fajrdrako: (Default)
[personal profile] fajrdrako


First thing I remember this morning was hearing the birds start to sing when the sun came up. No one had covered the budgie cage last night, and I hadn't the energy to cross the living room to do it - I'm still sleeping on the sofa in the living room to coddle my broken foot, but crossing the room with my walker is an energetic and time-consuming project. So I just left the birds uncovered.

There was something out of doors chirping, a long, single drawn-out chirp that I haven't heard since last summer. Pretty. Then I realized that my budgies were trying to reply to that chirp, trying to respond with the same sound. It isn't in the least like a normal budgie chirp (if any budgie sound can be said to be 'normal') but I loved the way they were trying to say 'good morning' to our feathered neighbour.

Then at seven a.m. my alarm clock went off. Remember how I begged [livejournal.com profile] commodorified to unplug it yesterday? And she did. But this morning the alarm went off. Not my normal alarm, which is the CBC morning radio news - International news, always depressing, but bearable to listen to. No, this was the alternate alarm, a loud oscillating BEEP that would continue for two hours if unchecked.

I got my walker and hiked slowly into the bedroom to see if I could reach it to turn it off. Not a chance. I couldn't get within eight feet of it - it's on the other side of the queen-size bed.

I could tolerate two hours of CBC morning radio, no problem. This beep? Not a chance. So I phoned [livejournal.com profile] maaseru, who was asleep like all the good boys and girls.

"Help!" I screamed. "My sanity is at stake! You have to rescue me!"

So at 7 a.m. on a Sunday, [livejournal.com profile] maaseru got herself dressed and came down to my apartment and turned off the annoying beep. Yes, [livejournal.com profile] commodorified had already turned it off. And unplugged it. But there was an emergency battery there just in case the clock-radio should be accidentally unplugged... or in case of Armageddon.

Eep.

The device is the creation of some evil mastermind.

Luckily, [livejournal.com profile] maaseru was laughing when she arrived. Remember how I said she deserved the Nobel Prize? Now she deserves a prize so big I don't think they make them that grand.

Date: 2008-04-06 07:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] auriaephiala.livejournal.com
Funny thing is: when [livejournal.com profile] commodorified described pulling the plug on the radio, I thought to myself, I must check whether there's a battery in that radio (when I come over), so it doesn't get used up trying to keep the radio going. What I didn't realize is that it would actually run the alarm beeper! Shoulda realized that: silly me.

Date: 2008-04-06 07:57 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] commodorified.livejournal.com
*I* should have realised that. I SAW the battery!

(no subject)

From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com - Date: 2008-04-06 08:51 pm (UTC) - Expand

Date: 2008-04-06 08:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
I should have realized that too. But... I guess I am naive in the way of alarm clocks. I'd kick it, if it wouldn't hurt my foot.

Date: 2008-04-06 07:33 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] threeringedmoon.livejournal.com
What a friend!

Date: 2008-04-06 08:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
That's for sure.

Date: 2008-04-06 07:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mommimus-prime.livejournal.com
We have a clock radio that turns on after the power comes on during a power failure. It can be mighty strange to wake up in the middle of the night with the radio playing in the kitchen. And I don't blame you for not tolerating a beep. So annoying and hooray for such good friends.

Date: 2008-04-06 08:52 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
It can be mighty strange to wake up in the middle of the night with the radio playing in the kitchen.

I've had that happen - though not with this particular alarm. But it's startling, that "what is that?" moment when you hear a voice or music where you don't expect to find a voice or music.

Date: 2008-04-06 08:00 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dameruth.livejournal.com
Glad you're back home and on the mend! :)

Date: 2008-04-06 08:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
Thank you. Me too! I can at least read my LJ again. And watch DVDs. And read, theoretically, though I haven't managed to read much yet without snoozing.

Date: 2008-04-06 08:04 pm (UTC)
ext_6615: (Default)
From: [identity profile] janne-d.livejournal.com
*grins* Sounds like [livejournal.com profile] maaseru deserves the Nobel prize squared.

Do you have crutches as well as a walker?

Anyway, look on the bright side - now that you're home you can put your foot up and watch lots of Buffy. (That's usually what I do when I'm stuck being ill but not in bed).

Date: 2008-04-06 08:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
Sounds like maaseru deserves the Nobel prize squared.

She certainly does. I must think of something really special for her. I can't think what would be special enough.

Do you have crutches as well as a walker?

No, at present just a walker. I think the instability of crutches right now would be sort of scary, though I might like their handiness later. It's a rental so I can adjust as necessary.

now that you're home you can put your foot up and watch lots of Buffy.

And I no doubt will! First have to find a way to stay awake for a few hours at a time.

