how a broken lock in prague in july woke up my housemates with a singing answering machine in new jersey in november

this post is dedicated to the idea of chaos -- the concept most often illustrated by the fact that a butterfly flapping its wings can make for a tornado weeks later halfway around the world.

except in my story, the "butterfly" is a lock, and the end result is not a tornado. this is a true story of cause and effect, as best as i can put it together. events are presented in the order i was made aware of them. i think it makes for an excellent story -- what do you think?

monday night, midnight:
i come home after being out and about since 9:30am. the house is dark, but both my housemates' cars are parked nearby. assuming that they are asleep, i attempt to open the front door and go to my room as quietly as possible.

problem. i unlock the door, only to discover that it is chained from the inside.
strategy 1: reach my hand inside the crack in the door and try to undo the chain. (un) forunately, the chain does as it is supposed to. my arm is not small enough or flexible enough to unchain the door from the outside
strategy 2: knock on the door. hopefully colleen and leigh haven't been asleep for too long, and one of them will hear and let me in.... wait, again no success.
strategy 3: doorbell. same result as strategy 2.
strategy 4: call home phone. when answering machine picks up, yell into it until someone lets me in.

luckily, leigh came downstairs half asleep and let me in the house so that i didn't have to resort to strategy 5. (wouldn't you like to know...)

tuesday, 5pm
colleen comes into my room to apologize for locking me out the previous night.

she explains
"when i came home at 11pm last night, your door was shut, which usually means you're in your room. i assumed that meant you were home, so i chained the door."

my response:
"dude, i left the house at 9:30am and left my door open. when i came back at midnight my door was open. i wonder how/why it was shut?"

colleen:
"i don't think i was imagining things, but go figure. either way, it wasn't on purpose"

me:
"i don't think you're crazy. i just know i left my door open, and found it open... then again, last night, when i got back, i noticed the pillows on my bed were rearranged too. but who would have been in my room and why?"

tuesday, 7pm
leigh comes into my room, and mentions
"so your alarm went off around 9pm last night and i don't know why, just thought you should know so it doesn't spook you later if it does it again."

tuesday, 9pm
(after some thought)
me:
"leigh, what did you do when the alarm went off last night?"

leigh:
"well it was your little travel alarm. i picked it up and couldn't figure out how to shut it off, so i buried it under the pillows of your bed and shut the door so i could ignore it. i remembered to put it back and open your door again just before i went to bed."

ah ha! that's one mystery solved.

so now, i bet you're wondering what this has to do with prague and july... so far this is a 3 hour story from monday night, but prague is really there..... here goes.

my travel alarm is a piece of crap. i bought it just before my trip to europe in july. during my time in prague, one of my REU students came back to the czech dorm one night, and was unable to open her dorm room. the lock was completly busted and her key was stuck in the door, so she had to sleep elsewhere without any of her stuff for 2 nights. i offered that she could borrow my alarm clock. i hand her the clock, explaining to be nice to it because it's cheap, as she simultanously completely pulls out the button that turns on/off the alarm. so much for that working anymore. this is why leigh could not turn it off, (because there's no button on it, not because she is technologically challenged.) the alarm fell to the floor monday morning while i was getting ready, which apparently jarred it enough to make it go off while leigh was home alone and there you have it.

so. to review:
the cause and effect goes something like this:
* prague, july, my student's dorm room lock busts
* student borrows and prompty breaks my alarm clock
* months later in new jersey in november, i knock same broken alarm clock off the shelf
* that night, having been jarred, the alarm goes off and annoys leigh
* leigh tries to shut off the alarm, but for obvious reasons (i.e. there is no on/off button) fails
* in a fit of rage, leigh throws the alarm under the massive stack of pillows on my bed, and shuts my bedroom door
* colleen comes home and sees the shut door, so she logically assumes i'm home and locks me out
* i arrive home to find myself locked out, and as a last resort end up singing to my sleeping roommates via the answering machine while standing in the front yard wishing to get inside.

life is funny sometimes...

the end.