Saturday, April 15, 2006
A Day in the Life of Hilda
1st March 2005
“Oh sheez, I forgot to jot down notes from the patients’ medical files. Again.”
Dragging my feet, I emerged from the research office and began to ascend the stairs, leaving my bag containing my wallet, hp, keys and basically everything else that I carry around other than my skin in the research office. Some "kind" soul came in and err locked up the place, leaving me with just a tiny problem-- Hilda locked out of office and everything Hilda owns locked in. I didn't panic at first but calmly and rationally approached the first course of action.
Security desk downstairs must have the key.
"Excuse me, I just locked myself out of the 3rd floor research office, could you please unlock it for me?"
"Sorry, we don't have the key to that office, but we can ask domestics" Call was made.
"Err, really sorry, but domestics say they don't clean the place so they don't have the key."
Err right. I pat my chest to make sure my heart is still in there coz I can feel it beating in my feet.
" Well, I suppose we could always call the maintenance guys and they'll come and bust the lock", Mr Security helpfully offers.
Right, and get me dismembered by all other users of the office and hung from the door frame by my toenails as a future warning to all who might venture forth from the research office without keys .
Optimism is a learned response from the millions of times I've gotten myself in brilliant, supposedly once-in-a-lifetime fixes. It's okay, Hilda, it's okay. Breathe... You can always call home to see if your housemate is home, right? Then if she is you can just walk home... I almost begin to feel better until I realise I don't have a coat on. I have on a spandex blouse, a paper thin cardigan and my skin to protect me from the 0 degree wind outside.
Rrright, Hilda. No, don’t breathe. No, it is not okay. Yes, bloody PANIC!
I think there’s no other time I prayed as hard as when I ascended the stairs to make a bee line for the phone in the stroke ward. I dialled home and waited, my heart sinking lower with each consecutive ring. Finally, God heard my prayer.
“Hello?”
Oh my gosh… the relief that washed over me was indescribable. “Ahh, lang loi ah… wah lang loi. Aiyoh, Xie tian xie di you’re home man…otherwise I really wu jia ke gui already. So heng man…” relief took the form of uncontrollable babbling.
I walked out of the building sans coat, hat or wallet. Arriving at the bus stop, I checked the timetable and was beside myself to discover that the next bus was due in 5 minutes. And as I waited at the bus stop, every shivering cell in my body willed that bus to appear.It did-- 20 minutes later when my teeth had almost been ground down to nothing with all that chattering.
You know, they say, Murphy's Law, whenever tried and tested, invariably holds true. And boy, am I now a firm believer of that one.
“Oh sheez, I forgot to jot down notes from the patients’ medical files. Again.”
Dragging my feet, I emerged from the research office and began to ascend the stairs, leaving my bag containing my wallet, hp, keys and basically everything else that I carry around other than my skin in the research office. Some "kind" soul came in and err locked up the place, leaving me with just a tiny problem-- Hilda locked out of office and everything Hilda owns locked in. I didn't panic at first but calmly and rationally approached the first course of action.
Security desk downstairs must have the key.
"Excuse me, I just locked myself out of the 3rd floor research office, could you please unlock it for me?"
"Sorry, we don't have the key to that office, but we can ask domestics" Call was made.
"Err, really sorry, but domestics say they don't clean the place so they don't have the key."
Err right. I pat my chest to make sure my heart is still in there coz I can feel it beating in my feet.
" Well, I suppose we could always call the maintenance guys and they'll come and bust the lock", Mr Security helpfully offers.
Right, and get me dismembered by all other users of the office and hung from the door frame by my toenails as a future warning to all who might venture forth from the research office without keys .
Optimism is a learned response from the millions of times I've gotten myself in brilliant, supposedly once-in-a-lifetime fixes. It's okay, Hilda, it's okay. Breathe... You can always call home to see if your housemate is home, right? Then if she is you can just walk home... I almost begin to feel better until I realise I don't have a coat on. I have on a spandex blouse, a paper thin cardigan and my skin to protect me from the 0 degree wind outside.
Rrright, Hilda. No, don’t breathe. No, it is not okay. Yes, bloody PANIC!
I think there’s no other time I prayed as hard as when I ascended the stairs to make a bee line for the phone in the stroke ward. I dialled home and waited, my heart sinking lower with each consecutive ring. Finally, God heard my prayer.
“Hello?”
Oh my gosh… the relief that washed over me was indescribable. “Ahh, lang loi ah… wah lang loi. Aiyoh, Xie tian xie di you’re home man…otherwise I really wu jia ke gui already. So heng man…” relief took the form of uncontrollable babbling.
I walked out of the building sans coat, hat or wallet. Arriving at the bus stop, I checked the timetable and was beside myself to discover that the next bus was due in 5 minutes. And as I waited at the bus stop, every shivering cell in my body willed that bus to appear.It did-- 20 minutes later when my teeth had almost been ground down to nothing with all that chattering.
You know, they say, Murphy's Law, whenever tried and tested, invariably holds true. And boy, am I now a firm believer of that one.
# posted by H : 3:15 AM
