Burning down the house

My house is so damn hot. Good God.\nMany of us who have chosen to live in the bustling Bloomington housing community have had to endure the summer heat without the aid of glorious air conditioning. Not only have we been granted the opportunity to move in beds, desks and bookcases in 90-plus-degree weather, we've been able to bask in it every day as well.\nSo I guess this is the part where I slam my landlord for not providing central air conditioning throughout our house, and I talk about how decrepit the whole Bloomington housing scene is. But you know what? I can't.\nI've heard countless stories about how landlords don't fix houses, invite cockroaches into their residences for beer and chips, etc.\nThe system even allows for it.\nSusie Johnson of Bloomington Code Enforcement said landlords are given plenty of opportunities to fix dilapidated housing. It is required that students give their proprietor notice that they will complain if the problem is not addressed, giving the landlord breathing room with which to delay renovation. \nBut our landlord is really nice. \nWhen we moved in, the whole house had been cleaned. The only thing that was dirty was the carpet, and she's already offered to shampoo it. We had this nasty refrigerator that was filled with old eggs which kind of resembled the stuff that fell on the floor in that "Lightning Crashes" video. \nSo, we called her and someone was there that night to get rid of it. She's addressed virtually every problem in the house and has sent or is sending someone over to fix it within the next week. She rocks hard.\nHaving your own place provides so much more freedom and opportunity to be independent. You've broken free of the confines of dorm food and the grossly overpriced C-stores. You assume the responsibilities of paying bills, keeping up the house and pulling together to really create a comfortable living area. ...\nAh, the hell with it. I could talk about all of that, but I'd be sidestepping the fact that I live in a massive six-person house and we get to throw bitchin' parties. Boo-yah.\nEven though we're ready to get down and rock the hizzy like it's 199-izzy, we're still keeping in mind that this is not "our" house in technical terms. By taking care of our landlord's property and doing what's necessary to keep us happy and safe, we've established a system of respect. In that, she keeps the house up as long as we're not irresponsible; we take care of her and she takes care of us.\nNow, I'm not saying someone may never get drunk and, say, throw a box of detergent at the walls creating a tenacious mess. That could, in theory, happen. We could pull out all the stops, throw an intramural wiffleball tournament with free Everclear punch, followed by a KY wrestling match … but we won't (sadly). \nWhy? \nBecause we really do care about the house we have the privilege to live in. And we respect that someone else does own it and will continue to rent it to many lucky souls after we are long gone.\nThere is a message here for both students and landlords: respect your housing. Renting an abode is a mutual agreement and both parties have to hold up their end of the bargain. Otherwise we have what our friends Led Zeppelin call a "Communication Breakdown" and everything just becomes messy. \nWe all just want a nice little house that we can call home.