"Goldfinger"

After disappearing for 7 weeks, my neighbour has returned to Hong Kong. It was nice to have the toilet to myself for a while, and to not worry about how late I showered. I could have sang in the shower if I wanted to! Well, I'm stuck with this guy for the next 7 months.

It seems that relations between the two of us have gotten chilly lately. A couple of weeks before he left Hong Kong for an internship in Bangalore, he asked that I not shower so late because the sound of the running water wakes him up. I was used to taking showers at 2 or 3am, and he usually sleeps at 11pm. I wasn't about to take any shit from this guy, so I told him that he was asking a lot, and that I'd "see what I can do." It's not like I sang in the shower, and I was very careful not to slam the door when I used the bathroom. In fact, I felt he was asking for too much. He was asking me to change my lifestyle. By showering so early, I could no longer stay in my office until 1am, or go on midnight hikes with my girlfriend. Since I wasn't being unreasonably noisy, I should have told him to either move out or to buy earplugs. If he confronts me again, this is exactly what I will do. This is the kind of guy who likes to complain, and who will complain whether I comply with his requests or not. I'm better off showing that I'm not a pushover.

Oh yeah, the guy has also asked me not to turn on the fan unless it's really stinky. This is stupid. If we don't turn on the fan sometimes, the bathroom gets very very humid, and our bath towels won't dry - even the toilet seat gets wet! I'm going to make a point of never turning on the fan when I do a #2. Enjoy the smell, asshole.

Anyway, the guy came back yesterday afternoon, but has yet to say hi to me. And for the first time in the 5 months we've lived together, he finally bought toilet paper. I wish he hadn't. I know where to buy premium toilet paper at a bargain price ($22 HKD for 12 rolls at Chinese pharmacies). I've noticed that most of my classmates buy bargain toilet paper at premium prices (approx. $30 HKD for 10 rolls at supermarkets). Unfortunately, my neighbour bought the latter, and this morning, I had a case of what my uncle calls "goldfinger". Cheap-assed easily-torn toilet paper... damn!