My First Roommate

Like I mentioned in my prior post, Sean was the first of the karaoke crowd that I had met at the VIP. I guess I met a bunch of them all around the same time, but Sean was the one I started hanging out with first. We met shooting pool. Then when me and Bill started going to Eldorados (down the street a ways) on their karaoke nights (Thurs and Sundays), Sean was also there. Then the first Friday night that me and Bill went to that karaoke show (at a bar called Dino's), the first person we seen when we walked in the door was Sean. That's probably the first night the three of us started actually hanging out together.

Me and Sean had immediate connections due to the similar circumstances of our current lives. Sean had an Engineering degree and worked as an Engineer/ supervisor at a soap manufacturing plant. I was a Business Systems Analyst with a Computer Science degree. So we were both career professionals with a technical background and job. Sean had also been a part-time law student, but had to quit that due to some f#cked up sh!t he got himself into with his ex-girfriend (related to issues with his wife as well - I'll talk about that another time). Sean had split from his wife in the past year (actually he left her though) and she had bipolar disorder. A VERY mood altering disorder. I split with my wife just recently, and she had clinical depression and Attention Deficit Disorder. Also mood altering conditions. We both had very successful careers up until the last year, and were now both having f#cked up problems with our jobs, and taking crap and blame for things that we shouldn't be, and that were beyond our control.

The thing that truly 'endeared us' (in a totally 'manly way' of course) was when Sean asked me, "What was in your jacket pocket?" We both empties our jackets and both had the EXACT same things in each. A condom, breath spray, and a karaoke slip with some girl's name and number written on the back of it. That was hilarious.

Anyway, Me and Bill and Sean started hanging out together after that. Sean would even call me me from work (because I was still on 'the bench' and didn't have to report to the office) near the end of his shift and we would chat and then meet up later afterwards. Then I got laid off (along with about 50 other employees that were not attached to projects). About two weeks later, Sean got fired for 'falling asleep at work'. He says it's because he was allergic to the soap products they were manufacturing, which I think was partly true, but it was also because he was also staying out at the bars until 3:00am every night as well. Mostly we both got let go because someone of greater influence than us took dislikes to us (for their own reasons) during our last projects. Prior to that, we were both deemed 'high performers' at work, and used to get the praise of all our peers.

Like I mentioned earlier, I still didn't have my head or my life on straight due to my marriage collapsing as it did, and seeing the technology market had bottomed out, and the fact that I had a lot of cash on hand, I decided to not work for a while. I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but I did know that I needed time to sort things out in my life. I had just bought my house eight months earlier, so couldn't leave Columbus. So I just existed for a while.

Like I also mentioned earlier, Bill was starting to become a 'nuisance' at the bars because once he got drunk he would turn into a 'hood boy' and just not fit into the environments of these 'non-hood' bars. That was temporarily solved by Bill having to spend 30 days in jail due to something he got into a year earlier.

So now me and Sean were hanging out every night. It's Sean that introduced me to the rest of the 'karaoke circuit'. Though I had already met a number of them. But there were about 20 karaoke regulars that followed the same karaoke show night after night. Monday night was Rosie's, Tuesdays was Shorty's, Wednesdays was the VIP, Thursdays was Eldorados, Fridays was Dino's, Saturdays was back to the VIP, and Sundays was back to Eldorados.

After the bars closed, I used to go home to bed so I could get up and work (or study) in the morning, but now I didn't have work anymore. So, on the second night that I was no longer working, Heidi (a girl that I had been getting to know) asked me if I wanted to go to TJ's with them. It was a popular 24 hour breakfast joint that they often frequented. I replied, "Why not? I don't have anything better to do." So I went to TJ's with Sean, Heidi, Bass Dave, Robin (Troll), and (Moody) Gina (not the one that you know Kelley - in case you are reading). Five of the karaoke regulars. The first week hanging out with Sean, he had introduced me to ALL of the karaoke crowd. I pretty much was now a member (even though I didn't sing).

A couple weeks later, Sean had to have overnight surgery to repair a deviated septum (or something like that). He had to take advantage of his former company's benefits before they ran out. Apparently, the recovery would take about a week, and he was supposed to pretty much not move at all for that week. So it was recommended that he not stay alone during his recovery. He wasn't seeing Smiley anymore, but was trying to see if he could stay with another girl that he was starting to mix up with. That fell through, so I told him he could stay at my house for the week. After all, I had a fully furnished four bedroom house, and it's not like I had anything better to do during the day. So he stayed at my house that week. He had just bought the game 'Vanishing Point', a fun racecar game. We basically played that several hours every day. We got along so well, and enjoyed the company and conversation so much, he just never left. So Sean became my first roommate.

I know, not exactly an 'exciting' post but it's background information. There are plenty of more interesting stories related to Sean, and it's through him I initially met a lot of the other people that I will be relaying stories about.

There would be more to follow, but we'll get to that eventually.