Mr. Your On Fire Mr.

Nearly burned my apartment down on Monday. Left for lab leaving beef boiling in a saucepan on the stove; thought I'd had the flame down low enough, but I didn't. Came back for lunch, and even from the elevator down the hall I could hear the fire alarm and smell the smoke. Cursed, unlocked and flung open the door, and smoke was everywhere inside, enough to make my eyes water; dashed straight to the kitchen, grabbed the pan and threw it under running water; opened all the windows, then ran downstairs to tell the manager everything was okay--if thoroughly unpleasant--and to turn off the alarm, and she told me she'd send the maintenance guy. Went back upstairs to do some more damage control, and apologize and reassure the neighbors who stopped by to see if I was okay. I don't know any of my neighbors, but now they all know me--at least, as the kid in the Radiohead shirt who nearly burned down the building. They told me I shouldn't stay in the apartment--to be honest, I was getting light-headed from trying to clean up while the place was still full of smoke (another point for my lack of self-preservation instincts)--so I sat down in the hallway and waited for the maintenance man to show up, listening to My Bloody Valentine.

Soon the guy showed up, took a look around, told me to turn on every single fan I had (grand total of 3, including the A/C) to flush the smoke out of the apartment, and left. I attacked the kitchen with Fantastick, and an hour and a half later it was ironically cleaner than when I left it that morning, though the smell still lingered for a few days. All in all though, semi-decent emergency response on my part, I suppose. Lack of panic is always a good thing. Though I should probably take oxygen deprivation more seriously next time around.

In other news, I've been picking up a train of thought I left off a couple of years ago: re-evaluating the importance of shoegaze in my personal life. There is such a thing, I promise. They were slagged for being sentimental and detached from "real life"--but I think it is for precisely those reasons that I need that music at this juncture in my life, as I am trying to breathe life into the neglected and withered sentimental side of myself.

Because, even though I haven't reached the point where I can take to the present like a fish takes to water--for God's sake, once in a while I deserve to take a breath of air.