people who live alone

^by popular demand^

B+

I drank whiskey every night and recorded three homemade albums. I'm glad it's over (and so are the people who listened to those three homemade albums.)

i've lived by myself for 10 years now!

five years and counting

Soon.

i couldn't afford to do this even if i wanted to

i'd be happy if i had internet, sports channels and books. i wouldn't even notice i was alone, tbh.

i live with my cat, does that count?

I've never done this. I have no idea what it'd be like.

Emily sez:

http://www.emilystrange.com/AAAemily/fungames/getlostandfindII/EmilySmartGirlbasement.gif

"There's no place like alone."

Rock, you spend a lot of time hoping that someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets.

i could never live with roommates again unless we were like in a huge loft or something.

I don't like living alone. I become a complete slob and forget what my bedtime is.

Living with other people keeps my expectations healthily low, I think. I mean we'll see how I feel in another three months but right now I'm pretty happy in a shitty loft with six other people and one rat. At least you always know where you stand (hopefully not by the rat).

I'm afraid if I lived alone I'd turn into one of those people who gets secretly mad when you move the dish sponge.

i could never live with roommates again unless we were like in a huge loft or something.

http://www.ohjohnny.net/es/ES00000.jpg

i could never have roommates again unless they were corpses still receiving their ui checks.

I don't like living alone. I become a complete slob and forget what my bedtime is. :D

fixed!

one of those people who gets secretly mad when you move the dish sponge.

yah this is one of many reasons its better for me to live alone - its pretty embarrassing to think of the things ive gotten pissed at roommates for

i wouldn't live with roomates again unless there was a huuuuuge kitchen and 2 bathrooms so i wouldnt have to anxiously wait to cook and pee

i'd be happy if i had internet, sports channels and books. i wouldn't even notice i was alone, tbh.

well, i have these things, and believe me, sometimes you still can't help but notice. Sometimes it's not so easy, 'specially when your only friend...

But overall, I love it. I demand lots and lots (and sometimes lots more) alone time. I have a talent for not wanting to be around other people all that often, and when I am, I have to recharge by myself for a good while afterwards. So, there's always a reliable place for that.

Also, I have moved in with two girlfriends in the past, and I can't help but think that they'd still at least speak to me if we'd never moved in together. I'm a fucking bitch.

I don't like living alone. I become a complete slob and forget what my bedtime is. :D

Haha I was gonna do that.

But so many times I think I'd be into living alone and then N. takes the kids away for a couple of days and I go to (more) useless bits.

demand lots and lots (and sometimes lots more) alone time. I have a talent for not wanting to be around other people all that often, and when I am, I have to recharge by myself for a good while afterwards.

moi aussi

My slobbiness comes in waves that are directly related to my emotional well-being that week. But I love the feeling of cleaning up my messes, doing all my laundry, extracting the cat hair from every surface, scrubbing the toilet, etc etc, and then kicking back and going, "Alright. My space is a good clean space." And then starting over again.

actually, i've changed my mind- being 26 and living with your brother two minutes walk from your girlfriend rocks.

Five years and counting as well. After the utter acrimony that prevailed when my last housemates were almost literally at each other's throats, I couldn't wait to get my own spot. Paying more was still worth it for peace of mind alone.

ya - that's the thing. less money = going out for the sake of being around people hits the wallet that much harder

i also live in a neighbourhood pretty densely packed with my bros and hos. which makes a big difference.

But I love the feeling of cleaning up my messes, doing all my laundry, extracting the cat hair from every surface, scrubbing the toilet, etc etc, and then kicking back and going, "Alright. My space is a good clean space." And then starting over again.

Clean, little Dutch boy.

What s1ocki said -- two very good friends of mine live nearby in their condo, while lots of other folks are within a few miles of the area, and there's a ton of good spots to sit/chat/have a drink/get a meal all within a couple of blocks. Makes things pretty easy!

i have never lived alone. i like living with people tho, as long as i have my own space.

I lived alone in a studio for almost two years and for most of which I had neither internet nor tv. I drank - a lot. I also drunk dialed friends all over the country and ran up ENORMOUS phone bills. That said, living alone was one of the best things I ever did. I wouldn't want to do it now though despite having really really bad roommate experiences in the past. Thankfully my husband is the best roommate I've ever had.

