My Life in 304A

Hello, my name is Joe and this is the first story I’ve written down about my infamous roommate during my freshman year of college. He is already famous among friends who have heard these stories, I hope you enjoy!

I’d like to start off with some background info, during my freshman year (2009-2010) I live in the George Read North dormitory, suite number 304a. The room was a forced triple, which means there were three people in a room that was meant for two. One of my roommates was named Xiaoke, and was an exchange student from China. My other roommate was named DJ, and this blog is dedicated to him.

When I first got my room assignment in the summer and read the names Xiaoke Liu and David Levine, I thought I might have recognized the name David Levine, but didn’t think twice about it. Later that day I received a slightly odd Facebook message from David that informed me that we were in the first grade together and I once attended his star wars episode 1 birthday party. He also said that he now went by the name of DJ rather than David. He gave me a complete history of the daycare we attended together and why it shut down, which was slightly odd but I didn’t mind. I was glad that I knew someone going into college.

The day I moved into room 304a it became obvious that I was in for a very interesting living experience with DJ. As soon as I walked the room he yells “Hi!! I’m DJ!!!” In his very high pitched Erkel sounding voice. I introduced myself and asked him why he now went by DJ instead of his name (His full name is David James Levine, hence the DJ). He responded very energetically saying “Well, I’ve been called David my WHOLE LIFE!!!! And I’m sick of it, it’s been 20 years.” I was tempted to taunt him and say I had been called Joe my whole life, because that’s my name! But I refrained because I wasn’t sure he could pick up on any sarcasm and didn’t want to offend him. As the day proceeded he told me that he was obsessed with history, as he unpacked 50 history documentaries and hung up posters of Abraham Lincoln and battleships, battle descriptions, etc.

While there are many other small details and stories I could share to illustrate DJ’s quirkiness and complete lack of common sense, I will instead share one of the first “major” DJ stories. It was a few weeks after school had started and I was already annoyed by DJ’s constant talking and asking me every detail of my life and need to know where I was going and what I was going to do every minute of the day. I still didn’t quite know the extent of his OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). I had just returned from my only class of the day to George Read with my friend Kyle who lived 2 floors above me, we decided to do HW in the lounge next to my room so Kyle went to get his books in his room and I went to get mine.

When I entered the room I realized that for the first time since I had live there, DJ was not present. I at once decided to take a nap since I had not slept much lately because DJ would stay up very late and would talk to me as I was trying to sleep, and was always loud no matter what. I climbed into my top bunk, which was over Xiaoke’s bed, with DJ’s bed being on the opposite side of the room from our beds.

In my excitement to take a nap, I forgot to inform Kyle that I would not be studying in the lounge with him. So 10 minutes later Kyle walked into my room to see where I was and I said he could just study in my room while I took a nap. He sat at my desk, but later on asked if he could sit on DJ’s bed, and I didn’t see why not so I said sure but told him not to move anything on the bed and to lock the door and to hop off the bed if anyone was unlocking the door.

About 20 minutes later I heard the door unlocking and Kyle jumped off of DJ’s bed, but it turned out to be Xiaoke instead of DJ. After that the door remained unlocked. I fell asleep for at least an hour after that and when I woke up I found no one in the room and saw that the room had become rather messy, and that DJ’s blanket, pillow, and stuffed bear whose name is Obe and who DJ says he has been inseparable from since birth, were all moved to the bottom of his bed.

A few minutes later I heard the door opening and I looked up and saw DJ entering, he took 2 steps into the room yelling “Hey, what’s up-“ then he stopped and gasped loudly and backed up against the wall in utter shock and despair. I was still half asleep at this point and told him that Kyle had only sat on the edge of his bed and put his things at the bottom so it wouldn’t get messed up. I put my head back down and watched DJ scanning his bed with his hands in the air, slightly over his head with his fingers wiggly nervously. All of the sudden I hear an unbelievably distressed voice scream “WHERE’S OBE?!?!?!” I responded in a slightly annoyed tone telling him it was at the end of the bed. He then screams “He’s in the TRASH!!!” It turns out that the stuffed bear, Obe, had fallen off the end of the bed and into the trash.

At this point Kyle casually walked back into the room and said “oh I was sitting on the edge of your bed man” while DJ just stared at him with the most concerned face. I then left the room, but Kyle later informed me that DJ changed all of his sheets and looked through all of his things numerous times. DJ later came into the lounge where I was and told me that he was “a very sentimental man about his space” and continued to explain while he flipped out, using the word sentimental numerous times, none of which made any sense. I later corrected him and suggested the word personal instead of sentimental, while he just stared at me in a very confused way.

That was all for this particular day. This has been just a very small story to introduce the character of DJ which can never be fully explained or understood unless you have spent some time with the man, the Legend of DJ Levine. I hope you enjoyed it!