a word (or two) on living alone

In all honesty, I approached the idea of living alone hesitantly as it was not something I'd ever done before.  When I actually made the leap and did it, what happened was surprising - I love it!  What's best is that I love it for many of the reasons I was so nervous about in the first place.  Here's a brief list of the best things: 

• my music - I can have it playing all day, every day, at any hour, whatever song I want
• dance parties - yes, they are frequent and totally awesome
• double stuffed oreos - I can eat them whenever I want
• pajamas at noon or at 7:00 PM - nobody will judge
• friends - like my music, I can have them over any time, any day
• and many, many, many, many more

I have, however, been faced with a couple of new obstacles that are definitely not my favorite.  Fortunately this list contains only three things:

• floods - somehow I have already been faced with two flooding issues and dealing with home improvement debacles on your own can be kind of irritating.  Luckily, nothing serious.
• spiders - I had a particularly terrifying encounter this very morning with a ginormous and menacing creature that had made quite a home in my living room over the nighttime.  After a 45 minute staring contest and a coaching session from my dad, the spider decided to make a move and I was forced to counter said move.  A sufficient amount of bug spray was used and the spider fell to his demise, however, to my surprise, he did not fall to the ground, but rather landed in the very web he had likely been building in the wee hours of the night.  So as I type this, his dead carcass is suspended in the air in my living room.  Once the bug spray dries, I will come up with a new plan for removing him from the premises.
• jars, specifically sundried tomatoes - I don't know something more frustrating then when making a delicious pasta and wanting to throw in some tasty sundried tomatoes, but being unable to do so because you can't get the jar open.  I tried all the tricks in the book:  hitting it with a knife, running it under hot water, using one of those rubber gripper thingys, running it under hot water and then hitting it with a knife and then using the rubber gripper thingy, but in the end my small hands just couldn't do the job.  I even considered knocking on a neighbor's door seeking assistance.  But alas,those sundried tomatoes are still sitting there on my counter, unopened.  I'm hopeful a burly, young man pays me a visit sometime in the near future so I can request his help for such a favor.