BTW, we live in a studio so it's good thing he is otherwise we'd have probably killed each other already.

But so many times I think I'd be into living alone and then N. takes the kids away for a couple of days and I go to (more) useless bits.

so OTM its untrue ( except in my case L. takes the kids away not N. It'd be wrong for your other half to steal my children)

Clean, little Dutch boy.

Yeah, there's no winning, especially against cat hair. I do try to not let the dyke get to the point where it requires my whole fist, though. You know, like when it's no longer "doing laundry," it's "washing every single piece of clothing you have ever owned in your adult life." Living alone does make it easier to get to that point, I gotta admit. :(

xpost

lolz I am now trying to work out if I know you or not dude

I do try to not let the dyke get to the point where it requires my whole fist, though.

You did this shit on purpose, right?

The only time I've lived alone was when I first got together with my wife and she had to go back to the states to sort out visas and stuff. I'd only just got a job after 18 months unemployed so I was broke and my salary was shit for London, so I got us a tiny studio which I lived in alone for a few months. No TV, but I didn't really mind that cos I had internet and music. I'm happier living with other people though, that's for sure.

i also live in a neighbourhood pretty densely packed with my bros and hos. which makes a big difference.

yah mee too

You did this shit on purpose, right?

Sorry, but I haven't a clue what you must mean.

i love living alone! although it sux that my friends are all spread out over the city/county/metro area. it's not like college where i can just walk down the hall and knock on the door of their dorm room.

laurel otm

just starting my 5th(?) year. I really don't think I can go back. Like ever. I'm not opposed to marriage and kids, but I'm going to strongly suggest we maintain separate residences. Maybe next door or across the street or something.

I'm currently in the process of turning raw attic space into a 2 bed/ 1 bath deal with the intention of getting a house mate to help out with the mortgage. Sometimes when I'm real honest with myself I know I'll never actually do it.

I think it may be only a slight exaggeration to say that I would give up eating before I give up living alone. (Cheaper that way, too!)

people who love alone

I had kind of a hard time living alone because I got weird and because I got afraid I would die of carbon monoxide poisoning or the Mad Gasser or something, which kept me up all night. And I was a huge slob. Now I live with a huge slob, so I get to feel okay I'm not the only one. I do need my own bedroom though.

i loved living alone and in some ways think i kept things cleaner then. it will be some time before i can afford it again, but i dream of it almost daily (nb i have no problems with my roommates at all, i just love having my own place)

people who love alone

it was only a matter of time before someone listed unlimited masturbatory freedom as a perk.

oh i could live with a SO again but just not roomates. the main thing is being able to bust into the bathroom and pee while the other person is in the shower, which i would not do to roomates.

people who love alone

oh i could live with a SO again but just not roomates. the main thing is being able to bust into the bathroom and pee while the other person is in the shower, which i would not do to roomates.

-- bell_labs, Friday, February 1, 2008 12:52 PM (Friday, February 1, 2008 12:52 PM) Bookmark Link

I'm married and there's no way I'd do that.

I think we were together for two and a half years before one of us even spoke to the other through the closed bathroom door.

I'm totally that one president who talked to everyone on the toilet. I think it was FDR.

It is public forum at my house. I do my own Mort Sahl type show in there.

I thought it was the president of MGM, Louis B. Mayer.

I'm totally that one president who talked to everyone on the toilet. I think it was FDR.

LBJ

I am totally LBJ.

Yeah, him too.

John has to correct me every time I note that. "I'm totally being LBJ in here, JOhn, yelling at you from the other side of the house!" And he'll say, "LBJ!"

I think we were together for two and a half years before one of us even spoke to the other through the closed bathroom door.

-- Pleasant Plains, Friday, February 1, 2008 1:20 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link

and that was only because i thought you were dead. ive thought you were dead a lot in the last year. only once in the bathroom though.

No wait, I say I'm being FDR. Then I cry because I have forgotten how to talk, and now apperntly how to typ

xpe.

Pleasant Plains, the man who looks dead.

http://www.best-horror-movies.com/image-files/serpent-and-the-rainbow-coffin-blood.jpg

Sunny can see through closed doors?

