Roommate Reflections Part One.

G'day Everyone.

Note: I'm splitting this post into three parts. Enjoy reading!

I was on Face Book today and a status of a friend of mine made me return back to my old apartment days of my roommates. On the status of my friend, he said: "I come back home to a quiet house and I found out that roommate left without warning. He left me and now I'm trying to find a way to pay the full rent next month because we just signed the lease for next year".

Well, I got some horror stories about roommates to share with you. I felt now is the time to say it. If you want to know how bad a roommate, even a sub-let roommate, can be.. this ought to curl your hair pretty much.

Back in 1987, my good friends and I were all college and church related. We moved into a nice 2 bedroom apartment. It was our first apartment. It wasn't too bad or shabby. But we made do with it. With a 1 and a 1/2 bath rooms, we had it nice. We all got along well.

But, our first horror came when our deaf pastor dumped (forced subletting) on us of a deaf man who loved to smoke cigars. Horrible as the stench goes as he did it outside, but when he comes back in, you'd still smell the cigar smoke coming from him. We told him to open the damn windows as to let the stink out. even on the cold days.

He pulled one serious "prank" on me. When he had to go back to Florida, he asked his stuff be sent to him. Some days you wish he did it himself right before he left. When he forgot his stuff, I did the christian-like thing and sent it to him: Cash on Delivery! C.O.D.! It was the right idea to do. Only one problem. The stuff came back once because delivery was refused to be paid for. So sent it again and demanded payment this time.

But, his parent decided to send me a check and then took delivery of the stuff. I thought the matter was over the moment I cashed the check. Only a few days later, a teller would call me down and then I would learn that his mother put a stop payment on the check. It left me with an over drawn account. I wrote to him a serious letter and said: "you are technically responsible for your actions. Either you pay me what you owe, or you will face God later." He choose the latter. I feel sad for him more than anger now. It would become my experience that either people pick up their stuff or it becomes mine and I will give most of their stuff to charity.

In the 1989: my roommates and I moved to a nice 3 bed room apartment. We were happy and worked together well. Only one problem: The Landlord has had bad experiences with tenants who call the police for any reason and he tosses them out the moment it happens. I had assured him that'll never happen to us. Well, it did and I was wrong. About a few months into our apartment life, our deaf pastor once again forced another deaf person into a subletting situation. They went against me because I had the authority of the apartment. But this time, the crime was serious. Too serious to ignore in a christian way.

The "supposed roommate" never showed up for 3 days. I picked up his bag and went through it. I did not like what I saw in his bag. Somehow, he had copied one of my roommate's keys. At one point, a very serious and criminal events happened in my apartment.

One night, this person came back into my apartment. He stole 3 checks, forged them, and cashed them. He stole money that was for our deaf men's retreat from one of my roommates. And he stole the car of my other roommate. When we woke up the next day and discovered all of this, it could not be over looked.

We called the police and told them what happened. We were going to have this person prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Or so we thought to have!

What happened was this: We set and laid a trap for this guy. I would keep him occupied and one of my roommates would call the police on the TTY. Things went text book perfect. The guy comes in and we talked quietly. One of my roommates excuses himself and calls the police. They show up right on time. We had him arrested and taken away to be booked. My roommate's car was recovered though.

A few days later, I'm expecting the prosecutor of the town to get a hold of me and go over the court case. But nothing happens. So I go to the town hall and talk to prosecutor. When I get there, I'm told that the guy is let go on recognize and that he's a son of a powerful political person (his mom is lady lawyer with all the right cards). I told the prosecutor this: *SCREW THIS SOB!*! Powerful lady or not, I want this SOB put to judgement! So the prosecutor makes out the arrest warrant for this guy to be picked up and jailed. We looked forward to this.

When I got back to my apartment, I wanted to tell my roommates NOT to give this guy's stuff back and call the police the moment we see him. Unfortunately, I arrived home, an hour too late, and that one of my roommates gave the offending person his stuff back without thinking of the consequences of the entire situation. I yelled a good hour long at him over of what he did. I never let him forget that he was the one that blew our case apart. The police and I gave chase for a year against this guy. At the most, the deaf ministry offended law enforcement and assisted this guy to get away from judgement again. I swore that if I ever see this guy again in my life, I'm definitely going to grab him and put him to court judgement! This guy needs to be put in prison for life. He should have been a man and taking his responsibilities of life. So far in this life, it hasn't happened yet. But if he dies, May God judge him and make him wish he had served his prison time already like a responsible adult!

Just as expected, our landlord kicked us out because we had called the police for assistance. It really wasn't our fault. But the fault our former deaf pastor! So we moved again. We all hoped that our future home would bring us NO MORE PROBLEMS in our lives. Little did we know that we were about to face the ultimate challenges in our young lives.

See part two of what happened of me and my roommates.

Semper FI.