Ithaca is starting to get cold
so, the setting: ithaca, new york at about 11:45. there's been a stiff breeze all day and the temperature is dipping into the 30's at night now.
i've been kind of tired all day. it comes from having a roommate who doesn't have class before noon most days, whereas three days out of five, i start at 9. tonight i finished my work and thought, "i'll be good and get a shower before one in the morning and stand a chance at getting a decent night's sleep." so at 11:45 into the shower i go with naught but soap, a towel and a robe.
i'd been in the shower maybe, oh, two minutes, when i hear this high pitched wail. at first, it sounded like the pipes being dumb, but no. it was the dorm's first general fire alarm of the year. i was the kid in the shower during the fire drill. and you basically have to leave on pain of a killer headache from the alarms - hey they do their job, but it's a bit hard on the ear drums.
and that is how i came to be standing outside, a bit damp, in nothing but a flimsy robe, flip flops and a thin coat that i'd grabbed from my room in upstate new york at midnight.
it makes for a good story, though.
i've been kind of tired all day. it comes from having a roommate who doesn't have class before noon most days, whereas three days out of five, i start at 9. tonight i finished my work and thought, "i'll be good and get a shower before one in the morning and stand a chance at getting a decent night's sleep." so at 11:45 into the shower i go with naught but soap, a towel and a robe.
i'd been in the shower maybe, oh, two minutes, when i hear this high pitched wail. at first, it sounded like the pipes being dumb, but no. it was the dorm's first general fire alarm of the year. i was the kid in the shower during the fire drill. and you basically have to leave on pain of a killer headache from the alarms - hey they do their job, but it's a bit hard on the ear drums.
and that is how i came to be standing outside, a bit damp, in nothing but a flimsy robe, flip flops and a thin coat that i'd grabbed from my room in upstate new york at midnight.
it makes for a good story, though.