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/5750/livealoneih3.jpg

oh i could live with a SO again but just not roomates. the main thing is being able to bust into the bathroom and pee while the other person is in the shower, which i would not do to roomates.

-- bell_labs, Friday, February 1, 2008 12:52 PM (Friday, February 1, 2008 12:52 PM) Bookmark Link

L ALWAYS locks the bathroom door when he's showering and I'm convinced it's because he's afraid I'll do this which, of course, I totally would.

Sunny thinks I'm Elvis.

LBJ once called a meeting with Bill Moyers and some other administration officials in a room while he was receiving an enema.

That is so admirable.

poor bill moyers

pp = a hero to most

There should be a law which states that every person should live alone for at least one year. It's the greatest thing ever. I would not want to go back. Well, only because it'd mean I wouldn't have my husband and kids. BUt the living alone was/is great. Ah to be unattached was so much fun.

That said, I have never lived with roommates but I'm sure that was a good thing. I think after a while I'd go completely mental.

Nathalie otm. Roommates cool too, esp. right out of college.

I always had a lot of fun with my roomies but they were all buddies I knew beforehand and all equally cool with slobbery and fiscally responsible.

hmm.

true or false: if you have never had a lousy roommate, you were it.

true

I'm pretty sure it was me bcz I was having mental breakdowns. But I did my share of the chores and paid my share of the bills in a timely fashion. I just worried everyone.

I also shared all my drugs.

when i live alone, i sleepwalk more. and eat oranges in my sleep and leave the peels on my pillow :o

when i live alone, i sleepwalk more.

this sounds kinda hard to verify.

it's true. i am just guessing.

ok maybe not... i suppose you could easily leave hard evidence behind of things you do not remember ever doing. Of course, that could also be an alcohol problem.

Coming up on 6 months of living alone. I could see myself living with maybe 1 person max, but at this point I'd rather move into a 2 BR in outer north brooklyn than get a roomie in Williamsburg. I want to finish my work and go make noise.

I'm still wishing I can get to this place sometime in the future. It's not that I dislike my current roommate, he stays out of my hair, it's mostly that I'm not a particularly great roommate, and it's better for me to live alone where the only person I'm annoying is me :).

tbf I do take feedback politely (like turning music down, not washing clothes with coins in em, etc) and make the changes, but I'm just too sloppy to live with people sometimes.

the only thing my roommate does that annoys me is makeoff with the only mail key and being too lazy to get up and get the mail on any day he doesn't go into work. so I get home late some nights and find that a package I expected arrived, but he never pickedi t up, and I can't wake him up. I since diverted a lot of them to work.

Not only have I never lived alone, I've never had a roommate; I went straight from my parent's house to living with the man I'd later marry. Before I met him, I'd told my parents that I'd be moving out once I got a massage therapist job and was promptly told that I wouldn't be allowed to leave unless I had a roommate, something I really didn't want to get. Well. I imagine I would have been able to get out eventually anyway, somehow.

I lived alone for a year. Did more reading then than I've ever done.

I kind of regret never having done this, I certainly had the means to do it when I was single the first couple of years out of school, but more out of laziness than anything just decided to keep living with my roommate.

My apartment would have been disgusting though.

^^^ I have a serious problem doing housework for myself.

when the house gets too filthy, move. that's my strategy.

:-)

Besides living with a boyfriend for 3 years (and another for 1 month), I have only had a roommate for about approximately 6 months out of the past 14 years. Those 6 months made me swear NEVER AGAIN. She was a terrible roommate and so am I.

Besides the courtesies about cleaning, bathroom time, noise levels, and food, what really bugged me was going home and having someone there to have to interact with! When I go home I just want to take off my pants and have the choice to be alone or plan social time.

What was hardest to deal with during the 6 months was wondering if I was being antisocial by not hanging out with my roomie or if I was being weird by doing so.

(oops - forgot, I had roommates for about 3 months when friends and I moved from NC to Chicago, but that was very explicitly a temporary situation. also, not a good situation.)

I'm not so sure that living alone would be a good idea for me, given that I seem to need lots of people around me to stay sane. I wish I wasn't that way, though.

