wednesday morning at 4 o'clock as the day begins
I worked all day Tuesday. Yesterday. Went to sleep at 1am. This morning. 3 hours ago. Need to be up for work at 7:30 at the latest. Class and office hours all day until late afternoon. A whole chapter due on Monday that I will continue to work on tomorrow night.
So why am I on lj at 4 in the morning?
2:15. AS wakes me up bodily for the second time since we became roommates. It took me around 5 minutes -- which, not to brag, but given the speed of my mind? means that this was really out of the realm of my expectations, and that I was REALLY REALLY sleepy -- to figure out what was going on.
Our kitchen was flooding. Something had gone wrong under the sink, and hot water filled not just the kitchen but the dining area as well, extending into the living area and even AS's bedroom. But AS was actually awoken by our downstairs' neighbors' knocks -- their ceiling was raining, especially through the light fixtures and fire alarms -- and their floor had begun to rain on the apartment below theirs, too.
One nice neighbors was already on the phone to emergency maintenance. The other nice neighbor was under the sink, doing something manly -- successfully turning off the water after about 10 minutes of diligence. I'm glad to know that even academic guys can figure home improvement things out when necessary -- most of the male PhDs in my life are completely hopeless with a wrench.
Almost 3am: Diagnosis: the hot water pipe had burst. Turning off the water solved the root of the problem. But -- we were needing an ark. Maintanence arrived, in the form of another nice grad student. She had a "wet vac" -- and we went to work. Suck, suck, suck, suck. As Christmas Eve in Avenue Q sings, "I say it sucka sucka sucka sucka sucka sucka sucka sucka sucka sucka sucka sucka suck! It suck to be me." (Yes there are 12 suckas and 2 sucks. I counted.)
Poor AS. The last time we had to rouse ourselves from the sleep of the studious for a fire alarm, she had a test. Today, she has another test. Maybe there's a pattern. Maybe her professors should stop giving her tests. I kept trying to hustle her back to bed, and she kept trying to come out and help. We're too Asian for our own good. I was able to offer her the good sleeping drugs, though ;) .
Almost 4am. The area around our feet still wells with water whenever we step on the carpeting, but after two dumps of the "wet vac," it was time to pass it on to the nice neighbors below -- who had to suffer through all this accompanied by 1.5hrs of ear-splitting smoke detector malfunctions. I thanked Jen, introduced AS and myself to the neighbors (you never know), and took a shower.
Now I'm almost relaxed enough to try to sleep again. My unhappiness level has definitely receded as I considered how I might describe the event here. lj therapy. I couldn't help -- because of the two nice manly neighbors, and my own occupational hazards -- feeling like this could be a scene in a movie. Here are some genres and how things would play out in them:
Romantic Comedy: Duh. Two girls, one tall, one short. Two guys, one tall, one short. All Asian. First meeting in wet pjs. Again, duh.
Horror: One of a string of increasingly sinister building malfunctions, escalating to a full scale haunted University Apartment Complex.
Action/Psychological Thriller: Turns out that I suffer from multiple personality disorder, and the sociopath in me is engaging in escalating destructive behavior. AS eventually figures it all out before I blow up Teh Governator, learns to shoot an automatic weapon while driving over 100mph on I-5 (as she neither shoots nor drives now, she is perfect for the role), somehow there's a threatened child in there somewhere, and I go out in a blaze of glory.
Moore-ish Documentary: The deplorable state of public education, from K-12-college-grad school. How sad, sad, sad we deserving doctoral students are.
Indy Art House Drama: I realize through this watershed (hehe) event that I need to make changes in my life. Quit everything, flounce off my blog, and move to Chile to raise llamas. Or alpacas. Whatever. Lots of deep, deep soul searching and too much dialog later, I discover the true meaning of family and love. Or powerlessness and alienation. Whichever.
Okay, enough. My hair is no longer damp. I can sleep now.
So why am I on lj at 4 in the morning?
2:15. AS wakes me up bodily for the second time since we became roommates. It took me around 5 minutes -- which, not to brag, but given the speed of my mind? means that this was really out of the realm of my expectations, and that I was REALLY REALLY sleepy -- to figure out what was going on.
Our kitchen was flooding. Something had gone wrong under the sink, and hot water filled not just the kitchen but the dining area as well, extending into the living area and even AS's bedroom. But AS was actually awoken by our downstairs' neighbors' knocks -- their ceiling was raining, especially through the light fixtures and fire alarms -- and their floor had begun to rain on the apartment below theirs, too.
One nice neighbors was already on the phone to emergency maintenance. The other nice neighbor was under the sink, doing something manly -- successfully turning off the water after about 10 minutes of diligence. I'm glad to know that even academic guys can figure home improvement things out when necessary -- most of the male PhDs in my life are completely hopeless with a wrench.
Almost 3am: Diagnosis: the hot water pipe had burst. Turning off the water solved the root of the problem. But -- we were needing an ark. Maintanence arrived, in the form of another nice grad student. She had a "wet vac" -- and we went to work. Suck, suck, suck, suck. As Christmas Eve in Avenue Q sings, "I say it sucka sucka sucka sucka sucka sucka sucka sucka sucka sucka sucka sucka suck! It suck to be me." (Yes there are 12 suckas and 2 sucks. I counted.)
Poor AS. The last time we had to rouse ourselves from the sleep of the studious for a fire alarm, she had a test. Today, she has another test. Maybe there's a pattern. Maybe her professors should stop giving her tests. I kept trying to hustle her back to bed, and she kept trying to come out and help. We're too Asian for our own good. I was able to offer her the good sleeping drugs, though ;) .
Almost 4am. The area around our feet still wells with water whenever we step on the carpeting, but after two dumps of the "wet vac," it was time to pass it on to the nice neighbors below -- who had to suffer through all this accompanied by 1.5hrs of ear-splitting smoke detector malfunctions. I thanked Jen, introduced AS and myself to the neighbors (you never know), and took a shower.
Now I'm almost relaxed enough to try to sleep again. My unhappiness level has definitely receded as I considered how I might describe the event here. lj therapy. I couldn't help -- because of the two nice manly neighbors, and my own occupational hazards -- feeling like this could be a scene in a movie. Here are some genres and how things would play out in them:
Romantic Comedy: Duh. Two girls, one tall, one short. Two guys, one tall, one short. All Asian. First meeting in wet pjs. Again, duh.
Horror: One of a string of increasingly sinister building malfunctions, escalating to a full scale haunted University Apartment Complex.
Action/Psychological Thriller: Turns out that I suffer from multiple personality disorder, and the sociopath in me is engaging in escalating destructive behavior. AS eventually figures it all out before I blow up Teh Governator, learns to shoot an automatic weapon while driving over 100mph on I-5 (as she neither shoots nor drives now, she is perfect for the role), somehow there's a threatened child in there somewhere, and I go out in a blaze of glory.
Moore-ish Documentary: The deplorable state of public education, from K-12-college-grad school. How sad, sad, sad we deserving doctoral students are.
Indy Art House Drama: I realize through this watershed (hehe) event that I need to make changes in my life. Quit everything, flounce off my blog, and move to Chile to raise llamas. Or alpacas. Whatever. Lots of deep, deep soul searching and too much dialog later, I discover the true meaning of family and love. Or powerlessness and alienation. Whichever.
Okay, enough. My hair is no longer damp. I can sleep now.