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Wednesday, October 1, 2008

pants on fire (literally)

How’s life at the Inferno Apartment Complex on Incendiary Lane? Glad you asked. Earlier today, I smelled smoke. I tried to find the cause of said smoke, but couldn’t. A few minutes later, a thick heavy smoke smell filled the room (and I couldn’t breathe, which was very disconcerting). It also seemed a little hazy. I did the smoke check again and discovered that there was smoke wafting in from the hallway (I did NOT open the door, as I am not addle-brained).

While throwing on jeans (no need to go outside in my Halloween themed PJ pants I wear sometimes while being creative), I made a mental list of things I needed to do if there was a fire: encourage kitty to get into his carrier without too much of a fight (ha ha), put on shoes, grab the Remus kitty, car keys, laptop, ID, money … FLEE! (Note: If there were flames or more smoke, I would have grabbed the cat and bolted.)

Before enacting my fire-fleeing list, I called downstairs to see if they could elaborate on the disaster that was surely happening, or not. The doorman said that someone’s clothes caught on fire in the dryer!

Our apartment is nowhere near the first floor, where the laundry room is; the smoke came up through the elevator shafts and the vents in our apartment. Our apartment is not smoky anymore because the windows are open and the vents and bottom of the door are blocked off, but the hallways, elevators, lobby, and laundry room are evil smelling. I feel bad for the people with burned clothes.

The fact that someone’s clothing started a fire in the dryer didn’t surprise me. A few months ago, I noticed that clothing coming out of the dryer was so hot, that you would get burned if you touched it (fabric, not just metal zippers). We’ve been drying our clothes on medium or low since then. Dryer fires are scary and charred clothing is not fashionable.


-------------- Other Stuff Going On ----------------

* It’s Banned Books Week. Find out more here.

* Moonrat (a.k.a. EditorialAss) is raffling off editorial services to help a friend with cancer. Good prizes, good cause. Find out more here.

* JoNoWriMo – My new goals are to make steady progress on my YA Novel: IG, my PB Dummy Request: Moose, Art Collections for my licensing business, and my Portfolio for a Nov. Review.

* It’s October 1, only 30 more days until Halloween!!!

* It’s not too late to stop the House from passing the Orphan Works Bill/H.R. 5889. For more information on what you can do, go here.

-------------- Book Picks ---------------

Lessons From A Dead Girl by Jo Knowles: Laine and Leah, friends since they were little. Leah was always the dominant one, making Leah do things and keep secrets. In high school, Laine tried to distance herself and find new friends, but Leah spun everything out of control. When I read this book, the emotional intensity reminded me of the novel Freaky Green Eyes (see below). Both books feature strong heroines in horrible situations that fight to survive and make sense of who they are.

Freaky Green Eyes by Joyce Carol Oates: Franky Pierson knows deep down that something is not right, that there’s a connection to her father’s behavior and personality and why her mother has suddenly disappeared. This book was chilling, mostly because the father reminded me of the football player that was acquitted of killing his wife and her friend.

4 comments:

  1. Dryer fires are scary! I think you should have kept your Halloween pants on though for fun
    :0)

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  2. I love my Halloween pants, but I don't think I'm brave enough to wear them in public on a regular basis. ;)

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  3. You remained so calm...I would have been running around in my Betty Boop pj's with furbaby under one arm and laptop under the other...pocket book strap hanging over my neck...but where are those darn keys? See, I would have been a mess...grin...

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  4. Brenda: I wasn't calm, but luckily, I was able to call downstairs and find out what was going on, and be reassured that the fire was out and it was all ok.

    If I hadn't had that option, I would have bee totally freaking out!

    ReplyDelete