Ready, Aim,

Fire Alarm.

10 pm.

I've been in bed for over 20 minutes,

having decided to try and get extra sleep since

the carnival bands arrive nice and early for sound checks

in the festival gardens outside this weekend.

Feeling like I'm just about to doze off,

I hear a bird-like chirping outside my closed door.

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

It can't be.... not now.......

But it can be.

And it is now.

The smoke alarm is making me aware that the battery needs changing.

So I had to try and fix it myself,

not knowing if this predicament can be classified as a "maintenance emergency"

to call the maintenance man...

Having 10 foot ceilings, being only 5'8'' myself, and having only a 2' stool put me in quite a situation. I had to stack a ton of books up just to reach the thing, all the while remembering every story I've ever heard of people falling from precarious make-shift ladders and such:

I managed to get the battery out, and then waited....

But no.

Still chirping...

So I had to Skype my older brother,

and then stand on my dangerous stool-stack

and show him the alarm.

Meaning that I held my laptop up to the ceiling with one hand

and messed with the alarm with the other

while on my tiptoes...

I choose to live dangerously.

Finally I got the alarm unplugged from the wires in the ceiling

-and I was NOT electrocuted (be proud, Dad)-

and, while I did slip a little when the bookstackstool decided to shift a bit,

I am altogether none the worse for wear, and now know how to deal with a smoke alarm.

I felt this evening adventure warranted a blog.

Good night. For real this time.