Date: 2008-04-06 11:08 pm (UTC)
gillo: (Default)
From: [personal profile] gillo
You are surrounded by heroines, clearly.

Date: 2008-04-07 03:16 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
Thank goodness for each one of them.

Date: 2008-04-06 11:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] monsieureden.livejournal.com
maaseru deserves to be sainted.. or knighted or something. :) Though I would like to think I would do the same if there wasn't an entire train ride between us.

Date: 2008-04-07 03:17 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
Aww, thanks so much for the thought - I'd love to have you help me with anything from desperately-needed breakfast to noise-rescue to (preferably) pleasant talk-and-watch-stuff time. Maybe someday! And more fun when I'm not immobilized.

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From: [identity profile] monsieureden.livejournal.com - Date: 2008-04-07 03:54 am (UTC) - Expand

Date: 2008-04-06 11:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ceruleancat.livejournal.com
Gods forbid you should sleep through Armageddon. It probably charges itself from the atmosphere when the battery is removed. Isn't there a 'no alarm' setting on this thing?

Indeed, you have brave and noble friends on hand.

Date: 2008-04-07 03:18 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
Isn't there a 'no alarm' setting on this thing?

That would be way too benign. We'll see what it decides to do to me tomorrow at 7 a.m. - before I pound it into dust with the sledgehammer I do not have.

(no subject)

From: [identity profile] walkingowl.livejournal.com - Date: 2008-04-07 04:03 am (UTC) - Expand

Date: 2008-04-06 11:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] iibnf.livejournal.com
Maaseru - when the revolution comes, she's first in line for cake!

Date: 2008-04-07 03:18 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
Cake! Good plan.

Date: 2008-04-07 03:39 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sparklebutch.livejournal.com
You have incredibly cool friends.

Date: 2008-04-07 03:53 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
I do, don't I? Wonderful people. I'm sure I don't deserve them. But I certainly would have done the same for [livejournal.com profile] maaseru, if our circumstances were reversed, so if intentions count, there's a balance.

(no subject)

From: [identity profile] sparklebutch.livejournal.com - Date: 2008-04-07 03:56 am (UTC) - Expand

Date: 2008-04-07 03:57 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] walkingowl.livejournal.com
Believe it or not, you are not the only one who's been unwillingly shagged by the back-up battery in an alarm clock.

Me: twice.

The first was my own fault. Well, also my fault that I'd broken my current alarm clock by kneeling on it (silly story, too bad I don't have the time!) and utterly had to get another one or else I would not wake up for work the next day. And it was December. And I work for the post office. Calling off or being late were not options. However, because it was indeed December, the local K-Mart was open 24 hours a day, and so off I went. They had exactly one style of alarm clock -- and it was a plug-in model. At the time, I lived in a very small town with intermittent and unpredictable electricity outages (usually only a few seconds long, but enough to reset one's VCR, microwave oven, and other electrical clocks). Thus, I'd had a battery-operated clock (till I knelt on it... silly story, no time right now to tell it). Reluctantly I took this clock home. Then I found that it had a battery inside, too, and I was pleased -- aha, if the power goes out, I'm still safe! (All the same, note to self: find another battery clock, fast.) So I sighed in relief and went to that exhausted place of sleep that only December-overtime-saturated postal workers (and new parents, and nurses on 12-hour shifts for weeks at a time) can experience. And the alarm got me awake at the proper time. And then I realized that it didn't have any kind of shut-off that I could find. Crap, forgot to add that it had two alarm settings, and that I'd set both of them, the second for one hour later, so that I could catch one last nap -- extended "snooze," if you will. However, when I was wakened, I found that I could not turn the first one off to get to the second one. Went nuts looking through the manual. Nothing. Made in China, btw (surprise). So I unplugged it.

At the time of the second alarm, I was called back into the bedroom. Hey, remember that battery?

And then I couldn't turn off the second one, either.

I took out the battery.

And, later, put it back in. At which point (a few hours later) the alarms went off again, on schedule.

The clock made a satisfying thump at the bottom of the dumpster, I'll have you know.

But the favorite one of these infernal items I have known is one that is identical to the one I now use, and which serves me faithfully indeed. I got it to carry with me in case I ever had three hours between classes and work, when I could find a spot and nap in my car. Alas, the clock got damaged in the bottom of my backpack through the months, and would not work right. Basically, when you turned it to "no alarm," the alarm would still go off. Even after I brought it back inside the house and looked it over and took things apart and put them back together, and thought it was fine, it kept doing this. So I disgustedly put it into my bathroom cabinet's top drawer... wheere it then rang the next day.

