Public Speaking

_ The TOASTMASTERS CLUB of Charlottetown will be holding their weekly meeting on campus on Wednesday, November 27. The club is interested in starting acampus chapter. The TOASTMASTERS are a club which promotes public speaking and teaches people to feel more confident in front of crowds. The meeting will be held in one of the classrooms in the Library at 5:30. It is a great opportunity for us to brush up on our oratory skills. For more information contact David Fitzpatrick at 566-0670.

DON’T BLOW-UP MY CAT

Roommates by: Sharon Keats ‘‘The Cord’’

You never really know someone till you live with them. Ain’t that the truth! As we move into the month of October many of us are experiencing the roommate blues or, more accurately, are wondering about the death penalty. What ever happened to the myth of moving into residence (or a house) and be- coming best buddies with your roomie?

Let’s face it, living with people is tough; it doesn’t matter if they are your parents, your best friends or complete strangers. Luckily, roommates are usually not life threatening unless of course you have a gas stove and they just happen to leave it on for hours and almost suffocate you to death, just by accident, natu- rally. It’sa good thing people are stopping by and popping in at all hours of the evening to rectify these little mishaps. Ah, isn’t that the joy. There is noth- ing better than getting awakened at four o’clock in the -morning by someone just wanting to say ‘‘Hi’’. But moving on, sharing is hard. Everyone has their little quirks that make then difficult to life with. The little habits people have can suddenly become big deals and you can find yourself fighting eight people you have to live with for the next eight months. You’re locked into a situation where fighting over things often leads to greater hostilities and ignoring the situation seems impossible.

wo naan nnn n nn nn nn -= nn == WHAT TO DO? -------------------- One of the best things that one can do to take the tension out of a situation is to recognize that you too have annoying routines. They might like to hang their laundry all over the house, but you scatter pictures of

before moving in with my roomies, ‘‘Make sure you

naked men all over the wallofthe basement. Fairis | fair, compromise. Boy this sounds like alecture. It | reminds me of the oneIreceivedfrommy parents |

have a floor fund so youcan buy your communal goods such as Mr.Clean (like we use it!), make upa_ | cleaning schedule so one person doesn’tend up doing | everything, agree on who will do the dishes, make sure they don’t smoke (she didn’t say what), and remember to set ground rules about people dropping by at all hours of the night!’ ThanksMom.lovya! | WelllI didn’t do any of these things with my roomies | partly because of lack ofinterestfromthemandme. | However, I will say one thing, I hate itwhen Moms are always right.

Folks, ground rules are a necessity of life. The most | important rules you need are ones that involve money. } Almost all of us have experienced the starving student} syndrome and realize that there may notbe enough to | buy that fur coat, never mind the phone bill. Develop | a fund and policies for paying the bills. Set aside

money at the beginning of the year to buy things like toilet paper and windex and don’t stick one person | with going to the bank every month, Break up who is} in charge of the bills, for example, have one person in charge of cable and another in charge of Bell and keep a little extra in that house fund in case, heaven forbid, a disaster happens and someone is a little short. Oh, | also unplug the phones during house parties so no one} makes long distance calls on your phone - ithappens. | Decide if your house is smoke free and live withthe | decision, that means no smoking during partying, | suntanning in the tanning machine or anywhere else. | Make up acleaning schedulesothatsomeonedoes | one thing every week like cleaning the bathroom, | vacuuming, sweeping, and washing my car. Don’t let! that clean fanatic do everything.

If you have problems talk about them with the people | youare living with and don’t sitand stew aboutall | the little things they do. If you discuss what is bug- ging you they will probably stop doing it when they realize it isa problem. Most of the time people don’) realize that they area little neurotic in some areas anc) all you have to do is point it out. Ifsomeoneisn’t | doing their share of the work around the place and

you live with more than one person try having a little meeting, not to gang up on one person, but to talk

about ways to make it easier foreveryone, Maybe

UPEI X-P RESS

November 21, 1991

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