My good friend Diane came to visit me for three days - yay! Diane is one of my best friends. We are both from the same hometown but we never met until college. She went to my rival high school but our paths never crossed until that fateful day in Berkeley. She was my freshman roommate in a "triple" room - a tiny closet that was supposed to fit three people. Picture the smallest bedroom you can think and add to it a giant bunkbed, a twin bed, three desks and three dressers, oh yeah and a garbage can. This is already crowded quarters but add to it our 6 foot tall, swimmer roomie. We were these two short, er, more petite Asian American women, flanking this Amazonian blondie chick. We felt like Benetton bookends. Anyhoo, it was an atrocious living situation - I can't believe I lived like that. Diane and I shared a bunkbed while Ms. Six Foot had the twin bed - gad knows she needed her own bed but that's another blogpost. We all knew each other's business, clothing, bathing, sleeping, study habits. How could you not? Despite it all, Diane and I had fun, figuring out how to navigate school, social lives, and men! I had a closetfull of unwearable clothes that my dear mum sent me off to school with - appropriate only for 30-something Junior League-ers. Remember Albert Nipon? I looked like Nancy Reagan at 19. A very beautiful Korean version of the wife of our former president. He, he. I think my mom watched too much Peyton Place while she was a young lass in Korea. Every parenting tip she has ever walloped or pistol whipped me over the head with has its origins in some weird 1950s principle that she learned from American movies or her own overly strict parents. I digress... Oh yeah, where was I? Frosh dorm with Diane. Yes, we loved us some Terence Trent D'Arby - remember him and his Wishing Well??? I also went to my first concert with Diane - REM in Oakland. Very cool. Also, I think we went to see U2 that year as well. I felt immediately hip, feeling my 18 year old nerdy skin slip off me like wax on a lightbulb.
Our dorm was designated for major remodeling so during the last night - we (the dorm people not me, geesh) proceeded to rip it apart - tearing off ceiling tiles, moving sofas into the elevator, removing all lightbulbs - just chaos. The place was in shambles but little did we know that we were doing the "demo" phase of their remodel!
I often wish I could go back to college with my now seasoned brain and soul - I would do it so much better, get so much out of it, actually retain information/education. I think I would never stop looking at myself in the mirror - last time I weighed 115 lbs. Though I would not want to live in a triple...
