today started out like ever other day. boring. blah. well, actually started out with a phone call from dad, but that's pretty much the epitome of boring. blah. in any case, i was actually complaining once more about my boredom, surprise surprise, when morat commented that i shouldn't complain. boredom is better than alternating anguish and despair. he said something to that effect, anyhow. well, this of course turned out to be true, and only an hour or so later i was sincerely wishing for my boredom to return.

it started thundering rather noticeably, so i decided i should get offline. i shut off the computer, then i ran to get legend back inside, since it had started to rain. "rain," i thought. "ok, we could use some rain. no biggie." i noticed that the rain started to pick up significantly. didn't think terribly much of it. noted that the window was slightly open and made an effort to close it better since the table had a little mist on it. *shrug* i was about to go and lie down on debi's air mattress in the living room and start reading, when things became a bit more urgent.

it's not too long before i note that the rain is coming down with incredible speed. a torrential downpour. i might say it'd qualify as a flash flood considering drainage didn't seem to work too well... which meant that all of a sudden we had a significant amount of water coming in *under* our window. the frame doesn't seal entirely, it seems. i'm frantic and panicking. i run and grab a trash can and stick it under one of the worst places by the window and run around like a headless chicken. meanwhile, legend is out, and he's running around, too, and everywhere i want to run to he seems to already be there. i think i inadvertently smacked him around a bit, actually. i ran into him directly at least twice.

meanwhile, the water was just pouring in from all three or so feet of the window ledge, and it seemed there wasn't much i could do about it. i shut legend up in his cage and i ran for the bathroom to get another garbage can. then i started frantically removing things from the table and floor near the window, and desperately looked for rob's number, only to remember that i couldn't call anyhow since debi has no long distance. yes, slc is long distance. *lame*.

i put down the phone and run and get a towel and start soaking up the water on the floor and wringing out the towel into the garbage can. after about five minutes the ten gallon kitchen garbage can was filled and i realized a slight flaw in my planning--i couldn't lift it when it was full. at this point you can see the water is actually building up outside in the window well, and it's up at least six inches. i run and get the other, smaller garbage can and start using that to bail out the larger can. i'm running around like a lunatic, dumping water in the sink, in the bathtub... meanwhile, half the kitchen sink won't drain. argh.

so after about ten minutes things slowed down a bit, and i just attempted to towel up what i could. this eliminated the pool of standing water, but left the carpet in such a condition that i get mini pools of water wherever my foot is. i gave up on the toweling bit after a while, as it didn't seem to be getting anywhere, and took the chance of signing online for a bit to email to rob's cell phone a cry for help.

after all of that i just looked at the mess, sighed deeply, got out a book, and waited by the phone. took at least forty minutes for debi to call me, i think, and then came the fun part with calling the landlord and all of that. by the end of the night the landlord and his brother dropped by (and both got attacked by legend. darn it, contain yourself, nutcase puppy!) and evaluated the situation. apparently we may well have emergency carpet cleaning going on tomorrow, as the landlord would rather pay for that than a whole new carpet. leaving the carpet in this state would guarantee mildew. copious amounts of mildew, actually. *sigh* one wonders what time i'll be up tomorrow with foreign invaders and vacuums and other such exotic tortures.

well, it's interesting to see what i do under panic situations. this time i was getting really anxious and a bit shaky, but constantly reassuring myself that i was doing well under the circumstances, and my wasn't i clever to stick that garbage pail under the heaviest leak? i'm too funny. i need to reassure myself in order to keep going, it seems. i get through awful situations by telling myself that other people wouldn't do as well and i'm being Awfully Clever. not that i believe it, really, but it makes me continue on, i think.

in any case, i'm hoping this all gets resolved quickly tomorrow, and that i can get back to normalcy. this is sort of surreal. every time i walk over to the kitchen, i go through a mini morass to get there. plus legend keeps drinking the carpet. it's all vaguely unnerving.

in any case, it's late, and i should get to bed so i can deal with whatever intruders may come tomorrow. *yaaawwwn* g'night.
posted by Unknown at 1:56 AM