this is not a test

This morning I woke up very early to the sound of an alarm going off. I slapped at the snooze button and was surprised when the buzzing continued. I was even more surprised to see the time read 6:50am. I had set it for 8:00am. Yet there was loud buzzing and it continued despite turning off the alarm. I opened the door to my room to find blinking lights from the fire alarm to accompany the loud noise. My suitemate joined me in the hall as we determined whether we actually need to vacate the building. Downstairs we could hear a ringing, much like when an unauthorized door has been opened. We concluded that this was not an emergency and each returned to our beds. Shortly thereafter, the noise ceased until my real alarm sounded to wake me at the appropriate hour.
Tonight I was watching a movie, getting ready to join a suitemate to watch an episode of Sex and the City, when I heard a very familiar alarm going off. Once again, I chose to ignore it. But then there was a knock on my door, and another suitemate informed that this was, in fact a drill. As the three of us exited we passed lots of firemen going into the building we were leaving. This alone made the evacuation worth it. NYC firemen, like most firemen, are hot.
We crossed the street to join the gathering crowd of people. And we waited. As you would expect when you have a large group of people, the story of what actually happened began to spread. One suitemate and I found ourselves next to a girl who lived on the floor that caused the whole fire alarm to sound in the first place. Turns out there was smoke and a fire. This was not a test. This was not a drill. There had been an actual fire! Thank goodness all those good-looking firemen were able to save the day.
After about 30 minutes of excitement we were able to return to our rooms. I missed Sex and the City, but my own story is nearly as fabulous.