon was born with no sense of smell. this is a fun fact i recently learned, and now i'm dead-set on making him smell expired milk cartons just for sport.

and tim - tim is our newbie. just in today, settling in well. tim was an intern at csz last summer, and this guy has a heart of gold. he's coming here right after college to see if this improv thing is for him. i bet he'll like it a bunch. he just took over the middle room.

so now - now it's gone from a house of babes to a house of dongs, at least temporarily. i miss my girls, but the change is hilarious. i'm hoping for a lot of reasons to bring up these names until beth comes back, what with all the hijinks we'll pull.