deja vu

i was roused out of my much-needed sleep around 5:30 this morning when our fire alarm went off. i thought at first it was just my cell's alarm but i realized when i was fully awake that it was much louder.

i rushed out of bed and checked out where the alarm was coming. i opened our door to see my neighbors doing just the same. we called our building's emergency after-hours number, which apparently is not located in the same city, probably not even in the same state. with the alarm blaring, the lady on the other end of the line took her sweet time, she asked for my name, my last name (how do you spell that sir?), my contact number (is this a cell phone or a landline?) and some other stuff i was so tempted to snap at her. thank god i didn't see any smoke. i would've barked at her like crazy.

my housemate called the guardhouse and he told us to evacuate. which we did, in less than two minutes. passport, wallet, phone, ipod, some cash, keys, a bottle of water. check. a few steps away from our door, i retreated. i forgot something. my camera.

it was breezing cold, maybe low 30s, and together with some neighbors i haven't seen ever, we waited by the curbside as the firemen and paramedics arrived. after about ten minutes, they asked us to go back in.

since our adrenaline was pumped up, and it was around 6ish by this point, there was no reason to go back to sleep. roomie cooked breakfast, i cooked rice and for the first time in months, we had rice for breakfast.

this episode reminded me of london last year, when around 3 or 4 in the morning, the fire alarm at the hotel we were staying in went off and there was smoke in the hallways. we were evacuated and stayed outside for almost an hour. the culprit? some guy went to the common pantry and microwaved pizza. instead of 2 minutes, investigators say he probably keyed in more zeros than needed. as fate would have it, his drunken ass fell asleep.

this time, the alarm was caused by someone who was cooking breakfast. they burned whatever they were cooking, and instead of opening the windows, they opened the door, smoke and heat escaped and went through the hallways, setting of the entire building's alarm.

how did i find out? the lady who was asking me all the details earlier called back. she asked how we were doing and told us what happened.