the difficult part came when i tried to cancel my old insurance. i attempted to print out the coverage confirmation form but i couldn't get it to display in either chrome or firefox (on the mac). i called progressive who told me where to go online to get the form. it finally worked after i installed adobe acrobat using safari. i called commerce, they said they needed a different confirmation form, and that only progressive could send it to them. i called progressive explaining the situation and they said they could mail the form to commerce but it'd take 7-10 days. i called commerce to get their fax number. i called progressive to get them to fax the form instead.
i was so exhausted afterwards i decided to do the condo insurance tomorrow. i've had enough insurance bureaucracy for the day!
the final hours before a roommate leaves feel the longest. i've been through enough of them that i should be used to it by now, but it's always awkward. bags packed, bedroom cleaned, all we do is sit around and wait for the appointed departure time. in my mind i'm rehearsing what i'm going to say: hope you had a pleasant stay, good luck getting home. victor is fortunate that he doesn't have too long to travel, just across the ocean. with my china roommates, it's usually a 24 hour flight back to the mainland. as much as i like seeing roommates leave, it also makes me a little sad. i get used to having them around, for better or worse, and i learn to adjust my routine. change is always jarring, even when it means reverting back to single-style living once a roommate is gone.
victor began packing up his things today. he didn't look anxious, even had breakfast in the kitchen with his laptop. he did a load of laundry which turned out to be the bedsheets. 30 minutes before he was about to leave, he took a shower. with 15 minute to go, he finally got dressed and brought out his luggages. since he didn't have a phone, i called a taxi for him earlier. his ride arrived a few minutes after 3:30. go outside i was surprised by how warm and humid it was. i helped him with his suitcases and we shook hands and said our good byes.
and just like that i was roommate free.
first thing i did was to go through the house to see if he left anything behind. he basically cleaned out his room, with the sheets folded nicely on the bed. usually roommates leave bags or boxes behind but the room was totally empty. the same couldn't be said of the fridge or the cupboard however. i've never had a roommate leave behind so much food before (although he did live here for 3 months, you tend to accumulate more the longer you stay).
so without further ado, here's the latest installment of "what my roommate left behind":
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most of the stuff victor left behind were food, but he did leave a few non-food items. usually they leave behind their shampoos, since it's not worth bringing it back home. victor also gave me a free ticket to see a whale watch.
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he left some vegetables, all organic. i wouldn't necessarily say he ate healthy, but when it comes to ingredients, he had a preference for the organics and the non-fat.
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he had a lot of different types of bread. there were a few unopened bags of beans and lentils. i guess it wasn't worth it bringing them back to spain. even his microwave popcorn was organic. that could explain why there wasn't the awful smell one normally associates with microwaved popcorn.
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victor left behind a lot of meat and diary products.
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finally, an assortment of condiments and sauces.
i also inherited several rolls of toilet paper, which i didn't realize he bought until a few days ago. i'm pretty particular when it comes to toilet paper, and i always get the same brand (charmin regular). so i thought it was strange that every once in a while i'd use a roll that seemed irregular. a little too thick with a different weave pattern. i thought maybe i bought the wrong package at one point until i finally noticed this weekend that there was a new stack of toilet paper on the top shelf of the medicine cabinet. mystery explained! i hope he bought toilet paper because he wanted to contribute and not because he thought the stuff i had was inferior.
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when i look at how badly my non-stick pots and pans have been scratched beyond recognition, i'm actually glad victor is gone. it wasn't just him, his girlfriend did a lot more damage because i never had a proper "use of my cooking utensils" talk with her like i did with victor when he first arrived back in february. every single time they cooked it'd stress me out, just listening to the sounds of scraping in the kitchen or having the smell of grease envelop the whole house. have they never heard of non-stick cookware before? hopefully my next roommate won't be as bad. i hear he's a vegetarian. looks like i'll need to get new pots and pans. again.
because it was suddenly so warm, i thought it'd be the perfect chance for me to make another attempt at making no-knead bread. i whipped up a sludge of dough and put it on top of the fridge to ferment for the next 20 hours. i used brand new yeast this time, i should get a pretty decent rise this time with now-optimal conditions.
the rest of the day went by pretty fast. for dinner i cooked up a pair of beef patties and rolled some hamburgers. i think watched the bulls-heat game and was disappointed to see chicago lose in overtime, with the series now at 1-3. the bulls getting eliminated is all but inevitable at this point. i'm just hoping in game 5 that one of the key miami players - lebron, wade, bosh - get seriously injured and won't be able to play in the finals. miami heat must not win the finals! evil can not triumph!