Hello, ya’ll. Are you surviving your January winter tundra? Things seem a bit better this week. I’ve been making conscientious efforts to get out of the apartment more and see more human folk. Also, I have a friend visiting from Germany. And he’s gonna be here for 3 weeks – depressed hosts are SO 2008! Eh, and I’d like him to have a good memory of NYC. I’m a good friend that way.

But as excited as I am about seeing my friend, I’m equally nervous that it’s going to annoy my roommates and make home less than inviting. Which is the Worst! I mean, it’d be understandable, of course – I wouldn’t want to deal with a random house guest for 3 weeks. So, in an effort to not, uh, make problems where I live, I’ve started a PR campaign. (Isn’t all of life one big PR campaign? UGH.) It began with telling my roommates in advance of the guest staying with us – and that I was sorry he was staying for so long. And, that I’d be happy to take them out for pizza on me to help alleviate some of the inconvenience. Are you grumbling to yourself that you shouldn’t have to take YOUR roommates for pizza when you’re the one doing the favor by letting the wandering friend stay with you? Yeah, me too. But…

But, it’s a small price to pay for keeping your shower time in the morning. The bribery continues, in that my guest brought some goodies and asked who he should give it to, and I basically shouted, MY ROOMMATES! MY ROOMMATES! The prize item in his stash was a bunch of mini-Absolute vodka bottles which should continue to smooth things over.

As for your own happiness, feel free to learn from my mistakes: build in some alone time! I forgot how important it is…and have been quickly remembering. REALLY HELLA IMPORTANT. I love seeing my friend, but I also love me. What? Who said that. Yeah, I love me, and I love watching the Office on my laptop and reading Vanity Fair while drinking tea in bed. And I can’t so much do those things while entertaining. However, I also simply cannot be down and out about winter and the world at large, so in the grand scheme of things, not a bad trade off.

Tags: bad decisions, houseguests