Anybody got a fire extinguisher?

(This is a slightly edited repost from an article I originally wrote 01/29/02 for The Western Front)


It's funny how a little thing like a house fire can put things in perspective.

Well that's just what happened to me last week. A house fire, in which the cause was not determined.

Nothing too big, just five fire engines, an ambulance and the battalion commander.

I kept the whole sight of firefighters strolling into my humble abode, pick-axes and chainsaws in hand, at bay by focusing on the real tragedy.

The tacos.

My roommate came home earlier that night and decided to fix dinner for the roommates, a rare, but nice event.

Just as we began to sit down to our delectable Tex-Mex feast, we realized that the smoke in the house wasn't from the carbonized taco shells left in the oven.

An hour or so later, the fire department deemed the structure relatively safe and we returned to our home, minus a front porch.

But most of all we returned to our waiting, yet very cold, tacos.

At first I was weirded-out, but then I realized it really wasn't that bad.

You've gotta love your life when the biggest tragedy you can imagine is letting your tacos get cold.

The important thing was that no one was hurt.

Keeping things in perspective can be a daunting task. Especially for students who are getting their first taste of independence in the somewhat real world.

It's a good thing this happened to me right now.

Not because I want to give even more of my hard-earned money to the landlord, but because I'm graduating and getting ready to move into a world that isn't underwritten by financial aid.

It may seem odd for the guy who argued for Abercrombie and Fitch downtown, against Martin Luther King Day and is a self-proclaimed wise-ass to discuss the merits of all things immaterial, but I am.

Call me crazy, almost having your house burn down tends to make one a little introspective.

I began to think about what would happen if I had lost all of my stuff and the stuff I had worked so hard to accumulate over the past few years. The resounding answer I found myself uttering was, "Nothing."

It's easy to get wrapped-up in all things unimportant.

When we are engrossed in trivial matters it becomes easy to see how little things can be blown out of proportion.

The success of shows like "Friends" and "Seinfield," illustrate this point.

The real world will always be there. Don't be in such a hurry to be a grown-up.

Take time to smell the roses and play a couple rounds of Frisbee golf. You've got the rest of your life to fret over bills, work and how the kids are getting home from soccer practice.

Enjoy freedom while you can.

Nonetheless, the real world cometh and the high-and-mighty Western Front columnist must leave his throne and bid his home and homies adieu.

A friend of mine in high school had a senior quote that read, "Five years are better than four."


There's some truth to that.

It's a little disconcerting when the department secretary and numerous professors see you and ask, "Are you still here?" But when weighed against parking cars for a living or working at Haggen, school is pretty damn cool.

So I continue on the odyssey of the one who is Homer having had a few revelations.

God bless The Beaver Inn. Downtown is even more worthless than Valentine's Day. President Bush is a moron and buses rule.

I leave you with these parting words, borrowed from Adam Sandler in "Billy Madison":
"Stay here. Stay as long as you can. For the love of God, cherish it."


Note: There may be an updated version of this commentary in the mix. But I was reminded of the column this morning as I was sitting on the sidewalk during not one, but two false fire alarms at 3 and 4 AM. The sentiment rang as true this morning as it did six years ago...I used to be smart or something.