To dorm or not to dorm

A girlfriend called and asked me to apply for the postgrad hall with her for the coming academic year. The idea sounds really tempting but there is a lot to consider.

So here I drafted a pros-and-cons list for the whole issue:

NO...

1. It takes more or less the same amount of time to commute from dorm to my workplace as to commute from home.

2. Completely consumed and exhausted though I may get after a whole day of work, I still have to do chores and grocery shopping.

3. Postgrad halls 2 to 5 are too far away from the KCR station and shuttle bus service is not available before 7 a.m. (which means I can get back to school just on time even if I catch the earliest shuttle bus) and after 11 p.m. (which means I have to make a long walk home after a late-night hang-out).

Postgrad hall 1 is nearer to the KCR station but the number of shared rooms is really limited. It also costs a few hundred dollars more than PGH 2-5 per month.

4. I want to save for my overseas study, but I have to spend more if I live on my own.

5. I have all those weird habits that make me unpleasant to stay with.

YES...

1. Images of Sex and the City are swimming in my mind.

Don’t get me wrong. I mean all those scenes in which the girls are partying, inviting friends to their places and enjoying their single lives far away from home. Sorta I-am-a-single-working-girl-managing-my-life-on-my-own lifestyle.

Sounds cool.

2. Though I spent 3 years living on campus at college, I feel more grown-up now after 3 years of full-time working life. I need more autonomy in my life.

3. I can coop myself up in my little room and stay up late at night doing homework or reading or simply enjoying myself without my mum nagging or my sisters chatting loudly next to me.

4. My salary jumps a point this Sept and I may afford to stay at PGH 1.

5. I feel like making more connections with the others.

Five to five—score draws.

Maybe I will go for the old way—apply first and think later.