The guys claimed that my major "selling point" was that, though I’m a single female, most of my friends are male and as a result, I get along well with guys. I like playing sports and watching them on TV, and I’m thick-skinned when it comes to clowning around. And besides, I’d joked that I would bring plenty of cute girls around. As much as I enjoy spending time with guys, I sometimes long for a touch of estrogen in the house.

My four roommates are all in their 20s and professionals (minus one, a law student). Life with the boys is a never-ending series of amusing and colorful anecdotes. There’s the time Chris showed up three hours later than promised to take me grocery shopping. There’s the frequent bizarre experience of returning home to find an a cappella singing group rehearsing in my living room. And best of all is the 8-minute abs tape that gets popped in nightly by David and Wade (my favorite eight minutes of entertainment). All interesting characters thrown together in the jumble of the tight housing market, each and every one of them has much to offer the household. But with our various activities and busy lives, time grows tighter each day for all of us, and what could be a home sometimes becomes merely a place for us to crash each night.

The house, to be perfectly frank, is a wannabe frat house. Walk in and the first sight you’ll see is a large banner on the living room wall, hung over discolored couches that are, on most days, littered with David’s various articles of clothing. The couches are old but the large-screen television is not, nor are the impressive surround sound speakers or the 200 CD player. There’s a huge (real) fish, caught by Eric’s aunt, mounted on the wall. Like a sixth roommate, it had its own hat and lei on New Year’s Eve. Our fridge is well-stocked with salsa and open jars of tomato sauce; we have a separate fridge for beer. Everyone has their own bedroom and in addition to the two full bathrooms, there’s a half bath that’s been nicknamed the "boys’ room" because of its lack of a toilet seat. No doubt about it: this is a guy house.