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Jul. 10th, 2011 07:15 amBlowing the circuit my apartment is on (you heard me, the single circuit) is usually a punishment for gluttony, and always the start of A QUEST.
It's more complicated than this, but basically blowing the circuit is what happens when I have the laptop plugged into a kitchen outlet and I try to run the toaster oven and microwave at the same time, reheating various elements of dinner. It also only ever happens at half past oh god o'clock on the warmest Saturday night of the year. In this case I was making reheated pasta and leftover fries. Don't judge.
Last time I blew the circuit I didn't know what to do, so I spent a very uncomfortable night. This time I knew the steps, but it's like a video game walkthrough; it's never as easy as the guide makes it look.
Because you have to get to the circuit breaker, which is in the basement behind a locked door, and only one person in the building has keys to the circuit breaker, and that's the elderly, talkative, slightly-deaf Italian man whose actual front door is behind a locked vestibule door to which I do not have a key. Mr. G is actually super cool, but he might be older than God. He's a night-owl, so at least getting him to help me at midnight on a Saturday doesn't involve waking him up. Plus since last time I have given him A Boon (told you this was like a video game), letting him in when he locked himself out, so he likes me.
So here's the procedure: I turn on my fake electric lantern to get enough light to put on shoes and a shirt, double-check that I have my keys, and run downstairs and outside. Outside the gate, I press the buzzer for Mr. G's apartment, because I can't knock on his front door due to it being behind the locked vestibule door. Also the buzzer is guaranteed to get his attention since it drives his adorable but high-strung terrier MENTAL.
In theory, Mr. G activates the intercom, I explain the situation, and we fix it. In actuality, because this is A QUEST, Mr. G is not answering his buzzer. So I buzz once more, wait, check the back of the building to see if he's on his porch, come back around, try buzzing again, wonder briefly if he's died, wish I had a walkthrough guide for my life, do a quick check up and down the street to see if he's walking his dog, and finally see him coming oh-so-slowly back from buying groceries at the bodega. So I sit on the front stoop and play games on my phone until he arrives. Then I explain the situation, pet his dog while he gets the keys, and we descend to the basement to fix my broken circuit.
And then I come upstairs and sigh happily at the soft hum of the fridge kicking back on, which is like unlocking a prize or leveling up in a skill except it's a prize you already had and the skill is one you never use.
It's more complicated than this, but basically blowing the circuit is what happens when I have the laptop plugged into a kitchen outlet and I try to run the toaster oven and microwave at the same time, reheating various elements of dinner. It also only ever happens at half past oh god o'clock on the warmest Saturday night of the year. In this case I was making reheated pasta and leftover fries. Don't judge.
Last time I blew the circuit I didn't know what to do, so I spent a very uncomfortable night. This time I knew the steps, but it's like a video game walkthrough; it's never as easy as the guide makes it look.
Because you have to get to the circuit breaker, which is in the basement behind a locked door, and only one person in the building has keys to the circuit breaker, and that's the elderly, talkative, slightly-deaf Italian man whose actual front door is behind a locked vestibule door to which I do not have a key. Mr. G is actually super cool, but he might be older than God. He's a night-owl, so at least getting him to help me at midnight on a Saturday doesn't involve waking him up. Plus since last time I have given him A Boon (told you this was like a video game), letting him in when he locked himself out, so he likes me.
So here's the procedure: I turn on my fake electric lantern to get enough light to put on shoes and a shirt, double-check that I have my keys, and run downstairs and outside. Outside the gate, I press the buzzer for Mr. G's apartment, because I can't knock on his front door due to it being behind the locked vestibule door. Also the buzzer is guaranteed to get his attention since it drives his adorable but high-strung terrier MENTAL.
In theory, Mr. G activates the intercom, I explain the situation, and we fix it. In actuality, because this is A QUEST, Mr. G is not answering his buzzer. So I buzz once more, wait, check the back of the building to see if he's on his porch, come back around, try buzzing again, wonder briefly if he's died, wish I had a walkthrough guide for my life, do a quick check up and down the street to see if he's walking his dog, and finally see him coming oh-so-slowly back from buying groceries at the bodega. So I sit on the front stoop and play games on my phone until he arrives. Then I explain the situation, pet his dog while he gets the keys, and we descend to the basement to fix my broken circuit.
And then I come upstairs and sigh happily at the soft hum of the fridge kicking back on, which is like unlocking a prize or leveling up in a skill except it's a prize you already had and the skill is one you never use.
