Karma's gonna get me
Apr. 29th, 2004 01:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cosmolinguistI shared a dorm room with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
greenflower my sophomore year. We had an inflatable green plastic chair, Christmas lights on our bunk beds, maybe one working computer between the two of us at any given time, lots of dirty dishes, lots of late-night conversations, and lots of fun.
Though alike in so many ways, we differed in that by the time we started school that year she was engaged, and I'd never had so much as a date. This was cool because it meant I could make fun of the silly behavior she exhibited, and I was immune from reciprocal teasing. By the end of it she'd moved her marriage up, to the summer following that school year instead of the summer following this one, and I'd had a boyfriend for a few months. So while our situations had escalated, the essential point about it being easier to make fun of her remained. Her relationship was more serious, more tumultuous, and definitely more long-distance, as my boyfriend lived a two-minute walk away and her fiancé was half a country away.
I often thought last year that it one of the reasons it was a shame she got married and no longer lived with me was that she would've enjoyed the irony of the situation: I found myself in a relationship that I was taking more seriously, that was more long-distance (though still only three hours, whch isn't as bad as being in a different time zone). I had someone I missed terribly, someone I was always excited about seeing when he came to visit.
The one thing I didn't start to emulate--well, besides the getting-married part!--was the marathon telephone conversations Katie had been known for. I think her record was eight or nine hours, one whole night. That sort of thing never made sense to me; I don't even really like talking on the phone much. Matthew doesn't either. Thus, we only did so when we had some reason, like being at home where we're relatively close to each other and wanting to meet other friends and see a movie or something. We IMed a lot, and that seemed to work well for us--the long pauses didn't seem so ridiculous then, and didn't cost us money either--so everyone else just thought it was strange and used it to make fun of me for it. But not as much as we made fun of Katie (or Jenn, who used to have epic phone conversations with a certain boy from a certain state...) because it wasn't as funny.
Yeah, well, the karmic cycle must now be complete. Again, except for the gettilng-married part--it's so obvious to me I keep forgetting to mention it! And Katie's still not around to make fun of me.
Except, this time, he's not my boyfriend!
Is he?
Nah.
Edit: I forgot the other thing I'm now copying from Katie that I never did before, besides talking on the phone for long periods of time: thinking in time zones other than my own. I remember her saying things like "I haven't talked to him yet today! And it's already nine o'clock!" I'd look at my watch and say, "Katie, it's only eight o'clock." "Yeah, but it's nine there," she'd say. I'd laugh at her. But now I catch myself doing that, only more so: it's six time zones instead of one.
greenflower my sophomore year. We had an inflatable green plastic chair, Christmas lights on our bunk beds, maybe one working computer between the two of us at any given time, lots of dirty dishes, lots of late-night conversations, and lots of fun.Though alike in so many ways, we differed in that by the time we started school that year she was engaged, and I'd never had so much as a date. This was cool because it meant I could make fun of the silly behavior she exhibited, and I was immune from reciprocal teasing. By the end of it she'd moved her marriage up, to the summer following that school year instead of the summer following this one, and I'd had a boyfriend for a few months. So while our situations had escalated, the essential point about it being easier to make fun of her remained. Her relationship was more serious, more tumultuous, and definitely more long-distance, as my boyfriend lived a two-minute walk away and her fiancé was half a country away.
I often thought last year that it one of the reasons it was a shame she got married and no longer lived with me was that she would've enjoyed the irony of the situation: I found myself in a relationship that I was taking more seriously, that was more long-distance (though still only three hours, whch isn't as bad as being in a different time zone). I had someone I missed terribly, someone I was always excited about seeing when he came to visit.
The one thing I didn't start to emulate--well, besides the getting-married part!--was the marathon telephone conversations Katie had been known for. I think her record was eight or nine hours, one whole night. That sort of thing never made sense to me; I don't even really like talking on the phone much. Matthew doesn't either. Thus, we only did so when we had some reason, like being at home where we're relatively close to each other and wanting to meet other friends and see a movie or something. We IMed a lot, and that seemed to work well for us--the long pauses didn't seem so ridiculous then, and didn't cost us money either--so everyone else just thought it was strange and used it to make fun of me for it. But not as much as we made fun of Katie (or Jenn, who used to have epic phone conversations with a certain boy from a certain state...) because it wasn't as funny.
Yeah, well, the karmic cycle must now be complete. Again, except for the gettilng-married part--it's so obvious to me I keep forgetting to mention it! And Katie's still not around to make fun of me.
Except, this time, he's not my boyfriend!
Is he?
Nah.
Edit: I forgot the other thing I'm now copying from Katie that I never did before, besides talking on the phone for long periods of time: thinking in time zones other than my own. I remember her saying things like "I haven't talked to him yet today! And it's already nine o'clock!" I'd look at my watch and say, "Katie, it's only eight o'clock." "Yeah, but it's nine there," she'd say. I'd laugh at her. But now I catch myself doing that, only more so: it's six time zones instead of one.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-29 01:18 am (UTC)an inflatable green plastic chair, Christmas lights on our bunk beds, maybe one working computer between the two of us at any given time, lots of dirty dishes
This sounds perfect to me :). I'm such a slacker at heart.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-29 07:15 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-29 04:50 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-29 05:05 am (UTC)I absolutely love those. :)
(So much I miss when I'm busy working full-time!)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-29 07:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-01 01:49 pm (UTC)I had a feeling you'd like epic phone conversations, since you're a chatterbox. (And of course, I say that lovingly -- I think it's great.)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-01 06:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-02 09:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-29 06:53 pm (UTC)For someone who has a well-published stance on distance-relationships, you seem to be going in the wrong direction! Allow me to illustrate:
In sequential order, you have been...- a two-minute walk away, which, estimating your average walking speed at five miles-per-hour:
- a three-hour drive away, which, estimating my average driving speed at sixty-two miles-per-hour (hey, I should know):
- and now, according to How Far Is It? (http://www.indo.com/cgi-bin/dist?place1=Morris%2C+MN&place2=Manchester%2C+United+Kingdom), 3938 miles.
Now, three data points is only enough to prove a linear relation, which this clearly is not. However, it seems like it might be an exponential relation.
An exponential regression produces something on the order of x10.94. At that rate, number four would be at 3,859,546 miles.
So, who do you know on Mars?