Lots of people around me *in order to* stay sane, that is.

I think I would go insane if I were single and lived alone in a studio/1br

I mean there are def nights when it'd be nice, but even when I've been in that situation for a week or two feel super weird

*it feels super weird

Lots of people around me *in order to* stay sane, that is.

― Christine Green Leafy Dragon Indigo, Wednesday, September 22, 2010 6:25 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark

this is what i use ilx for

:/

I seem to have a 4-5 day limit. I know it'd be different if I'd ever had the opportunity to live by myself, but that's not the way my life ended up.

it feels decadent at times

this is what i use ilx for

It's been helpful, but I need RL people.

it feels decadent at times

^^^^^this

but then i've always lived with other people, up until my ex moved out in January, and now it's like - whoa - all this space is mine? I can do whatever I want? Whenever I want?

I used to be that way but I see people so frequently outside of my home that I tend to prefer solitude now. that definitely would not have been my attitude ten years ago.

I don't. I work by myself (home health) and don't have any RL friends other than my husband.

that's why I wouldn't have felt that way 10 years ago myself, mostly cuz I didn't hang out much with people outside the house.

never thought about this before, but i guess i've never lived alone -- outside of college dormrooms -- either.

I do, and it fucking sucks. Beats living with my family, though, or my first college roommate, who was an absolute dick.

As an old married man, I don't live alone, but I am known to spend 2 to 3 weeks at a time hiking alone in places where I rarely see another person. Once I spent a solid week without laying eyes on another living soul. I rather enjoyed it.

done it for the past two years. it's the best and it's hard to imagine ever going back to roommates or family, but i've never lived with a SO

oh i could live with a SO again but just not roomates. the main thing is being able to bust into the bathroom and pee while the other person is in the shower, which i would not do to roomates.

― bell_labs, Friday, February 1, 2008 10:52 AM (2 years ago)

this is where i'm at

does bell_labs post on ilx anymore? don't think i've seen anything from her for a long time.

Had this for the past few months and it's working out brilliantly. I live in a lovely area, my uni is about three tube stops away, and I'm mowing through my reading list in this peaceful space.

i've always lived with other people, up until my ex moved out in January, and now it's like - whoa - all this space is mine? I can do whatever I want? Whenever I want?

Have you yet become alarmed and worried at how boring the "whatever you want" actually turns out to be? I only ask because I went through that. I sit in front of the computer. I clean. I do laundry. I scratch kitty's ears. I paint selected walls unusual-yet-tasteful colors. I tend to my many houseplants. I jerk off sometimes. Ok, I jerk off a lot. But even that's not all that terrifically interesting. At least, not once I'm done.

oh, i stopped being alarmed or worried about being boring some time ago. And of course, boring is relative - and that's another of the joys of living alone, there's no one to compare yourself with.

Well, I tend to bore the hell out of myself.

that's why I'm glad i started working out. even on slow days gives me something to do for 90 minutes to break up hours of sitting at home.

I get cabin fever easy if I sit at home for too long

is that why you jack off so much?

xp Oh, ok, I do that, too. But that only takes so long, and mostly it gets my energy way up in order to do... uh... yeah.

Have you yet become alarmed and worried at how boring the "whatever you want" actually turns out to be?

I hear ya. I have a problem motivating myself when my husband's gone--right now, he's up getting the new house ready. I had several things that I wanted to do today and I haven't gotten any of them done, not even the laundry. I fear that if I ever did end up living alone, I would end up as a slug.

is that why you jack off so much?

In a word, yes.

that's why I do it on a fixed schedule

once before work, once after

it just seems weird to me, like if you're alone, it is easier to stop doing something once it becomes dull and move on to something else, as opposed to with someone else present, where they might still be into it and you continue doing the boring thing out of politeness, friendliness, care, etc.

Depends on what bores you, I guess.

"honey, c'mere and watch me post to this online messageboard!"

just because you live alone, doesn't mean you can't/don't have regular human interaction. I go out a lot, chat/text with friends during the day or nights when i have to work or don't feel like going out.

it just seems weird to me, like if you're alone, it is easier to stop doing something once it becomes dull and move on to something else, as opposed to with someone else present, where they might still be into it and you continue doing the boring thing out of politeness, friendliness, care, etc.

