Millersville University - Touchstone Yearbook (Millersville, PA)

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 Dorm rooms were sometimes too confined for these people who need their space. Here, two friends move to a stairwell and play their guitars. • Photo by Merin Studio Cafeteria food wasn't always filling. Krista Miller prepares a real meal. -Photo by Johnna Pinney begin to work on each other’s nerves. Share and share alike is a phrase which is familiar to many, and yet some roommates practice it too much. When clothes begin to disappear from one roommate’s closets and drawers and magically reappear in the other roommates wash basket, or the chocolate cake your mother baked you Is all gone, and you didn't eat any of it. it can be mildly irritating. However, when you discover that your roommate has been using your toothbrush to clean dust off his records, or uses your best set of sheets to make a banner for her sorority, tempers will tend to flare. Often, roommates do not get along simply because they have nothing in common. They each have different majors, activity interests. and friends, and their worlds do not interact, so they are uncomfortable with each other. They spend more and more time outside of the room, and some roommates become like strangers to each other. Many times the problems roommates encounter can be solved, and the two adjust, and become close friends. However, others are not so lucky. They end up searching for other roommates with whom they are more compatable. and with who they will have a positive experience. Steve Keefer Roommate Quirks 23

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Dorm rooms were frequently the forum for juicy gossip. Brenda Klugh. Sandy Fasnacht and Pam Bradley are busy catching up on the latest. • Photo by Merin Studio Learning to Share When Someone Invades Your Space College is a time in life when one has to make adjustments, and adapt to situations which were not present at home. Often, these adjustments bring forth many difficulties which can easily frustrate the incoming student. One such adjustment is learning to share a small amount of space with another person. The problem of the roommate is a familiar one which is shared by many students, both freshmen and seniors alike, and easily becomes a nightmare. Many times the problems can be worked out — adjusting to a total stranger takes time. But occasionally the differences between the roommates lead to problems which are unsolved. The trouble can start as early as moving-in day. Roommates know they’re not going to get along when one brings in his Van Halen albums and the other, his collection of Beethoven, or when one roomie brings matching pink and green bedspreads for both beds which they must use. and the other brings purple and orange bedspreads and feels the same way. Also, the problem of whose T.V.. stereo, rug or refrigerator stays, and whose goes, as well as where their remaining things will go. can begin to add tension to the roommates relationship. Adding fuel to the fire is the dilemma of house keeping. This problem can become quite apparent when one roommate begins to build a fortress with his dirty clothes, while the other keeps a pair of white gloves on his desk to use when cleaning day rolls around. Some roommates live by the rule of “everything in its place. and are constantly putting away things and picking up. and the other cannot find things unless they are in disorganized heaps about the room. One can easily spot roommates who have this housekeeping problem — you can draw a dividing line between each person's part of the room. Along with the problem of cleanliness of the room comes the carelessness syndrome. Leaving a light on. not turning a record player off. finding the refrigerator door wide open. and everything is spoiled — all these are things which can 22 Roommate Quirks

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Expect It When You Least Expect It Practical Joking—an Art Perfected in College Practical Jokes, those jokes carried out in actions to excite laughter or amuse, have been part of people’s lives since the very beginning q( time. The art of performing practical Jokes is a complex one. where a person must be aware of several things. First a' person must know what joke to play: second who to Two practical jokes were the objects of attention as a group of hungry students paraded down the steps to Lyle Cafeteria. - Photo by Steve Dan orth play the joke on. and finally, when and where to perform the Joke. A perfect excuse for a practical joke is special days such as: April Fool's Day. birth- days. and engagements. Candles that won't blow out are popular birthday gags, as is switching the sugar and salt at the dinner table on April Fool's Day. Students when questioned as to whether or not they have ever played a practical joke on someone almost unanimously admitted that they had. Most students play practical Jokes simply to get even, but then there are also those persons who simply enjoy performing practical jokes — these are the people with which the rest of the student body is getting even. College dorms are an excellent place to play practical jokes. A roommate can be easily persuaded to become an accomplice to a Jpke. One innocently returns from a class and finds all of their socks all tied together and strung from one end of the room to the other: or possibly the posters on their dorm walls hung upside-down. Several students, wishing to remain anonymous, claimed to have had Jokes played on them or played Jokes on others themselves. A freshman was putting toothpaste on her toothbrush one evening only to discover shriveled up raisins In her toothpaste tube. Her roommate had implanted the raisins in the tube so she could watch her reaction. The jokec's reaction was to implant the raisins in the jokers soap with nailpolish. Back and forth the two went, each one trying to top the other's Joke. The showers in a dorm are a popular place for practical jokes. Jill O'Neal remembers 24 Practical Jokes