Ramblings About My Life..

Damned Fire Drill!!

Just had a fire drill last week. The Residential Tutor for the Old Block (that's where my room is located) told us at the meeting a few weeks ago that the Hall would be conducting a fire drill soon. Just so we won't be burned to a crisp whilst languishing in our rooms when the fire alarm sounds the next time a conflagration gets out of control in our Hall. I think we were pretty cool about that, although we were rather riled by the fact that she just gave us a voucher for a free drink each even though she probably had enough to give us two each. The vouchers were the only reason we were there at the meeting in the first place anyway. But the Residential Tutor for Jonas Court gave out two vouchers to each person who attended his meeting! I think perhaps she was just saving them for herself when she decides to change her blood composition to an ethanol-based fluid.

Two weeks passed with the fire alarm silent. Nary a hiccup was heard from it (unlike in Ranmoor, where people open fire doors just to set off the fire alarms as a source of amusement - they have a false alarm every week or so). Then, just a day after the night at Gatecrasher, the fire alarm went off. Just when I thought I could catch up on my sleep. Just when I was having a sore throat. Just my damned luck. The alarms went off at 6.30am and I practically shot out of my bed. I thought my alarm clock went off! Then I saw the time and I was like, bloody hell, you chose to ring NOW? I put on a jacket over my pajamas and went out of my room in my slippers. On my way out, I knocked on Wei Jin's door to ensure that he woke up (people would be checking to see if we heeded the alarm, and if we didn't, the drill would be repeated again and I wanted that as badly as I want to have a lobotomy).

When he finally appeared, we went down the stairs, and all the way out of the hall via a connecting corridor. Incidentally, there's a fire exit at the bottom of the stairs nearest to my room, but for reasons incomprehensible to me, it was padlocked. Oh yeah, I'm sure the fire will be considerate enough to not burn in the connecting corridors and let us take the long way out instead of the direct route. They should at least make this fire drill realistic and let us take the routes we would normally use in an emergency, right? I seriously don't know what went on in their minds when they locked it. Once outside, we met up with Mark and began walking to the carpark. The morning air was piercingly cold and I instantly regretted my decision to just wear a jacket over my pajamas and slippers. But some Hall residents went down in just T-shirts and shorts. Some even wore singlets. A guy even came down not wearing his shirt - what the hell?! Is their skin made of a hyperinsulating material? Mine seems to be thermally inefficient as I can freeze to death in around 30 seconds if I go out in just a T-shirt and shorts!

After that, we had to endure a half-hour talk on goodness-knows-what-I-wasn't-listening before we were allowed back into our rooms! When I got back into my room, I discovered that it was too late to continue sleeping and too early to take a bath. Hence, I spent the next half-hour hugging my room's heater trying to return some heat back into my body. By the time I went down for breakfast, I was feeling terrible. My sore throat was much worse than before and my nose suddenly had a case of identity loss and decided that it was a tap. The weather was horrendous as well and I went to my lectures feeling incredibly miserable - what a sucky start to a day. Now the sore throat is gone, thanks to the gallons of water I pour down my throat each day - but the runny nose is decidedly stubborn and refuses to abate despite the help of Clarinase and vitamin C.

Could You please make the weather here a little more sunny - all clouds and drizzle isn't helping at all! And while You're at it, could you please stop the wind for oh, say, two weeks? I can't talk properly with my nasal cavity stuffed with mucus - it's annoying as hell! And the unsightly facade and noise of me blowing continuously into my hankerchief - I'm sure You'll understand!

I hate fire drills!!!

posted by yong chen @ 7:46 PM