Heating and a Reasonable Conclusion

Differing Personalities

So I had at one point decided to not write any entries about my roommate, because these blogs being moderately public I did not want to make myself a gossip. Additionally, I try to adhere to the policy that if you have nothing good to say about a person, say nothing at all. I have some good things to say about him, but additional bad things to say about him, so perhaps the adage can give me some leway.

My roommate is a fellow name Artjiom, a Russian who goes to school in Germany. He is friendly, and pursues friendship in an unassuming way. He and I, however, are not the best of friends. He thinks very highly of himself, and I find that very abrasive.

The Hurdle

As winter approaches, the temperature has dropped a few degrees. Not enough for me to really want to crank the heater yet, but it is cool out. Artjiom appears to be freezing, and requires the room to be hot enough for him to walk around in his boxers. He has said himself that he is a terrible Russian for the cold, especially since the Californian is faring much better than he.

I have no problem with the heat, as long as it is done in a smart manner, and as long as it doesn't run up the electric bill. In Global Village we pay for our electricity ourselves. I try my best to be slow to anger, but I was frustrated as Artjiom's usage of the heater became wasterful. The heat was left on while noone was in the room, the heat was turned up to 30 degrees celsious, and he would leave the window open. I don't mind him using the heat, but I would prefer not to heat an empty room, a sauna, or the whole of bloody Akita out the window.

Rising tension from registration problems back at Ithaca made for tension I could feel in my shoulders. Struggle was my first reaction, anger and hate the second reaction, finnally I decided to resolve the issue.

A Proposal

Arjiom has come to Japan funded by the German Government, if he had a room to himself he could heat it ten ways till tuesday. Sharing a room, means sharing a bill, and I don't appreciate spending money on heat the way he does. Both of us our legitimate on our philosphies on how to heat the room, so I came up with a compromise.

In October our power bill was $43, and that was reasonable. I'm willing to pay half of that because I believe that October was a fair shake in terms of mutual power usage. Therefore, if our bill for November is $43 I'll have no problem. If it's any more, I'll pay half of $43 and he'll pay the rest. In return he gets to play with the thermostat to his heart's content. We shook on this agreement, we'll see how it turns out. Honestly I'm glad we came to a conclusion, because it's tough to live with someone with whom you constantly struggle over some menial task. We'll see if this agreement lasts come bill day.

Up next the rest and best of the Halloween story.