What do you do when you wake up @ 4:15 in the morning bright eyed and bushytailed?
Some choices:
A: Lay in bed with the lights off counting sheep
B: Lay in bed with lights on reading a book
C: Get out of bed and start cleaning
D: Do all of the above and then blog.
I chose D. Or i should say, D chose me. Deep huh? Its so frustrating when my internal clock gets off kilter, because then i have to deal with this wide-awake-at-the-wrong-time-of-day crap. Up and at em a lot earlier than i need to be, but its close enough to the time when i *need* to be getting up so unless i fall back asleep immediately, well im screwed for the rest of the day.
Needless to say, I'm screwed. Por supuesto.
My weekend was interesting. Or should I say, My Sunday was interesting. The rest of it was rather hum-drum and par for the course. Saturday I found a domininican hair salon that i will soon be a frequent patron. I don't always have the best experiences with salons(which is why i rarely go, and do my hair myself mostly) but when i do want the help of a professional best believe i will be going to my cousins from another country. There is a lot of hype surrounding the dominican hair salons - some may call them overrated, but imho, this one is well worth the hype.
Sunday, was an amalgam of excitement and terror.
I had a fire going in my fireplace yesterday evening, no big deal right? Since the weather turned cool, i've had a fire in there practically everyday. I find the flames soothing and oddly hypnotizing. Not to mention, it gives off a wealth of heat. And, with energy costs what they are these days -
So, a piece of cardboard is put in the fireplace. It goes up almost immediately, and for a moment all of the kindling is engulfed in a white hot flame. Niiiice. But all of a sudden, i start hearing this roaring sound. Like a tornado, or a wind whipped up by a storm. I figure its a result of the eddys formed due to the intense heat of the flame. My inner scientist finds it all very awesome.
And then.
Chunks of..."stuff"...begin falling down the chimney. Like just falling. And it glows red. So i'm like what in the...? Tempted to ignore it as a side effect of fire(though one i've never seen before), i just look at whatever it is curiously. Then its starts falling down muy rapido. Great globs of it, unidentifiable and and strange looking. I get worried. I go outside to look at the chimney and there are sparks flying out it! Sparks, and the same "stuff". The stuff falling to the ground outside. Now would be the time to freak(albeit in a controlled sensible manner). I don't know whats going on, so the first step is to put out the the fire. Get a big pot of water and pour it on the flames. Fire is doused. I go back outside.
No go.
The chimney is still belching out sparks and the mysterious "stuff". It smells smoky too. Now i'm worried. What if the roof catches fire? Perhaps theres a fire in the walls? I didn't want to do it, but i ring 911. I tell them the situation, and they say they are sending a ladder and out immediately. Within 20 seconds, i hear the familiar wail of the fire engine.
OMG i'm so embarrassed. Now the whole block will be wondering wtf is going on. The fireman come, fully suited, their walkie talkies set at 100 decibels. I'm embarrassed but relieved. "They'll know what to do!" The situation is explained. These wonderful men look up the chimney(be careful! hot "stuff" is falling down!) And two other dudes look down the chimney from the outside. They see where it was sparking, but say they see no flames in the actual chimney. A good thing. What happened is that there was creosote build up, and the stuff falling was this creosote. The chimney will need to be cleaned. They reassured that calling was the RIGHT thing to do, since chimney fires can cause great damage to property. Regardless i felt bad.
If i may, i'd like to interrupt myself to pitch something here. Couldn't there be like a Fire engine minivan? For those times when you don't need the whole shebang, but you do need something. Because yesterday was certainly one of those times. I felt so apologetic for them coming out to my house. They didn't have to use hoses or hatchets. I kid. I am EXtremely grateful that they didn't. Not to mention they were glad that they were called. They'd rather take precautionary measures, than have to put out a raging fire.
I was relieved. A little bit. But shaken. For about a half hour things were moving really fast, but really slow. It was scary. All i could see was my entire life being engulfed in a flame, and for a moment, I think i know how very helpless and terrified actual fire victims are. Sobering.
And thus, my Sunday ended with a real bang.
Not to mention there were two upsets in the sports world! Giants and San Diego winning? Whodathunkit?
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