Oh, screw that, vw. Your compunction is admirable, but living with someone is a big thing. If they get on your tits, your whole quality of life is wrecked. Sounds like this person is not the person for you - and there are plenty of housemates out there, and plenty of apartments. There's absolutely no need to put yourself in a bad position.

I once accepted a boy as a flatmate (and this really is a story where we see that Fay Is A Nasty Person) whom I thought seemed very young, but nice enough. I thought he was maybe 18, and a very young 18. It was only after he moved in and I realised he was 24 that I twigged that he had learning difficulties. Without going into details (and I will just come out of this as Stone Cold Bitch, because it did my head in) I found this tremendously difficult to deal with, and my other flatmate all but moved out, he annoyed her so much. I realise that this was fairly ghastly of us, but - I was working long hard days, and the flat had been a really nice environment with 3 girls who got on well, got each other's jokes and were on the same wavelength. And then this lad moved in and he just didn't get things. It meant that I always had to be consciously trying to be nice, and quite often not succeeding, because there was no real meeting of minds going on. And I'm not a patient woman at the best of times. All three of us had a really negative experience with this flatshare. Big time.

Your home should be your refuge from the world, not a place you dread returning to. You go with your instincts.

Oh vw, he's very cute!

Go Reporter Guy! Choose Reporter Guy!

...and, you know, if he wanted to take a holiday to another bit of the Middle East, you have a friend in Cairo who could lick him put him up on her sofa.

Oh vw, he's very cute!

Hee! He seems reallly nice too.

Interestingly enough, I really think I want another male roommate. I've liked all of the male candidates better. A couple of the girls just seem far too perky for my tastes. And if they seem too perky for *me*, they'll really be too perky for Emily :).

Plus, there's just something nice about having a guy around.

Fay, bwah! I'll maybe tell him that at our second interview.

If they get on your tits, your whole quality of life is wrecked.

And there was I thinking you liked that sort of thing.

Plus, there's just something nice about having a guy around.

Go guy, choose guy. Or monkey.

I have updated my profile again, having realised that it lacked the one crucial ingredient. See if you can guess what it was; "My Ideal Partner" now reads as follows:

Someone who cares about others, who believes intelligent conversation is a tautology and who treats their life as an ongoing journey linking the past and the future. A fondness for echidnas wouldn't hurt, unless you take it so far as to cuddle them. If you let me cook for you, I will treat you like a goddess ("Please accept these burnt offerings").

And there was I thinking you liked that sort of thing.

There's a minimum skill set requirement, billytea.

Go guy, choose guy. Or monkey.

Make sure the monkey can pay rent. Also, in the interview watch closely for feces-flinging.

who believes intelligent conversation is a tautology

What do you mean by the above, that "intelligent" and "conversation" is a needless repetition (that is to say, in order to be conversation, it has to be intelligent), or something else?

Yeah, no monkeys, I'm afraid. We've already got the two pets who don't help with rent. Don't need any more.

My landlord is doing something in the hallway, and it keeps freaking me out, 'cause he's dropping things or something and making a lot of weird noise. Neither of my roommates are up, so I keep thinking someone is lurking in the hallway. At least it's light out.