My Life Changes 0.5+

Proof that I can be organized if I want to be:

Moving day is still two weeks away, and I'm about 30% packed already.  Long story, but half of the crap in the picture is my future roommate's.

All Things Chilean

How did this roommate relationship evolve, in a matter of two months, from me thinking, He's a jerk, to him giving me a hug and saying, I love you, as he steps out to catch the shuttle to the airport.  I am vewy vewy proud of myself: it is not easy to draw something like this from a guy such as him, brutally frank and demanding of friends as he is.  And now, I have two expensive promises to keep: visits to very good friends, recently made, in Aachen and Santiago.

His Contradictions

This blog, if you remember, started with a musing about how some people, or perhaps many, myself included, are the sum of many contradictions.  For example, a recent scholarly paper quoted in the news recently indicates that a measurable percentage of the homophobic population are themselves gay.  Usually repressed, but still. Compassion is called for from all sides.

One of my current roommates--a PhD student from Chile--is a most vivid example of such contradictions.  I have thoroughly misjudged him.  We met last year, when he came to isolate, or, failing that, to create bacteria that tolerate copper, so he may use them, quite literally, as copper mines.  Apparently, there are lots and lots of copper mines in Chile.  After having returned to Santiago, he came back this year for more, and asked the building management to place him again in our apartment.

But he is these, and more--

The life of the party among friends, but improbably shy around strangers.  Brutally frank yet fiercely loyal.  Demanding of friends, but also generous to them.  Mean and implausibly empathetic.

It's... ...fascinating.