Add to this, without glasses on and barely awake, I could not pry the battery out of it! I had to go grab the tool that I'd been using to open paint cans, for some handywork projects. After that, this clock too made a satisfying thump in my wastebasket... and I still have the battery, in my bathroom cabinet; after all, the battery was still good, huh?

Sorry. Took too long. Next time I'll be succinct, I promise!

Lovely tale of the early-day budgie song-communion. Very sweet. What an amazing thing to have been able to witness.

(Your budgies may have seen you fall, do you realize? Do you think they noticed, or no?)

Date: 2008-04-07 07:06 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
If the budgies saw me fall, they probably think I should invest in some budgie wings - they never have a problem with falling. One flap and they're up again.

And just look at how tiny their ankles are - !

I'm listening to "The Glue" (http://www.myspace.com/thegluespace) on their myspace page and the budgies love it. Chirping very happily and loudly.

Loved your alarm clock stories. I think a lot of alarm clocks must suffer similar fates.... And they think they're only doing their job!

I wonder if Russell T. Davies has ever considered a Doctor Who story in which the evil alien invaders were alarm clocks.

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Date: 2008-04-07 05:07 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mmegaera.livejournal.com
You are bringing back memories of being immediately post-surgery on my shoulder two years ago.

Hang in there, kiddo, and, boy, am I glad you've got Nobel-deserving local friends. That sort of folks are worth their weight in platinum.

Date: 2008-04-07 07:07 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
You are bringing back memories of being immediately post-surgery on my shoulder two years ago.

Oh dear - that sounds like something better forgotten, I'd say! How much I will remember of this week in six months, I'm not sure. Sleeping, sleeping, and then sleeping some more.

Yup, my friends have been magnificent.

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From: [identity profile] mmegaera.livejournal.com - Date: 2008-04-08 02:12 am (UTC) - Expand

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From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com - Date: 2008-04-09 03:45 am (UTC) - Expand

sorry, needed to edit

From: [identity profile] mmegaera.livejournal.com - Date: 2008-04-09 04:35 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: sorry, needed to edit

From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com - Date: 2008-04-09 02:41 pm (UTC) - Expand

Re: sorry, needed to edit

From: [identity profile] mmegaera.livejournal.com - Date: 2008-04-09 05:50 pm (UTC) - Expand

Date: 2008-04-07 11:29 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wanderinunicorn.livejournal.com
I'm glad you have good friends who help you. Alarm clocks are wild beasts, very difficult to tame!

Date: 2008-04-07 07:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
Alarm clocks are scary things. I don't trust them. They lie in wait, plotting to attack Monday mornings. And then move the schedule forward to Sunday - !

Yes, I am feeling very, very grateful for my wonderful friends right now. I don't know what I'd do without them.

Date: 2008-04-07 11:52 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wanderinunicorn.livejournal.com

PS:I'm reading now "Disorderly Knights" - do you remember Dragut? He was born in Turkey in Turgutreis next to Bodrum. I was in Turgutreis about 15 years ago and I wondered at the name of the small city.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turgut_Reis

Date: 2008-04-07 07:56 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
I loved Dragut - one of the more interesting characters in the books - and of course, the times were full of interesting characters. How interesting to have been in Turgutries! I love the way history follows us through time, so that names and people and ideas are not forgotten.

Date: 2008-04-07 02:38 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] toraks.livejournal.com

Glad you have such great friends!! :-D

By the way, did you get the email I sent yesterday? I sent it to fajrdrako@livejournal.com, but I could have (should have?) looked up the address you use on the LMB list, probably. I sent you a small .jpg file. Nothing special. Let me know if you didn't get anything and I'll look up your email address and send it again!

Hope you're feeling good and relaxed at home with plenty of painkillers and fun stuff to watch on TV!!

Date: 2008-04-08 06:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
I don't see your email in my in-box, though I must confess that my inbox is a bit of a mess right now. (And I had it so nicely cleaned out before I was in the hospital - probably just as well!) My regular email address is azurite @ rogers . com if you want to try again.

Definitely relaxed - if I stop talking or moving, I fall asleep.

Plenty of painkillers - yes. Lots and lots.

Stuff to watch on TV - yes, I just have to stay awake long enough to watch it!

Date: 2008-04-08 03:44 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] of-too-minds.livejournal.com
Apparently the universe decided you were enjoying the chirping budgies too much, hence the godawful beeping. ;)

Glad you're home and in one piece with all bones correctly aligned.

And remember... painkillers are your friend.

*snuggles*

Date: 2008-04-08 04:54 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
remember... painkillers are your friend.

Big grin - so true!

And today, blessedly, nothing beeped or rang or spoke at 7 a.m. I was already awake anyway, but aah, the peace!

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