There’s a pattern in my life and I’m not sure how to interpret it, so let’s dissect the research.
#1. I started at my current day job in February 2007. Two weeks later, someone was using the kitchen’s stove top and mid-burger, smoke smoke smoke, and all the fire doors slammed shut. The entire building had to be evacuated. As everyone gathered outside, one name was whispered over and over again. It was a unisex name, but traditionally more female than male. As as people’s voices repeated the name (with annoyance, with non-surprise, with humor) and as they got louder to be heard over the fire engines, a man walked out wearing a sheepish expression. I got my first introduction to that editor and his brilliant, yet distracted, mind.
#2. I moved to an apartment in May 2010. A week later, at 3am, I woke to red/white lights pouring in through my bedroom window. The scary part was I couldn’t hear the fire alarm going off with my bedroom door closed. The not-scary part was it was unintentionally tripped and me not evacuating was a non-issue. I mean, sort of. The also not-scary part was I lived on the first floor and could have easily climbed out the side window which overlooked a parking lot. Lots of cars to stand on / ease the transition from apartment to outdoors. The scary part was my landlord was a slumlord and didn’t seem to care I couldn’t hear the hallway alarm if my door was closed. I never slept with my bedroom door closed again.
#3. I moved to a new apartment in April 2015. The steady beep-beep-beep of a smoke alarm cut through my unpacking. I poked my head into the hall to see my super walk by. Yes! I moved away from a slumlord and moved in next to the super for my building. He took care of the situation before it escalated. I was able to unpack without any interruptions or further high pitched sounds.
The alarms seem to be happening sooner and sooner after my moves + they’re losing steam from event to event + things supposedly happen in threes = I should be all set with this side effect of my life. Agreed? What else could this be saying about me? Do you have any unusual patterns in your life?
Abigail Mumford 