- Gossip Girl
- My own safety
Let me set the scene for you: last night I'm watching Gossip Girl in my apartment when I smell smoke. And not cooking-on-the-grill smoke but fire smoke. I ignore it, thinking it's not a big deal when then hear a beeping, like from a smoke detector...which isn't stopping either.
So I open my apartment door (after putting some pants on) and was stunned to see the entire hallway filling with smoke. Thinking I was hallucinating, I went back inside, locked the door and sat back down to watch more Gossip Girl (because I love that show) until I am compelled to get back up and check the hallway again, and to no shock see it filled with even MORE smoke.
Finally, I had a "holy shit" moment, tweeted about the incident, and ran down the hall to find the source of the smoke and knock on my neighbors doors. Hearing a girl in the apartment across from the smoking source, I banged on her door, hearing her angrily telling her friend on the phone to "hold on" so she can answer the "f*cking door." Sorry, next time I won't try to save your life. B*tch.
When I point out to her what's going on, she says to me, "holy shit, what should we do?" Are you kidding me?
"I'll call 911, I guess?" I said, moreso shocked that the person with the phone has no idea what to do. Maybe she was smoking something else in that apartment.
So I run back into my apartment, call 911, put some slippers on and...well evacuate the building (not using the elevator), where the sidewalk is now filling with my building's tenants, including women in various stages of dress, and all of their cats. Apparently I was in the minority of not owning one. And when I saw the cats, I couldn't help but have a flashback to the Office Superbowl episode when Angela tossed her cat to Oscar to save him from the fire. Hilarious.
But the entire time I was out there, I couldn't help but chastise myself about not grabbing my wallet, or Lulu, or Speedy...or a coat. Oh and the odd girl I alerted to the fire was out smoking, next to the fire truck.
Thanks to my Chicago tax dollars, the fire and police departments showed up quickly and went to break down the door to the apartment on my floor. The culprit? Some a-hole left food in the oven and left the oven on when she left the apartment that evening. Fortunately, the fire department didn't have to use the hose but I did have to air out my apartment all last night and today. So it could have been worse but damn that smell was bad.
So it was quite an exciting evening. And while I get a big fire FAIL, I did get to go back in pretty quickly and enjoy the rest of Gossip Girl and my new love, Yoplait Chocolate Mousse Whips. After that excitement, I needed to enjoy my Chuck Bass time with a tasty treat, especially after the show has been in hiatus for so long!
Feel free to begin teasing me about my silly behavior or let me know what you would save if you had to evacuate your apartment right away. Or if you did watch Gossip Girl, what did you think?
37 comments:
I'm glad that everyone was ok. Thats a scary situation. I think you handled it well. Once in college, I slept thru the fire alarm and only woke up when one of the fire dept guys banged on the door really hard. Adding to my disappointment, he wasnt even good looking.
An apartment fire is one of my top fears, behind being attacked in the middle of the night. (Basically, I fear anything happening in the middle of the night :-) ).
Glad you and your building are OK. I don't know that I even would have had the sense to alert my neighbors. I probably would have seen the smoke and ran!
i always have this weird fear that when i come back from a wknd away that i will have nothing to come back to. but i wouldn't really know what to do either.
today there were alarms going off in our office building and all of us remained at our desks asking what kind of alarm was going off. lol
I'm just picturing everyone standing out their in their robes holding their cats. Hahaha.
Oh yeah, and happy to hear that everything is ok.
omgOMG ..but seriously, Gossip Girl was so good last night, I totally understand. lol.
wow, i'm glad that everyone was ok and there wasn't any extensive damage.
makes me glad i live in a two-story walk-up with only 2 other apartments, one being my landlady rather than a bigger building with more people to be bothered with.
at the old condo we had an elevator... one night we kept hearing this loud dinging noise... it was really annoying... finally after a few hours i got up and went to investigate... turns out it had been going off for 4 hours. and this person was stuck in the elevator all that time. they had went to get thier mail so they didn't take thier cellphone with them. the emergency phone wasn't working in the elevator at all.
i felt like a real ass. i investigate all electronic beeps now.
Yikes! Glad you are all ok.
*pees pants about Twittering*
Oh and Blaez...you made me pee my pants a second time about the poor elevator trapped person. Heeheehee.
over the summer the building i worked in had a fire scare and as i was walking down the stairs, i freaked and remembered i left my (almost one-of-a-kind) longchamp bag on my desk. i was more worried about that then anything else in the building. i get a big FAIL, too.
It's funny to look back on how you acted in situations and how you would have done them differently. Honestly, I don't know what I would have done in that situation since it wasn't your own apartment creating the smoke and all...but at least everything turned out ok!
Okay, please don't hate me when I say I seriously LOL when I read that you went back inside and continued to watch Gossip Girl. But to be honest, I totally would have done the same thing.
And what a weird group of people that live in the same building as you-a chick that forgets she has food in the oven, another girl who doesn't know what to do in a fire, and a vary amount of people who own lots of cats. Just weird.
I don't think you were silly.I would be scared shitless if something like that happened near my place.The things I'd save would be my cat (yes,I'm one of THOSE women),and my family photo's.
Lol.."Finally, I had a "holy shit" moment, tweeted about the incident"...twitter will be the death of us. :)
Glad to hear you're alright! If I had to evacuate and knew I might not ever be able to go back, I'd save (1) my husband, (2) my dog, (3) wedding pictures, (4) all other pictures and (5) art. The rest is easily replaceable!
