When I spoke to my parents last night, they both told me to "get a good night's rest." Unfortunately, this was impossible, because of a telling and typical Daniels Hall moment.
I went to bed around 11, like usual, but I was rudely awakened at 2:45 by the fire alarm. After changing from the booty shorts I wore to bed into some pj pants, I grabbed my ID and was out the door (this sounds like superfluous detail, but believe me, it is not).
All 800 residents piled out of the hall and onto the front lawn, where the rumor mills had everyone informed within five minutes. Apparently, several residents on one of the floors had deployed fire extinguishers. This, while being dumb (and illegal! There was no fire!) set off the fire alarms, and that's why we found ourselves outside.
It had rained during the beginning of the night, so the grass was damp but we all sat/lay down out of exhaustion. It WAS pretty exciting-- the firemen came, put on all their gear and explored the floor! Three police cars showed up to interview suspects! But the whole process was backwards and sitting outside in your pjs on the damp grass at 3 a.m. is not anyone's favorite thing.
For a while, they weren't going to let anyone back inside the building until the residents 'fessed up, but this (to no one's surprise) proved uneffective. The delay between the residents arriving outside and the staff realizing what had happened was long enough for anyone guilty to wander away. So, cranky and sleepy we all waited outside for some conclusion to be reached.
This was when I noticed my most recent admirer. This may sound a bit egotistical, but there have been many of them. Unfortunately, I am attractive to the strangest and most socially awkward people ever (some balance between looking approachable and not looking unattainable, I don't know). Now, this guy had started several awkward interactions with me, but I was trying to look at them as coincidences. Now, sitting outside without a bra on (but thankfully, wearing pants!) I noticed that he was lurking and watching me. "Ashleeeeey!" I hissed. "Shhh," she tried to soothe me, to no avail.
I ignored it until 4 a.m. when the staff decided to detain only residents from the floor in question, while admonishing "No one even TRY to go into that floor." As the crowd lurched forward I noticed my new admirer directly behind me. I snuck in front of my roommate to gain some distance, but every way I tried to evade him, he got close to me again.
When we got inside, we saw that the elevators were back to normal, and residents from the higher floors were waiting to ride them up. I sustained the false hope that my new admirer would wait for an elevator, but he chose to climb the stairs. I hurried upward to my floor, trying to stay several flights ahead of him. I dashed into the hallway and ducked into my room. "That was so creepy!" I said, and after catching my breath, I walked to the bathroom. After peeing (something I'd been waiting to do for over an hour), I realized I didn't have my toothbrush, so I went back into the room to grab it. As I exited my room, my admirer popped out of the men's bathroom door (conveniently located next to my room) and awkwardly tried to block my path while making eye contact.
Yes, that's right. Not only did he stare at me for an hour, chase me up the stairs and know what floor I live on, he lay in wait for me at the bathroom door closest to my room. This suggests a deeper stalking than I really want to admit.