Plovers are fans of muggle tits.

Awww, yeah, plovers got it going on.

Love your fanny's muddled bits. Mastodon.

frackin a zuisa. is there a medic on board? get the legs/ankles/feet checked out. The emotional loss is...hard. especially when the replacement roomate is so fraught with potential demonicness. wish i had useful suggestions, only shared misery from the first few shows i worked on before i built up a callous ability to welcome 30 new people into my life every few months and then say good bye again when the show closed.

Yes, please get the ankles/legs/feet checked, zuisa. I am sorry about people assigning you all the shittiness of Americanism, because the people who deserve it/earned it are nowhere around and you're stuck holding the bag, and it sucks.

oof, new roommate. Maybe try to tell her that you aren't the morning type? Sometimes opposite types can work well together, it's just that everyone needs to be on the same page.

{{zuisa}}

There is a medical department on board, but the doctor walked into lunch while I was lamenting about it, he glanced at it, and went "Ah, you'll be alright." I was pretty good friends with one of the nurses, but of course she left yesterday along with everyone else I liked. I'm sure it'll be fine... hurts like hell still, but I think it should be fine.

I know I'm going to have to try just working everything out with the new roommate, but I'm incredibly non-confrontational and always just prefer to let other people do what they want. I just want my old roomie back; she was awesome. Knowing that I have to spend the rest of my contract with someone closer to my mother's age than my age is just... eh. I guess I'm perfectly used to being friends with people much older than I am, but they don't usually live with me and judge me for how I act. I'm sorry, I'm 25, I'm not going to apologize for not being a morning person and liking to stay up late and being sort of disorganized. My mess never, ever impedes on anyone else's space, so... I don't know. I always worry that I'm being the unreasonable one in every situation so I try just to not say anything.

I really need to just prepare some witty comebacks when people start America-bashing. They usually aren't WRONG, which makes it hard, but I could just use some zingers, I think.

I really need to just prepare some witty comebacks when people start America-bashing.

"That's not the kind of American I am. I'm the Duke Ellington, Walt Whitman, Fred Astaire, Wes Anderson, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Aretha Franklin kind of American."

And if they object to Wes Anderson then you have something else to talk about.

Yeah, that's a lot, zuisa. It definitely does remind me of theater life, where the first show I teched I was all, aww, hug the actors, they're leaving, and everyone just looked at me like, newbie. And then I was all callous after that. It'll be okay. You'll get used to it. You were scared when you got on board, and you made friends. You'll do it again.

Try not to compare, because new people aren't going to be the old people, but that doesn't mean they won't have their own charms.

And hey, lots of people on here are old enough to be your mother and you get along with us just fine!

Morning person who wants roommate to be morning person may require some pushback,

I really need to just prepare some witty comebacks when people start America-bashing. They usually aren't WRONG, which makes it hard, but I could just use some zingers, I think.

When I first got back home, I reminded people more than once that there were far more Americans than Australians who thought Bush was a dick. Unfortunately, the saying "empty vessels make the most noise" applies all too readily to the image America portrays in the news of other countries. We'll hear far more about the Tea Partiers, for instance, than anyone halfway sane.

For myself, whe I was living in Philly, I found a significant difference in attitudes between Americans who had developed strong links outside the US (such as yourself, immersing yourself in China for an extended period) and Americans who remained, shall we say, domestically focussed. (Most of my friends came from the former group.)

None of which necessarily helps you that much. But lumping all the negatives they associate with America on you isn't appropriate, both because it's a one-eyed view of America, and because you're not in fact a personification of American foreign policy, but an actual person. I reckon you have the right to say so, if you find it getting to be too much.

zuisa, that sounds stressful. As far as the American thing, goes, I would just kind of lightly roll my eyes and laugh and go, "Yeah, yeah...all Americans are conservative assholes, all French people are surly smokers, all Latin people are hot-tempered, the Brits are snobs and all Germans are anal about punctuality. Any other stereotypes to add to the intolerance pool?!"

The roommate thing is hard but she'll be phasing out, too, right? Silver lining? I would set polite yet firm boundaries. Just because you're 25 and she's 40 doesn't make you lesser. Talk about what you both would like to see as roommates, see where you can both compromise and where you can't. With roommates stuck in a tiny space, there's BOUND to be some irritants. You got lucky as hell with a great roomie the first time -- that isn't the norm.

But you can still have a decent experience.

Best of luck, and don't worry about dumping. We all do it.

Zuisa, I hope you find some equilibrium with all the new people quickly.

You may find that there is a natural progression that occurs with the changeovers there. When I worked at an 8 week camp, by week 3 friendships had developed, week 4 was a social event every night, week 5 was when everyone needed alone time, weeks 6&7 were super busy with work but social, too, because the countdown to the end had begun... It just takes a couple times through it to recognize the pattern.

every time a set designer ever asks for a gloss floor, you can hear the paint dept crying in misery from miles away.

Will no one think of the lighting designer?