Let's See What Else I Can Destroy

How would you spend the evening of the day you possibly ruined expensive granite countertops?

a. With a large glass of wine.
b. Out of the house, for fear of making another careless move.
c. Watching the dining room table flame, and gingerly stepping around broken glass.

If you picked c, you have my sort of luck.

When we moved into this house our landlord offered us her dining room set. Wonderfully generous of her. Very lucky for us.

I have been enjoying the dining room table as my home office where I apply for jobs, scour craigslist for used household goods, keep up on Facebook, and write this blog.

I was writing this blog just 20 minutes ago when one of the lightbulbs in the fixture above me exploded. It dropped to the table and shattered into dust, except for the electrical parts which were flaming.

Here I sat with my laptop in front of me, a milkshake to my left (blackberry - has fruit in it) and a table that is not mine on fire in front of me.

I did not act quickly. I sort of froze in moment. Do I throw something on the flame? All I had was milkshake and paper. Paper was an obvious no. Milkshake seemed like a bad idea since it's a nice wood table. Do I try to move something or touch something with my hands? Instinct told me no. In fact, instinct told me to stare in disbelieve, stand up in my bare feet, say "oh my god" a lot followed by a bunch of bad words.

Ultimately the flames sort of burned themselves out, without catching anything new on fire. I put on my shoes, moved the milkshake and paper away, and then swept up the mess. All that remains now is a bag of broken glass, and two dime-size black burn marks on my landlord's dining room table.

It's been a day.

Jenni's destructive path: 2
Jenni's sanity and confidence: 0