*Alarm Bells

2/3/25

Oh, hi!

I didn't see you there. Well, I didn't see you, and I don't see you. You know what else I didn't see? Any sort of emergency evacuation plan. There is a route on the inside of my door, but it didn't say where to go once you left the building. Usually they count everybody up and make sure that people aren't dead, which seems kind of silly in the middle of the day.

Our fire alarm went off on Saturday while I was listening to some Metro Boomin song I hadn't heard in a while. It fit so well with the song that I thought it was part of it. I was like, "dang, never heard somebody use an alarm as a hi-hat before, but it's kinda dope." Then the song ended, and I was like, "wait a minute," and some dude came running by all the doors, pounding on them and yelling "Everybody out!" I grabbed my backpack with the most expensive things I owned and walked outside. The door to my room had not been closed for more than 3 seconds before I realized that I'd left my keys inside.

Since I had never been told where to go, I went to the Cannon Center and waited there. I asked a girl at the front desk if I could get a key to my room. She asked for my number (not like that) and a kid standing next to me said, "Hold up, that's my room?" I told him that maybe he was my missing roommate. He said "Whoa, I don't have a roommate either!" He lives in Budge. Haven't seen him since.

The girl then asked me what my room number was and my building, then laughed when I repeated the information I had just said to the other kid. She went to go look for a key, came back, and said "We don't have a key for you. They're all checked out." I said that was weird since I am the only person in my room and I only have one key. She said "2117, right?" I said "no, 1217." She went back to look again and came back and said yeah, we don't have anything for 2117. I reminded her that it was 1217. She said "omg" and then went back to look for the key for the 3rd time. She came back with a key in hand, and said "this one was on the hook but it doesn't match the numbers it's supposed to have. You can try it," so I took it and left.

Surprise! It didn't work.

I didn't know who our RA was, but I was with another kid who let me in the building, so I asked him, and he pointed him out 'cause he happened to be walking by. He then opened my room with his key, I got mine, then returned the dumb key to the office. I also learned that someone had pulled the fire alarm earlier in the week at like 2 in the morning. I definitely didn't hear it, so I would be very dead if it were real. They're quiet in the rooms. Somehow I slept through it.

Okay, with that entire event in mind, rewind your mental picture to earlier that morning. I had just walked back from the bank and was about to cross Canyon Road when I noticed a police car in the southbound right lane stopping traffic. I thought, "how sad, someone must have been hit," but then I thought "why don't they just go around?" Then I realized: they were waiting in line for Swig. It was wrapped around the corner so I couldn't see how long the line was.

While I'm waiting for Office Girl to give me a dysfunctional key, my mom called. She was gonna pick me up and take me to Lindon so I could do my laundry (yes, I do my laundry at home because all but one here are broken). She called and said "Do you know why I can't turn onto Canyon Road? I've been stuck here for like 15 minutes. Is there a basketball game or something?" 

Can you see where this is going? I forgot for a second but then I remembered, so I told her. She just screamed into the phone. Office Girl nearly died laughing. She thought I was funny trying to soothe my mother's hatred for Utah caffeine penny-pinching. When we drove by on the way, the line was around the corner on Canyon Road and all the way down past Riviera, backing up right turn traffic on University. Why the police didn't say, "yeah no Swig for you bums keep driving" is beyond me. Turns out Swig was having a sale for soda starting at a dollar. It wasn't even free. You could earn more money in the time it would take to get to the front than you'd save waiting in that line. It was wild.

I watched the Grammy's. #ByeDrakeAubrey Also, bye-bye COIN.

I had a French test, which wasn't that bad. I'm doing alright at this whole French thing so far. Finally got some details on the study abroad I'm considering.

I left my Airpods at home, so I guess I'm music-free this week. I am also caffeine-free this week, because I think I might've inherited my mother's caffeine sensitivity, so I'm testing myself to see if my slight headaches disappear. I'm a little bit sickened, so the test may be postponed until later.

I just updated my blog with all these emails. I haven't decided if I want to write more there or not. I think I'm just gonna stick with email for now.

This week, I also learned that I am very lazy at work. More specifically, if I can find a way to prevent myself and others from doing future work, then I'm going to take the time to figure that out. I've been trying to automate a significant portion of my work using a Microsoft service called Power Automate, and I am fiiiinallly getting the hang of it. I'm learning so much about that thing because you have to know lots of different things, which I love doing.

"Jack of all trades, master of none" seems to be a pretty fitting theme for my personality. I could only remember the 'master of none' part, so I looked it up, and apparently the full quote paints me in a much more colorful light: "A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one." Boom. Get roasted, YoYo Ma. You may be so good at cello it can make a grown man cry, but can you explain what Compton Scattering is (not the gun kind) while doing tricks with DVD cases taped together and watching "The Dead Poets' Society"? Didn't freaking think so.

I guess I don't have much else this week. I've been thinking about our role as citizens of the United States. Some crazy things happened in Utah this week, of which I'm not a fan. I feel that it would be inappropriate to invoke any politics on these emails, but grrr am I tempted. Consider it a demonstration of how much I care for you, dear reader.

That's all from me.

-w cubed