A 10 second glimpse into the life of a klutz

BestFriend called me back tonight when I was lying on my bed, on my back, with my laptop perched precariously on my legs.

I reached over to my left to grab my cell phone. Forgetting it was plugged in and charging, I picked it up briskly. Accidentally yanked the charger cord. Which was somehow tangled with my desk lamp cord. The pressure on this cord was too much for the lamp. It couldn't take it anymore and decided to jump off the desk. Fortunately, my bed caught it.

So I leaned over to return the desk lamp to its proper upright position when my laptop starts sliding off my supersmooth pajama pants. It had watched the acrobatic attempt of the desk lamp and decided it too wanted to join in the fun! Off to the floor!

Except that I caught the laptop with my right hand (momentarily abandoning the >$10 lamp) because my left hand was still holding onto the cell phone.

"Estrella? What are you doing?" (Note: Welcome, BestFriend, to WrappedinSong! This location has evolved from being a copycat of my older blog into the place where I prefer to share my favorite thoughts. Love you!)

"Um ... give me a moment," I managed to say, finally having the presence of mind to use both hands to rescue my belongings. I put the phone down, and the lamp sparked before going completely dark. I set my computer on my bed, propped up the lamp, and unplugged the phone so that I could talk with BestFriend while I rooted around in my closet for the extra light bulbs from the pack I'd bought a few weeks ago.

Sadly, the replacement bulb did not work. Inspection at the root of the lamp (where the cord is plugged in) and inspection at the outlet did not yield any helpful clues. The outlet still works.

(Alas, if this had been last year, I could have marched my lamp down the hall to the superloud football players and asked them to help me. After all, they helped me configure my VCR/TV - which I haven't figured out how to do yet this year- and they unscrewed the lids of my orange juice bottles when I couldn't open them this winter ... Being an RA had its perks ... but the apartment scene is a welcome change after living in a residence hall for four years.)