Sound The Alarm (X4)

Times are strange, friends. I don't know if it's the impending late-October time change, the fact that the Halloween season is nigh, or if it has something to do with academic madness and general mind numbness. This week was marked by not one, not two, not even three, but four fire alarms.

The first came on Tuesday night, nearly midnight. I was half asleep when Mom called, as I had called her a bit earlier. We were only talking for about two minutes when the alarm sounded and I explained that I had to leave the building. Then I ran around my room trying to find my glasses, keys, a sweatshirt, pants without holes in them, and shoes. I was approximately the second-to-last person out of the building. Two fire trucks eventually showed up (to the raucous cheers a few hundred half drunk college students) and the fire fighters took a look through our hall, coming up with nothing, apparently.

Not twenty-four hours later (around 9:00pm Wednesday night) the alarm went off again. This time, the mood was more subdued and because it was earlier in the night, there were fewer students present. The two fire trucks showed up again, and it was ascertained that the cause was burning toast from a room in the D corridor. Toasters in rooms? Expressly forbidden. She apparently risks incurring a hefty fine.

Earlier that day, though, the fire alarm had gone off in a building on campus, which could be heard from the science library where I was situated, reading an article on AIDS and international security. The students filed out of the building while the fire wardens yelled over and over for them to move further from the building.

Finally, today, as I was again studying in the science library, the alarm there went off. I looked up from my book on European constitutional courts, looked around me and met eyes with a girl across the aisle. We gave each other a "really? we have to leave? are you leaving? what happens if we just don't leave?" look. We left. I think we get fined if we don't.

In non-fire alarm related news, I had a successful meeting with my professor today who so loved my idea for an essay that he literally jumped up out of his seat. But that was just to grab a book I had mentioned needing for the essay. I also ran a dissertation idea past him and he really liked that, too. So I may have a few good ideas to work with.

Music: Pavement and, right now, the 5th Dimension. I've been listening to podcasts of NPR's Wait Wait - Don't Tell Me which makes me laugh out loud (which is always a great thing to do while you're walking down the street by yourself). Speaking of podcasts, my brother and his friend Hudson are embarking on a podcast adventure - Hudson and Gaines - a satirical radio talk show. Hudson is the local conservative pundit, while Brother (Gaines, in this context) plays the lefty nut. It's entirely quality listening enjoyment.