Do You Have Enough Info to Choose Your Roommates?
There is something about February and
March that brings out thoughts of summer and warmth. Maybe this year,
even more than in the recent past, because the mid-Atlantic was
blanketed with more snow and cold weather than is good for most mortals.
The Gyms are packed and the annual Rehoboth Beach Rush party has already
come and gone. This year’s event at the Lizard Lounge, which was
sponsored by the Lovecommittee and CAMP Rehoboth, was reached by
trudging through mounds of snow. As
I stood there watching the interactions of potential renters and
home-owners, I saw people feeling the pressure that if they didn’t
jump on the bandwagon right then and there, summer will have come and
gone before they even got to play.
The pull of the shore seems especially
strong for gay men. We spend the winter dreaming of water, beach, sun,
and hundreds of men with little or no clothes on. So off to the party we
go and there begins the annual mating ritual. A young man welcomed you
at the door and collected your $5 admission fee and sent you to a table
to register. He was the same young man that handed you your CAMP
Rehoboth condom on the way out. One should always plan ahead and think
positively. After a quick question you got your nametag and a blue or
orange light stick to wear. Blue, you are looking for a room; orange you
have a room to rent. After 18 years at the beach, observing beach houses
and their aftermath, I’m convinced; one really needs more information
than those two light sticks provide, to ensure a good summer.
Remember the days when you would pull out
that little card from your wallet at the 2:00 a.m. sale outside the
local bar to remind you what blue or red, right or left meant. I do, and
I remember the Sunday morning calls from my friend Brian, who always
forgot his card, complaining that his Saturday night date left after ten
minutes when neither one would willingly get their legs out of the air.
He was again eating both those croissants he had lovingly purchased in
anticipation of brunch for two. Well that was only one evening; imagine
a whole summer like that.
It may be time for the Beach House Rush
Party to print up little cards and put a lot more light sticks around
ones neck or dots on those nametags. Sharing a house at the beach can be
a wonderful experience or can make for the summer from hell. Stories
abound of broken relationships, ruined friendships, screaming matches
over who got to wear the red velvet gown, and who was the real queen of
the house. But with a little more planning and information, you can come
home after the summer with lifelong new friends and maybe even a new
love or two, depending on your proclivities. But it all starts with
making the right choice at that rush party.
Here are some new categories I would
suggest. Simply list them on a questionnaire that each attendee gets
when entering the party. After filling it out each guest then gets the
appropriate additional light sticks around their necks or dots on their
nametag. This will allow everyone to have a much better chance of
finding compatible roommates for that long dreamed about wondrous
summer. Examples of categories and related colors could include: Red to
declare you’re married, green to announce you’re single, or purple
to declare you’re married but announce you’re willing to play
around. White indicates you like to party, pink means you don’t party
during the winter, but are willing to experiment in the summer, pale
blue means you like to stay sober and clean and like your housemates to
do so as well. Black might mean you like to go to the bar for happy
hour, then out to dinner and arrive home before midnight.
Grey announces you like to get to the bar
for happy hour, do dinner, then take a nap, and then head back out to
party at midnight. Black with a white dot in the center means you like
to get to the bar for happy hour, skip dinner, and have the bartender
prod you to let you know that it’s time for last call.
Yellow could mean you want a room with an
assigned bed. Coral means you want a bed for yourself, but it can be
anywhere in the house. Sea green may mean you will sleep in any bed with
anyone in the house.
Get the point? This system would make for
much better summers for a lot of people. It could avoid that
uncomfortable situation where on the first big weekend at the Blue Moon,
you arrive with your housemates in those great new T-shirts, and are
giving out your new house card that lists all the roommates. You are
telling your friends that they should keep the card handy so if they
want to have coffee or dinner with you, they will have the number. At
the same time, the rest of your new summer housemates, are explaining to
every cute guy in the bar that the card is merely a helpful handy list
to be checked-off as they sleep their way through your house.
It would seem to me that the more
information one has before committing to a summer share, in what you
hope will be the house of your dreams, could go a long way to making
sure that next winter’s memories are all that much more enjoyable.
Here’s to another great summer in
Rehoboth everyone! Remember, knowledge is power!
Peter
Rosenstein, an occasional contributor to Letters from CAMP Rehoboth, may
be reached at pdr@nagc.org
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