I didn't really take a break from posting. I still wrote a few posts during break to add to the backlog. Since this post is about St. Patricks Day, it goes first.
Thursday night, around 3 in the morning, the fire alarm goes off. Goddamnit. I was just getting into my movie. I didn't think too much of it, because it was Saint Patrick's Day, and I figured that some drunken hooligan (i.e. my roommate) reveled a bit too much in their Irishness and that some crazy shenanigans ensued. I guessed someone had just pulled the alarm, or were smoking indoors, but then again, last year my roommate accidentally set off the fire alarm just by burning popcorn, so some drunken cooking could also have been the culprit. Blech. I put on my slippers (which are basically clogs) and a jacket and made my way down the hall towards the stairs when I noticed that smoke was seeping out from the crack at the bottom of the doorway.
Well shit. Some drunks had started a fire, for real. How unacceptable. I made for the backstairwell, and joined the queue of drunks trying to make their way out of the building. Very interesting, but hard to describe.
And cold. Have you forgotten that I live in Wisconsin? It was snowing out at the time, but the temperature was hovering somewhere around 32*, so the streets and sidewalks were covered in this big slushie mess when we made our way outside and into the street.
I spy my friend Teegs, whose birthday it was (or rather would be as soon as she woke up the next morning--at 3 am, the differences between the previous day and the next day are tentative at best.) The point was, her birthday was Friday. Teegs was barefoot.
"BOB I'M COLD!"
"Why aren't you wearing shoes, my dear?"
"I was in the elevator, and then the fire alarm went off and I could go back upstairs because people were coming down." There's nothing like being caught in an elevator during a fire to sober you up. Teegs was halfway there, and halfway gone.
"Oh come here."
And in some miraculous boost of chivalry, I offered her my clogs, which she wouldn't accept. I offered her my jacket, which she wouldn't accept. Even when I told her it was her birthday present, she wouldn't accept. Eventually, after much debating, we came to compromise. I would give her one slipper, and I would wear the other.
She being drunk, she had trouble standing on one foot, and so I on one foot and Teegs on one foot linked arms and made like flamingos in winter jackets, each perched on one foot, trying to stand up and not fall over. Or rather, have Teegs not fall over in the slush puddles, which were getting too deep for my slippers to do any good.
"BOB THE FIRETRUCKS!" Teegs suddenly realized that the sirens blaring and the flashing lights were headed towards us, though we were on the curb across the street from our building. "C'MON" With that, she grabbed onto my waist and started hopping up the driveway and towards the parking lot across the street.
She didn't notify me that we were moving across the street, and I fell. Hard. Right on my elbow. It smarted tons. TONS.
Turns out, the elevator circuits caught on fire. Lucky Teegs made it out just in time, though she did freak out royally when she found out.
Long story short, my left elbow hurts something fierce. There's a nasty bruise and everything. I'm right handed, so I can still do most things, but I can't extend my left arm all the way. I also can't bend it less than a 60* angle. It doesn't hurt too much if it's inbetween, but the extremes hurt like a mother.
And so, for most of Spring Break, I kept my left arm clenched and up towards the middle of my chest, in some sort of Bob Dole impersonation. Unfortunately, I forgot to keep my hand in a fist on more than one occasion, and walked around with THE MOST exaggerated limp wrist I've ever seen on a person. When I walked past a mirror, even I wanted to punch me in the face. It was not a fun way to spend spring break.
(PS-The arm is better now, though it still smarts sometimes.)
