awww, mushroomies

Here's a subject I've only ever really alluded to, but now want to detail: my roommates. I've always been lucky about who I've lived with, but I've also always gone into the living situation already being friends. And this year, fortune truly smiled... When I think about it, Justine, Amy and Julian took a pretty chance on me: three exchange students, looking for a fourth homie, and from amidst a wealth of sophisticated Europeans and fun-loving where-whos to choose from, they picked a relatively sketchy U.K.adian... ME!! From our August inception, there was equal parts chemistry and fate in the batter. After calling them and joining the list of 'potentials', I had a vague feeling I'd bump into them, and kept my ears open for the accents. Surely enough, I heard them at the decommissioned Cafe Syriapreme (opposite the Bifteck), and though mistaking Justine's voice for Amy's, met the trio as they trooped off to look for an apartment. To trim the story, they got down and dug for apartments whilst I kinda just sat around. And then, when I proved unobtainable (for reasons I can't possibly get into here), held out for my reply, even when they had countless offers from others. It was really heart warming, as for a point, I was teetering on another place, despite it's inconvenient locale. But knew, and felt, all along these guys were the best, the ones for me. The next few entries I dedicate to these three, bright and caring people I'm so glad to call friends... awwwww...

@ @ @

A few things I found out about the JAJ yesterday, and general apartment goings-on:

- Amy owns a UBP, or Universal Bath-Plug, for the uninitiated

- A week after Julian's 'upset stomach', there was still the smell of vomit lingering mysteriously in the kitchen. Not knowing why, Justine thought she'd investigate some of our trash, and stuck her hand into a bucket of refuse and discovered the sauce, I mean, source

- Big Booty, the name of a raunchy-haunches mag that Julian received for his birthday, is still in our vestibule. The one time we tried to get rid of it, it literally broke through our makeshift recycling box in front of our apartment, and flipped itself to the most explicit page. So we brought it back inside rather than cause a taxi crash. Now I change out of my own bootys into my slippers while standing on it

- Amy has slipped on two banana peels since she came to Canada. The first time, she thought, was simply a thighslapper: 'I slipped on a banana peel' She said she said to herself. The second was a little more alarming: 'I'm becoming a cartoon character' She said to herself, with a thought bubble.

- Julian, upon our getting a warning from a pair of nice cops for a noise complaint (back in September, there was simply a monstrous party at our place. The cops came in using their flashlights as glowsticks, I'm not kidding: at the time, and not knowing who brought the flashlights, I distinctly remember saying that I wished cops would raid parties in that fashion), later told me that he got in a conversation with one of the policemen about whether Peter Gabriel's live stuff was as good as his studio work. I have yet to corroborate the story

- All three adore my Quebexican girlfriend. What a truly Global vision they have, to be able to overlook some of her less admirable qualities (being from Quebec) to see, and appreciate, her true cultural charms...

more stories, hopefully furnished with one or two pictures, will surface shortly...