Not what you would call a great first impression.

If there is one thing that is really reliable about my behavior, it is that unless I do a semi-time-sensitive task immediately, it won't get done until the last minute.  For example, if I do the laundry and I don't put it away within a few minutes (or hours at the maximum) of the dryer spitting out the clothes, the clothes will almost certainly not get properly folded or hung up until the next time they get washed.  As you can probably guess, this behavior is not very conducive to living an organized or responsible lifestyle, particularly because I am usually able to convince myself that I can put the task at hand off for just a little while because this time it will be different.  It almost never is.

So with this in mind, it is perhaps understandable that yesterday my floor was filled with my still-unpacked suitcase from my New Jersey trip and all the no-refrigeration-required groceries that I had bought four days before.  There were also several empty boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios and Cheez-Its scattered around with two small boxes I had never bothered to collapse from moving day as well as miscellaneous items haphazardly pulled out my backpack.  There were dishes on the unoccupied dresser and desk of my double and books on the empty bed.  Even my vlog station - the four boxes I stack on top of each other to make my webcam high enough - was fully set up in the middle of the room.  

I arrived back at my room on Friday a little after 5:00 with the knowledge that I had to have my room somewhat clean by 5:30 so that it would be presentable when my friends arrived to hang out.  It was a daunting task, but I went in armed with the knowledge that it didn't have to be perfect - just not a pigsty.  After a few minutes of cleaning I noticed a brown suitcase on the floor.  I couldn't figure out who it belonged to.  None of my friends had told me they were planning to stay in my room; then I realized that none of them had a key.  I looked around, noticing a pair of boots by the empty bed, a backpack on the desk, and a few other small items that suddenly told me exactly how much trouble I was in.  My roommate had finally arrived, and her first impression of me was that I was a total slob.  Crap.

After a few seconds of shocked processing, I started to clean frantically.  Luckily, the mess was exactly what I expected it was - ugly, but not difficult.  I managed to clean it all up in time for my friends to arrive.  There were, however, a few minutes when I ended up lying on my bed because I was feeling a bit dizzy from the non-stop cleaning and slightly-panicky breathing.  In that time I realized what changes were going to take place in my room.  No more free reign on when I got to shoot my vlogs.  Headphones instead of computer speakers.  Eating breakfast quietly outside the room.  But the most worrying thing of all was that my roommate could be a jerk who had a horrible first impression of me.  

After my friends arrived, we hung out until about 1:00 AM with no sign of the mysterious roommate.  But after they left she came back to the room.  I was, and am, lucky.  She seems like a great person.  Totally cool about the whole mess earlier.  She even told me that when she saw my collection of books and DVDs she knew we were going to get along.  She's a Molecular Biology and Physics major (which actually sounds really fun.  Too bad I didn't figure out my majors sooner or I might have done a minor in Physics).  She's so awesome that when I woke up from a nightmare in the middle of the night (I dreamed I that had crushed a mantis), forgot I had a roommate now, and turned on the light to check myself for a mantis corpse, she was totally cool and forgiving about the whole thing.  I think we're going to get along.

I have to run to the beach now, so apologies for typos.  I'll fix them later, but I have to post this now because I don't know when I'll be getting back.