Off-Campus Life

This is my first semester living off campus and outside a college. After spending 3 years in a penitentiary -- I mean, college -- there is a big difference noted in living on my own.

First and most noticeable is the absence of the incessant and annoying college announcements and 'ulang suara's. What an epitome of 'Enjoy the Silence'. I can now enjoy my well deserved sleep-in every weekend without being periodically woken up by formal pleas, and later, threatening orders, to attend some college event or other.

The other most noticeable difference is that we are now free to leave our innumerable pairs of shoes scattered before the front door without fear of disciplinary action. It's impossible to have them organized for more than 1 hour anyway seeing as our house contains 8 adult women, all of whom do care about our self-image.(Me excluded because I have only 3 pairs of shoes at best. Most of the time I just wear the same pair of sneakers till they fall apart)

Besides the shoes, we are also free to hang our clothes, pants, and even underwear wherever we want to. No more stupid rule that everything has to be in an exact specific place for the sake of 5S -- namely susah, sengal, shit, sewel, and stupid. In extension, we do not need to hang our clothes out to dry at the communal laundry room for those without morals to browse through and pick at their leisure.

Best of all about living on our own is no curfew. We now have the complete freedom of leaving and returning whenever our heart so pleases. I can come back at 2 am if I want, and no Pak Guard will accost me. Even though I have yet to find reason to come back at 2 am, it's nice to know that I can if I want to.

However, some things stand unchanged. Since the building I live in is so close to campus, many other tenants are also students. Therefore, the thing I hate the most about living in a college plagues me still -- having loud gossiping groups of girls as neighbors. I don't know whether there is some unwritten code of conduct that states girls must gossip loudly and squeal and scream at late night hours, or whether there is some female genetic marker that compels them to do so. It annoys me so much I regularly convert to something similar to a raging old hermit who has just had his property trespassed upon, muttering to myself about young people nowadays and their apparent lack of ability to exist in a society. Talk about ironic.

Wait, I'm going off topic, aren't I? Where was I...

At any rate, I like living independently. I like not having to move my stuff every semester. I like having my own bathroom. I like being able to cook. I like my balcony and it's view of the playground where children play in the afternoons. I like sitting at my balcony with a steaming mug of coffee and just watch the cars pass and the clouds scud by, or read a book, or talk to Pepper. Balconies are good things.

Sometimes, it's the little pleasures that make life worth living.

P/S Yes, I lack sleep.