Sort of cosy. That's how Holden feels. None of the bad crap has happened to him yet. His roommate has a date with Jane, the girl Holden loves, but Holden doesn't know about it. Holden is being kicked out of Pencey Prep, but he's still safe in his dorm room for the moment. He hasn't started drinking. He hasn't had his encounter with the prostitute. His life hasn't started to completely unravel. Yet. He's "sort of cosy" in his warm dorm room, wearing his new hunting hat.
That's what I am right now. I'm feeling safe and warm in my office at the university. It's mid-morning, and usually I'm working at the medical office at this time of day. However, about two hours into my shift, the building's fire alarms started going off. Generally, I ignore the fire alarms. They go off frequently (for tests or because some kid has pulled the alarm and run like hell). I continued registering my patient. The alarms kept flashing. Then, over the PA system, a voice said, "Please evacuate the building. Please evacuate the building."
What ensued was about ten minutes of chaos and panic. I called the nurses in the back of the facility and told them they needed to get out. I called my boss over at the hospital and told her there was a fire. Then I packed up all my belongings--my computers, my books, my teaching stuff--and ran like hell.
People were milling around the entrance to the medical center, and I could hear the sirens in the distance, when I got outside. I stood there with my coworkers and said, "Perhaps everyone should move away from the building?"
One coworker looked at me and said, "Do you want to go have breakfast?"
We went to Hardees and ate. It was quite lovely. When we got back to the medical center, the chaos had subsided. We found the nurses, and they told us that the building was shut down until at least noon.
So here I am in my nice, cosy, university office. Safe. Warm. That's a blessing. (I'm not wearing a red hunting hat.) Everybody got out of the building safely. No injuries. That's a blessing. It's Maunday Thursday, and I'm going to a Seder meal tonight. That's a blessing.
Saint Marty is ready for a little calm after this big storm.
I think I look like Paul Newman |
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