There also wouldn't be any one there to help break you out of a rut.

"honey, c'mere and watch me post to this online messageboard!"

― dude (del), Wednesday, September 22, 2010 1:22 PM (1 minute ago)

dude, don't even go there!

living with my current roommate is almost like living alone. we almost never talk. living with my prior roommate (who at the time was my best friend) was always "Hey come watch this tv show!" and it'd be something I didn't wanna see and I'd go and watch it to humor him, or "D00D DID YOU HEAR ABOUT (SUCH AND SUCH)" when I'm in the middle of doing something.

what sarahel said. I go out all the time, I only get bored if I spend every waking hour in my house.

I went from having four roommates when I graduated from college to getting married a week later. Sometimes I just gotta take solo trips to recover a bit of myself.

Christine, I think it's a great skill to be able to get out of ruts by yourself, or to rely on a larger group of friends to do so, as opposed to being dependent on a live-in partner.

I had several things that I wanted to do today and I haven't gotten any of them done, not even the laundry. I fear that if I ever did end up living alone, I would end up as a slug.

― Christine Green Leafy Dragon Indigo, Wednesday, September 22, 2010 9:19 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark

^^^ this ^^^^ this ^^^^

but you don't have to! Free will and all that.

my to do list for today was ambitious:

-shower
-shave
-spend two hours looking for jobs
-go to unemployment office to apply etc
-spend two hours doing audio editing
-tighten up songs
-chill

i have done the following
-shower
-shave

Living with my prior roommate (who at the time was my best friend) was always "Hey come watch this tv show!" and it'd be something I didn't wanna see and I'd go and watch it to humor him, or "D00D DID YOU HEAR ABOUT (SUCH AND SUCH)" when I'm in the middle of doing something.

^^Hey, give my life back.

shaving is huge imo

Christine, I think it's a great skill to be able to get out of ruts by yourself, or to rely on a larger group of friends to do so, as opposed to being dependent on a live-in partner.

I've only been able to do this by changing my setting--going somewhere new, for example.

oh and WORST thing about having a roommate is sometimes they like to hit on your significant others. every time they come over. and don't want to give you personal space.

just because you live alone, doesn't mean you can't/don't have regular human interaction.

No of course not. I maintain at least one stable relationship while still living alone. But I spend a WHOLE lot of time right here, alone, and it has downsides. All I'm saying.

maybe i'm just really easily entertained

That's a plus! Like being a cheap drunk.

I would also like my own house so I can play my kung fu movies as loud as I want

No of course not. I maintain at least one stable relationship while still living alone. But I spend a WHOLE lot of time right here, alone, and it has downsides. All I'm saying.

Kenan, I'm married and I still get lonely. It's a state of mind.

Quite so.

i like it a lot & hate roommates but i would probably be less of a slob if i lived with someone

I've alone for almost five years -- I own my own place. On Sunday afternoons, as the day shifts from a Wallace Stevens "Sunday Morning" to a Wallace Stevens "The Dove in Spring" air, it can be a drag. Otherwise it's great -- lots of preening in boxer shorts.

my to do list for today was ambitious:

-shower
-shave
-spend two hours looking for jobs
-go to unemployment office to apply etc
-spend two hours doing audio editing
-tighten up songs
-chill

fuck it! it's not too late! i applied for unemployment! now i will chill! i'm doin it all out of order! i don't give a fuck!

lol at doughnutting the activities around "look for jobs for two hours"

i'm also studiously avoiding audio editing for 2 hours lol

fuck it! it's not too late! i applied for unemployment! now i will chill! i'm doin it all out of order! i don't give a fuck!

It's almost six o' clock, and I'm just now getting to the chores of the day--but it does look like I can get them all done by nine.

I lived alone for 18 months and it was pretty awesome. Of course, I did spend 4 nights a week w/my future wife and then 2 nights playing music, so I was only really "alone" one night a week. I sometimes miss the simplicity of living alone. I occasionally pine for the days when all I had to do when I got home was check the mail and heat up dinner. Now I scurry around like a rat for about 4 hours before I sit down - feeding pets, doing domestic chores, feeding & bathing the baby, etc.

never lived w/ other ppl apart from family

it's....how it is

i mostly blame the internet when i'm not productive, not living alone

i am about to live alone for the first time in 6 years.... can't wait!

