Breakfast with Amber

November 2019: Miller 108

For this story, I'd like to draw your attention back to my dear roommate, Trinity. You remember a few months ago when I said she'd never again set an alarm as early as 6:45? That's because she was an intense night owl who chose to study/put away clothes/watch TV/hang out with friends late at night. In our room. While I was trying to sleep. With the desk lamp on. Or the closet light. And no limits on sound. The only nights where I got to sleep quickly were the nights she was out, and believe me, there were nights she was out. There was one morning where she came back at 7 am, just as I was waking up. That's the kind of situation we had.

I was taught growing up that we should be quiet when there are other people trying to sleep. Every morning, while she was sleeping in, I'd leave the lights off and the blinds closed and watch YouTube with my earbuds in, careful even to keep my laughter to a minimum. If it was after breakfast and I wanted to make a video, and she was still asleep, I'd go into the study lounge or onto the balcony if there was someone trying to study. I'd be free to make noise, and I'd have the sounds of nature to accompany me. (That's why in episode 45 of my Miitopia 3DS playthrough, I just randomly say "It's started raining"--I could hear it more easily because I was outside.)

Then came nighttime. I had brushed my teeth, put my retainer in, and tucked myself into bed, ready for the sleepy, and here comes Trinity bursting into my cocoon of darkness with a bag of laundry. She opened the closet door and turned it on and started pacing back and forth, putting stacks of folded shirts into her dresser.

I'm one of those sleep bitches who can't have any lights inside of the room on to sleep. I wear a sleep mask, and even the light peeking beneath it is enough to keep me awake with my eyes closed. Maybe it's a mental thing. Maybe it's the knowledge of a light being on that keeps me awake. Either way, Trinity had the closet light on. I tell her something like, "Hey, do you mind turning off the light? I'm trying to sleep."

And she says something like, "Well, I need to fold my laundry."

"Can't you at least close the closet door when you're not in there?"

"But how am I supposed to see?"

"Use the flashlight on your phone."

I don't remember what her rebuttal was for that one, but she always had one. No matter the situation, she decided there was no way to do things unless it was the one that kept me awake.

We did have a talk with res life, and we did draw up a roommate agreement, but then came the TV. That's right. She got a TV for our room, and not a tiny one, either. It sat on the floor, and she hooked it up to her Netflix account so she could watch TV shows at living-room volume. I remember Victorious was one of her favorites. I was no stranger to putting earbuds in while doing homework at this point, but the TV was still a distraction.

In fact, playing TV shows at full volume was one of her favorite things to do. The night of the first Rocky performance, I decided to get a couple hours of sleep before my 10 pm call time, and I got them with the overhead lights on and Disenchanted playing on Trinity's laptop.

She'd continuously invite friends over like she did Jack that one time. One night, she decided to bring six people over. All the talk made it difficult to listen to my video, even with earbuds in, and all the people in the room made me claustrophobic and agoraphobic at the same time. I got so stressed that I just yelled, "Everybody quiet!" Then everyone looked at me before slowly leaving the room. I showed them.

Or did I? It was when Trinity was talking on the phone about getting an emotional support dog that I drew the line. In case you don't know, I am more or less scared of dogs. They like to invade your personal space. I had to tell her that by no means were we getting a dog except I'm also scared of talking. I am, however, good at writing, so I ripped a page out of my notebook and started writing a letter that stated things such as: