Light My Fire

Okay, don't light a fire. But you can listen to the song here. We had an unexpected fire drill this morning. The buzzer is right across from my cube, so it scared the mess out of me. And it's been so long since I've heard it go off, that at first I didn't even know what it was! So I walked around to Annie's cube and said, "What is that for?" She said, "It's the fire alarm!" So, I gathered up my stuff and we headed down the many flights of stairs. On the way out, we heard that it was a drill and not real. Anyway, we headed out to our meeting spot and spent between 5 and 10 minutes out there. It was rather chilly, and I wore short sleeves today and forgot my jacket at my desk. So, I stood in the sun :). The good news is that there wasn't a fire. At least I think that's the good news :). I was going to use the Roof is on Fire song, but it turns out that's a really bad bad song. So don't listen to it.

So, yesterday I went and walked with a few people for the Strive for Five type thing... There were only 5 of us who showed up. Amber who led the walking, myself from the library, a woman from the career center, and two women from the facilities department. So, I met people I'd never otherwise meet, even though we all work on the same campus. This is a huge campus. And I am pretty much self-contained in the library... I don't even know a fraction of the other buildings on campus. Anyway, after walking, I went over to the library. I love the library. I checked out a book called Daddy-Long-Legs, which is a book my friend Tammy said she loves. I'd never even heard of it, so I looked it up. It sounds cute. So, I'm going to give it a whirl. It's in the juvenile section, so I am sure I should be able to whip through it pretty quickly. Although, at the rate I've been reading, maybe not... I did do a little bit of reading for the literature review re-do. Ugh. I don't know if I'll ever get that thing done. And then Stefanie and Pace invited me to watch Phenomenon with them. Okay, I'd never seen that movie before, so don't be shocked when I say that I did not see that coming... I so prefer when movies end the way I think they should. If they don't end the way I think they should, then I say they did not end well. So, just FYI -- the movie A Beautiful Mind did not end well. So says the Nilla. (You got that Juliebean :)?)

Oh, and you know, the weeks really are flying by. I can't believe it's Thursday already!

So, I'm thinking I haven't done a memory lane post in a while. So, Elka, this one is especially for you, since I'm sure you will see why (and I'll tell you why at the end in case you don't get it :)). So, back when I was about 13 or so, I went to church girls' camp. We were actually camping (ick...) (oh, so it turns out, Elka, that there are more than one reason for this story to be especially for you :)). I don't like camping. Well, we had porta-potties there at Gatun Lake in Gamboa, which is where we were camping. In this huge grassy field. Full of mosquitos. Seriously. I counted something like 36 bites after that week was over, and I'm not kidding. Anyway, I had invited my twin friends to go to camp with me. Their names were Chantal and Nicole. Well, porta-potties are not exciting for me. They are nasty. So, we made it a point to only use them twice a day. No, this did not mean we used the grass or trees the rest of the time. This just means we learned how to hold it. So we went once in the morning and once at night. And since the porta-potties were a ways away from the campsite, we had to use the buddy system. Well, so 4 of us would go together: Chantal, Nicole, Rebecca, and myself. At night-time, it was dark, so we took flashlights. Three of us would shine our lights into the openings at the top of the porta-potty while the 4th person went in... that way they had light without having to juggle holding their flashlight inside... And goodness knows there was nowhere safe to set down a flashlight inside. I'm telling you, we women really got a rotten deal when it comes to porta-potties. We need both hands free, thank you very much. Not to mention we have to do all this while holding our breath, trying to avoid touching anything with as much of our bodies as possible, and struggling to hover... So, we'd been doing this for several days. Suddenly one night, Chantal is the one on the inside, and for some reason she had taken her light in with her... Maybe she thought she could hold it under her chin??? (I know all you women out there are actually nodding your heads, because you've probably tried this in one scenario or another). Or maybe she didn't take it in and just noticed something and demonstrated for us when she was done... It's a little fuzzy. And after a couple of seconds, Chantal says, "Hey guys! It's cool! I found a flashlight holder in here! It holds your flashlight so it shines up!" So we are beyond baffled. I mean, we've been using these things for several days and none of us ever saw a flashlight holder... So, when she comes out, she either shows us where she has her flashlight in the "flashlight holder" or she takes her flashlight from whomever was holding it for her on the outside, and plunks it down in the "holder" for us to see. Either way, I know that at some point, her flashlight was put into the "flashlight holder." Which is also known as the men's urinal that was built into the wall of the porta-potty. So gross. Needless to say, she carried her flashlight back to camp by the very top of it... Not at the handle part, since that had been in the oh-so-convenient "flashlight holder." Seriously cracked up just sitting here remembering this... So, this was also the camp when my monthly friend decided to make its appearance, and I had to go to one of my leaders to ask for a pad.... That was back in the day when it was still a mortifying thing to admit. You know, the days when I would make my mother walk to the necessary aisle with the cart so I could quickly throw my needed products in the cart so no one would see. As though anyone really cared.... But in my mind, it was a spectacle. Obviously it's not anymore, since I've shared that story with the blogosphere :). And Elka, my original reason for thinking you'd love this is your attachment to port-o-pots (the 3-day and your picture for your profile...). But the camping thing seems to fit well too :).