i love firefighters.

Here’s a rough breakdown of my Sunday night:

4:35-ish: I arrive back home from a nice day out and about in the city.

4:40-ish: I realize that there is water dripping from my ceiling and onto my living room floor.

4:46: I call my landlord. No one answers, I leave a message.

4:47: I call my Mommy. She tells me to go talk to the neighbors upstairs.

4:50-5:02: Rose, my upstairs neighbor, shows me the insane water damage on her ceiling and tells me that she has been calling the management company (they are supposed to fix this sort of thing) since Wednesday night. She also tells me that there is also extensive water damage in the apartments on the 3rd and 4th floors.

5:04: I call my landlord again. He picks up. I give him the low-down, and he tells me that he will call the management company.

From about 5:15 until 8:00, I just putz around. I make myself some dinner, read the rest of the Sunday New York Times, do my laundry, and watch some Grey’s Anatomy. The whole time, the small bubble of water gathering under the plaster of my ceiling is expanding, and the amount of water collecting in a pot on my floor is growing.

8:00-ish: My roommate, Julia, returns. She views ceiling with horror, supplies towels to cover floor with.

9:00-ish: The plaster groans. Daryl and her sister return, the situation is explained. No one is pleased.

9:15-ish: A large chunk of plaster falls off the ceiling. All roommates freak out. Julia calls this "our very own Katrina."

9:25: I call my landlord again. He comes over to see what’s going on. He does basically everything we’ve already done – goes to talk to the neighbors, calls the management company again. By the time he leaves, water has started to seep into the kitchen ceiling, and is now dripping onto our refrigerator and stove.

10:35: A whole horde of firefighters show up at my door.

10:37: My landlord appears, and explains that he called them. He was worried about the electrical system shorting out due to water damage.

10:40-11:00: I discover I love firemen. They are so attractive in their flame retardant suits. They also break down a door in my basement and debate whether or not to turn off the water in the building. After a while they decide not to, and instead issue a violation order for my landlord to deliver to the management company. The firemen explain that if someone doesn’t come in 24 hours to fix the problem, we can issue a summons and sue the bastards. I am silently very grateful for the fact that both my landlord and my father are lawyers.

12:15 am: The head of the condo board shows up at my door. He wants to see the ceiling. He rants for five minutes about the incompetence of various incompetent people. I want to point out to him that I am in pajamas, and would like to go to bed. I don’t.

As of right now, I have no idea what the condition of my ceiling is, but I'm sleeping at my parents apartment tonight, and wrapping all my valuables in plastic bags.