Tell us more.

that's really... it.

my sister and i have lived together for 6 years and we both are wanting to live alone now.

i love living alone!
i also love wallace stevens' sundays! even if they hurt my heart sometimes
i like being able to use all the space in my home (which is small) because it is there and it is mine. i like lying on the floor and knowing that it is clean (or dirty but my dirt). i like not having to talk to anyone i don't really want to talk to.
i could live with someone i loved, i am sure. that is different. but would need a studio or a closed-door office in the apartment/house to go work/just be sometimes.

I lived alone for a few years and it was awesome. I'm living with my gf now and it is also awesome.

However, I find living with people who are not family or significant others to be really torturous.

whenever i live alone i pace around the kitchen table while inventing conversations

I am looking forward to living alone within two to three months, now that I am (more) gainfully employed.

will you not feel kinda lonely?

I lived alone, about ten years ago, in Paris for 6 months...it was pretty rad, just don't tell my wife I said this!!

IM SO TELLING

Never have a complete stranger sublet a space in your house, I have one now and it is a disaster. She and her friend are so rude and insulting to my mom! I don't know how to tell them I want them out.

please mittens reduxeo...don't hurt em

I approve of this thread. Lived alone for a couple of years awhile back and am currently doing it again (10 months and counting)

whenever i live alone i pace around the kitchen table while inventing conversations

Do you line up all of your stuffed animals on the table while you do this?

lived alone for 13 of the last 15 years, love it. loneliness & boredom don't come into it really, i've never found myself short of something to occupy the mind.

though it's not something i'd do regularly, i once spent 2 weeks without seeing anyone else when i was between jobs, i don't think i've ever been more relaxed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwfACNbf4Yk

hell is other people iirc

oooooooooh

I love living alone but I think growing up an only child whose parents were always at work has something to do with it

also the internet helps

Except when it hurts.

Would happily live alone if it was at all affordable in this stupid overpriced damn city &*%^$

Srsly considered moving to Perth at one point, ffs.

perth more expensive to rent iirc (darwin too, oddly)

hobart is yr place

Perth is now, ya. Didn't used to be - friends of mine had a 3brm house in a suburb 10 mins out of the CBD for like $290 a week!

pittsburgh is pretty cheap too fyi

Hahaha that sounds like a hint! =)

I expect you could find some cheap places to live in Detroit or Flint these days.

Yes, but theres a reason for that.

i mostly like being able to choose if i'm going to have contact with other people or not after work each day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5fuizV-nes&feature=related

have lived in my apt 2+ years, never had anyone over

(I pretty much don't know anyone in the nabe)

wow

I think we were together for two and a half years before one of us even spoke to the other through the closed bathroom door.

-- Pleasant Plains, Friday, February 1, 2008 1:20 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link

and that was only because i thought you were dead. ive thought you were dead a lot in the last year. only once in the bathroom though.

― sunny successor, Friday, February 1, 2008 1:24 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark

I like living alone. People come over a lot and I usually have stuff to do on weeknights so I don't get lonely. I probably spend one night in by myself a week.

my daily routine:

-wake up
-walk dog
-go to work
-come home
-remove pants
-watch movie

living alone ~~rules~~

I live alone but it's kind of a disingenuous living alone cuz I end up living half the week at my gfs place and I have a couple close friends in my building whose apts. I just kramer into

before this I lived in a 2 bedroom apt. with 7 other dudes and it was complete hell

I'm pretty sure that I'm codependent or something but the shape that my life is in is pretty alright at this moment

my daily routine:

-wake up
-walk dog
-go to work
-come home
-remove pants
-watch movie

living alone ~~rules~~

I do all that, and I don't live alone.

urrgghhh i lived alone for a while and i hated it. just not wired that way i guess.

also: i never drink at home more than maybe once a month

had no idea living alone was a thing. tho by now i wouldn't mind mixing it up a bit

-wake up
-walk dog
-go to work
-come home
-remove pants
-watch movie

but you never put pants on o_O

who said he was removing his own pants?

tru