Wow, that is pretty funny. Though it is kinda weird that the fire alarm didn't go off!
Glad everything worked out ok!
Glad U R safe! Hopefully you never have to experience this again, but if you do - GET OUT 1st & call 911! People think, "I don't need to hurry-there's time." Truth is smoke kills! Prevention: Own a fire extinguisher, Test smoke alarms (photoelectric). Survival: Get out, Know 2 ways out! Fire is fast, dark & hot! Visit me on Twitter @Jillatlivesafe or live-safe.org- my blog coming soon! I would love to share your story when my site is launched! Live Safe, -"young professional in Chicago"!
That's so funny. I can't help but feel like only in Chicago would all of that happened. At least it was nice. I was in my building a few weeks ago and the alarm kept going off, my friend was like, "shouldn't we evacuate?" and without missing a beat I go, "Um it's 5 degrees and lake effect snow is going on outside, I'm not leaving unless I see flames".
Glad everything turned out ok.
How scary! I'm glad everything turned out okay. Did you see the Today Show episode about hotel fires? Very scary. Now when I stay in hotels, I'm really aware of the exits. Assuming my husband and dogs were safe, I'd go back for my wallet and laptop.
I, too, am so glad you are safe--but the way you recounted this incident--hilarious!
You need a cat! :)
I'm glad that you were okay! So scary!
I so would've tweeted about this either before I left the building or on my way down the stairs. And as for Gossip Girl? My friend and I are two episodes away from finally finishing the whole first season and can not WAIT to get caught up with Season 2!
Eek! Definitely a scary situation, and I'm glad to read that you and your place are okay. I went through a similar situation back in November, and am still thanking God that I didn't lose any of my stuff, because I totally FAILED at knowing what the heck to bring, too. Thanks for sharing!
i got so excited when chuck showed up and said "i'll wait" - my eyes got all teary. but then stupid carter...
This post was fantastic! I love that you went back for Gossip girl AND twitter. YESS!
Glad you're safe and your building isn't burned down.
Also, the episode was pretty good, wans't it? Thank goodness stupid teacher lady is gone. But, seriously, Carter is back? Blair clearly should be with Chuck. Just saying. :)
Make sure when you see that person that left their oven on you give them the stink eye. I would have grabbed my cat too. You did good though except you forgot to stop, drop and roll.
After all this time Gossip Girl has been a repeat I still have yet to watch Mondays episode. I think i am jsut in shock it is a new episode.
a girl has her priorities :) just glad you and everyone else is OK!
I laughed at this too. I'm glad no one was hurt, but this retelling sounds like an episode of a Seinfeld-esque TV show. And it reminds me of a story.
My old roommate lived in temporary Navy housing before we shared a condo, as she was in PR for the military and they were providing her free housing for awhile. It was somewhat like a hotel, with suites that had small kitchens and whatnot. We went out to Transit the night before for a friend's birthday and we got to her place at 3 am. I crashed on the couch and at 5 am the fire alarms went off for no reason. We did NOT move. We kept sleeping and ignoring them because we were tired and hungover and neither of us saw fire or smelled smoke. Well, they stopped eventually, but an hour later they went off again! And this time, a man in full military regalia came banging on our door and insisted we exit. I asked if there was a fire and he said no. I asked if it was a drill and he said no. But he said it was procedure and he was going to FINE US if we didn't leave the building.
So, we left. Really, really pissed. And I had no other shoes but my heels, so I had to wear them with PJ pants. Very sexy.
Glad you're ok and your apartment is ok! And someone is going to kill me for this, but I've never seen gossip girls and I may need to with it becoming increasingly talked about among EVERYONE I know...especially if it's worth ignoring a fire for ;)
I love those chocolate whip yogurts! The chocolate raspberry is my fave.
i seriously laughed when i saw your tweet about the fire. so something i would do too. but glad everyone was okay and your apt is fine. but really who leaves the oven on with food in it??? ridiculous!
I'm loving your commitment to twitter and the mighty Gossip Girl!! x
Ugh, smoke smell in everything! You poor thing :o( Glad everyone (including Lulu and Speedy) survived unsinged!
Reading this has made me laugh because me and fire safety? Well, let's just say I follow the firefighters as close to the building as possible as they're fighting the flames. With my camera. Wearing whatever I was wearing to work that day. And making small talk with those guys.
I'm convinced that my co-workers and I are going to be in major trouble whenever a HUGE fire goes up, and we're a little too close.
However, I'm glad that you are OK and that you just have to air out your apartment. It sucks (and the smell drives me crazy!), but that's a lot better than not having an apartment anymore.
I once slept through a fire at a hotel. I'm awesome.
I don't have a DVR so I wouldn't have even left the apartment until 9:01. I give credit where credit is due!
I would totally save my cats first. Except I would have to make more than one trip because I can't carry all three at once... I would probably die from smoke inhalation.
Obviously Chuck Bass comes first. Especially if he has on a black glitter coat.
I was so disappointed with GG! After such a long wait for it to be back on the air, I felt it was subpar. And Chuck Bass was not nearly as Chuck Bass-y as he could have been. *sigh* Guess there's always next week.
Twitter should be a priority. It's like first responder for your friends.
Glad everything turned out OK!
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