My Roommate Is LOST

During the first week of school, I told Ben online that my roommate reminded me of the TV show Lost. I said that when Season 3 of Lost finally premieres in October I would write an entry detailing the similarities. Well, today is Wednesday October 4, 2006 and at 9 the new season will commence. So, here it is…an entry about my strange, mysterious and short (he represents the Lollipop Guild) roommate, finally.

All I knew about my roommate, Elad, upon arriving at Duke was that he was from Clayton, Missouri (near St. Louis), he liked 24, he played football in high school and he was most likely Jewish. The truth is, this is still the main info I know about Elad. Like LOST, I really only have about 1 hour of encounters with him a week. It’s not that he’s anti-social or unfriendly…it’s just that our schedules are completely out of sync and he always gets up really early in the morning. This early rise is due to the fact that he’s one of the managers of the football team. He actually believes that if he works really hard this summer, then his 5’ 4’’ 140 lbs. frame will get a spot on the team. He truly believes that by next year he will somehow be able to single handedly turn Duke’s football program around. (Maybe he’s been watching too much Jack Bauer) Of course, just this would make him a small kid with big dreams. There’s more…

He works out at least twice a day and takes about 4 showers over the course of the day…changing into the same clothes (orange mesh shorts, white shirt) each time (at least they look the same). He makes my boring solid-color-only wardrobe look like a hip Gap ad. He never folds or puts his clothes away after washing them, instead choosing to spread them out all over his side of the room. Still, I don’t consider any of these practices weird…just out of the ordinary.

Just like LOST, it’s when you pay closer attention that you observe some of the stranger eccentricities.
1. He does this weird mumbling thing where he’ll start a sentence clearly and by the end it turns to gibberish. Example: “I’m gonna go to the dining hall to hava sat grando frew ababameit…” What?!
2. He refuses to do work IN our room. Rather, he hauls his laptop, charger, books and food directly outside our room and sprawls out in the middle of the hall. I can’t imagine that he’s getting work done because every time I take a break from my own work INSIDE the room, he’s chatting it up with one of our neighbors.
3. He has a loud short laugh that sounds literally like HAH! and calls everyone “Babe!” Example: “OK, yea I finished the paper, babe, hah! Alright, Babe. I’m gonna go to the gym to hava sat grando frew ababameit…” Again, what?!
4. He has a bizarre post-Duke football game ritual. Every time Duke loses a football game (which IS every time) he comes back to the room looking all depressed. He plops himself down on the bed and falls asleep…eating Cheerios!

Each time I encounter Elad I pick up new quirks and mysteries, just like the TV show. OK, so maybe like with LOST I’m looking hard for strange clues and things to talk about. But maybe, as with LOST, this is only the tip of the iceberg. As always, UNC sucks, but at this point that’s a given…so why emphasize it?...because they REALLY suck!!!