Simply Belle

After graduation, we headed straight to a place in California to scout for my daughter’s apartment. It took us all day to look around with help from a woman hired by her company to specifically help newly-hired employees. Her future roommate had to do the apartment search, too, but on a different day with the same woman. They were supposed to collaborate and compare notes the day after and see what apartment complex was best suited for both of them.  My daughter already had an idea of a place where she thought would be ideal for her to live. Of course, she would have to consider her future roommate’s choice, and make a compromise to suit them both if their choices were not identical. Sounds fair, right?

We drove home the following day after the search, and deliberated on the topic. We agreed that my daughter made the right decision on her choice, being close to the beach, close to work, and being in the wooded area which is cooler and with cleaner air, and also close to shopping center. It fits her personality.

The following day, my daughter and her future roommate were supposed to pick out an apartment because her roommate is moving in tomorrow, June 21. As it turned out, their choices weren’t the same – her future roommate liked a fancier, and more expensive place. MD (my daughter) was cool about it and wrote an email to her FR (future roommate) explaining why she preferred the other complex as a last attempt to try to persuade her. Her FR went back to the apartment complex that MD liked and looked at it a couple times more. Surprisingly, FR fell in love with the place and the nearby beach. MD was happy…………..

FR, at first, didn’t care who got the bigger bedroom and covered parking, so MD grabbed the opportunity based on FR’s terms. MD would pay $105 more based on square footage that FR computed. MD tried to make negotiations with her by cutting down the price to at least a 100. FR wouldn’t budge.  Tough roommate, huh? As you can see, it was all about her FR’s terms and conditions.  So, for the sake of getting along, MD accepted her terms.

To help her FR move in as quickly as possible, MD had to sign the lease the next day via fax incurring $10 fax fee. She felt accomplished after the fax was sent knowing that she found an apartment and a roommate.

But not for long.

She got another call from her FR. FR told her that she checked the apartment one more time, bringing along a tape measure to get the exact dimensions of the rooms.  She found out that her room was quite a bit smaller than she thought and she proclaimed that MD pays higher rent yet,  or FR takes the bigger bedroom, or they move into a fancier place that FR initially liked. Stephanie told her flat out that all she did was agree to her terms and that she already signed the lease, and if FR tried to raise her rent again, she would not want to be her roommate anymore. Meanwhile, MD called the apartment manager right away to cancel her lease as she felt there is no longer a future between her and FR together because of what had just transpired. She felt she will be miserable living with her with all the signs FR was manifesting already. Gladly, the manager understood her predicament and let her get out of the lease. Manager actually sympathized with my daughter.  MD  then called her FR on the phone and told her that it is for their best interest if they don’t become roommates.

Then several unpleasant scenarios start popping up in my mind:

What if her FR buys the couch and bans MD and her guests from sitting on it?

What if FR’s family comes for a visit, and does a cook-out, and never bothers inviting MD for even just a piece of dessert? I am a very giving person, my daughter’s friends are like my family, too. They are automatically included in our meal if they show up.

What if someone was in MD’s bathroom, and MD needs to use a bathroom urgently, will she let her use her bathroom? FR made an agreement that her bathroom is hers and hers alone.

What if MD’s car breaks down, will FR drive her to work? And how much would FR charge her?

What if MD accidentally leaves an appliance on, will she bother turning it off?

What if MD is out of food and can’t go to the market for some reason, will she let her borrow her food?

Or S (MD), I have been keeping track of how many times you flush the toilet, I feel that you pay higher portion of the water bill!

Did my daughter make the right decision to back out of the deal?

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June 14, 2009 was Stephanie’s big day. It was her graduation day. My whole family, her aunt and uncle, and her boyfriend attended her graduation ceremony.  Ceremony was held in Stanford U Stadium commencing with the Stanford’s traditional wacky walk. Graduating students got to wear their favorite costumes and they had an option to march foolishly as they wished, however and whatever they wanted to be remembered. Some students came in shorts, and some even arrived in skimpy swimming suits. Funny, yes, but I didn’t care for it. People were all over doing wacky things. It is like going to church with so many distractions. It took away the seriousness of the ceremony as if everything was just a joke.  But, whether people like it or not, the tradition must go on.

Stephanie, however, ended up just carrying a big sunflower balloon and walked just normally. That is my Stephanie. Though I had trouble finding her in the crowd. I had to ask her boyfriend to take a picture of her using long lens.

Justice Anthony Kennedy delivered the commencement speech and it was somewhat interesting. After the ceremony, they went straight to their respective department for another ceremony to receive their diploma. Stephanie graduated with a degree in BS Biomechanical Engineering, with a grade point average of 3.71. In another school, she could have qualified easily as Magna Cum Laude recipient but in Stanford, specifically in her department, they only gave a couple of honors given to those who attained the highest possible rating, and that’s it.

Let me show pictures of Stanford’s traditional wacky walk:

Stephanie is the one holding the sunflower balloon.

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The other day while my husband was doing some gardening work, he spotted a lizard in such a precarious position. Lizard’s back legs and tail are trapped in a half-inch hardware cloth and the only way to free it was to cut the wire. Steve came at it with the flyer (geeesh, I meant plier),  and the lizard thought for sure that he was going to crush it between the jaws. You should have seen the expression on its face. Instead, Steve snipped the wire and cut him free like a good scout..he he.

Finally, my husband figured out how to attach watermark on the photograph so no one can claim my photos as theirs anymore. That lizard picture was taken by Steve and he wants me to reiterate that the good deed was done by him.

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