To Steb or Not to Steb

It's starting to come down to the wire. Now I have a month to decide whether or not I want to live in Stebbins, and if the answer is no, to subsequently find a place.

I guess one of the things I need to look into is the makeup of the house. I feel moderately towards the fall managers. The house manager is someone I really dislike, but aside from that the managers seem adequate. It really makes a difference if the house is run by incompetent people. But in all honesty, it's run by incompetent people every semester. I was a pretty good workshift manager, but I had my shaky moments too during my first semester. It's hard getting used to a job like that. It has a lot of nuances and a lot of turnover. You always lose a little with new managers. Sure they can learn over the course of the semester, but there's no guarantee that they will. We have a lot of new managers next semester. I don't know how they'll preform. I think it'll be fine, but you never do know. All in all, I think the supply of managers is fine. They mean well if nothing else, and I think there aren't that many of them who are just trying to weasel out of workshift. Some of them certainly are, but there's a few who I think are actually interested in the jobs. Also we still need to find a social manager and a maintenance manager. Those two managers could sway things somewhat. There's a lot of uncertainty.

But the house is made up of more than just managers. The managers may have more of a say in things than the average Stebbinite, but the average Stebbinites outnumber the managers by quite a bit. Their makeup makes a big difference. One of the best things to happen to Stebbins is the number of people from CZ who are moving out. Just about all of them are picking up roots and moving back, and they took at least one annoying Stebbinite with them. I never really got to know any of them. Some of them seemed pretty nice, but I didn't have the highest opinion of that many of them. I really dislike the attitude that "everything's fine if it's fine for me," and I definitely got the feeling that some of them felt that way. They didn't seem to notice, or to care sometimes, if something they did pissed off other people. But there's no use dwelling on it too much. They're gone now and I don't foresee them returning any too frequently. I suppose they'll come around from time to time when Stebbins is having a party, but I doubt they'd bother to walk down the street for any other occasion. Even the parties I don't think they'll crash too often unless they're out of house parties. They might show up to a few in house parties, especially something like the room to room (nevermind that it's expensive and someone else is paying), but I'd hope they'd stop coming when they realize how few people they actually know. So many moved out for the fall. It's a stark contrast. I feel glad that so many people I disliked moved out, but I'm also a little apprehensive of who will move in. It could be anybody. Oh well. I guess I'll get a little bit of a preview when I scout out the new summer people. If they're not my speed, then maybe I'll look for new housing just a little harder.

Another factor is going to be what kind of housing we can find. If there's nothing worthwhile, then maybe it would be a good idea to say no and look again in 6 months. Sigh. There are so many unknowns. Perhaps it's not worth thinking about right now. Oh well.