FIRE ENGINES. WEEEWOOOWEEEWOOO

So I had a really bad day Thursday. (Keep reading, this isn't a 'sad' blog. I'm going somewhere with this!)

I woke up in the morning for my prac (Chemistry in the laboratories) and my labcoat and safety glasses were not where I had left them. I've been driving my brother to school a lot lately so I had little time to look for it. (I later found it under two giant teddy bears I got for my birthday this year). Those who do pracs would know without a labcoat, glasses and appropriate shoes, you simply aren't allowed to participate. This results in a fail. (You may be able to reschedule but it's a hassle and I have no time for that.) I was really tired as well so I was freaking out, stressing, crying, angry. You know, the whole bit.

Anyway I texted a few friends and found I could hire the things I needed from uni for a fee. I had a feeling you could do this but I didn't want to rely on it, seeing as they may run out of lab coats etc... so I hired a ripped, stained labcoat which smelled of a thousand sweaty adolescent men. I got a pair of beaten-up lab glasses but it was better than nothing.

After my prac, I got on the bus an I felt awful. Nauseous. Very sick. I was actually getting worried as I began to grow more and more uncomfortable in my seat. All of a sudden, my stomach started to constrict and I started to gag and lurch etc. My body was trying to vomit but the person in front of me was wearing a nice hat so I didn't want to ruin it. Also the girl next to me would have been shocked. For the first time in my life, I was able to stop myself from violently vomiting. In the past I haven't been so lucky. After the incident, I was sweating and shaking the whole way home. I called my mum when I got off the bus and told her (because I didn't want to scare anyone around me. XD) I was terrified, I didn't know what was wrong with me. I was trying to think of all the reasons why I would be feeling this way. (Mum: "You're not pregnant are you?!") I hadn't eaten or had a drink all day. I hadn't had much sleep. I was stressed from the morning's incidents. The bus driver was driving like a formula 1 racer and I have a tendency to get car sick (but never that bad).

Then I remembered! In the labs I had been using a lot of chemicals with fumes. For some reason I could smell them strongly while others didn't notice. I also remembered that I'm pretty sensitive to fumes, as I can't use bleach often when cleaning because it makes me sick too. I flipped through my laboratory manual to find this:

ETHYL ACETATE: May be harmful by inhalation, ingestion or skin absorption. Prolonged exposure can cause: nausea, headache and vomiting and narcotic effect.
Inhalation: Vapours may cause drowsiness and dizziness.

Damn it, Chemistry! Why can't we just be friends?!

Anyway, something that day made everything all better. Well not really because I thought I was going to die but this was really nice. When I was waiting at my bus stop, there were some FIREMEN IN TOWN. Like, A LOT OF THEM. Hundreds! I don't know why they weren't out fighting fires, but they weren't. They weren't wearing their awesome uniforms, they were wearing police-like uniforms with "Fire Dept" on the side or something like that. There were a few near my bus stop, laughing and talking. There had obviously been some huge event or award ceremony or something. Next to me, there was a homeless man looking through a rubbish bin. In South Australia, if we take drink cans to the recycling dept. we get 10c for every can we recycle. This can add up. I've seen this man before, he seems to work very hard gathering cans to make money to live. He carts them around everywhere. He was looking through the bin next to me when a fireman started walking towards him with a big cardboard box. Inside the box was - what appeared to be - all the cans that they had gathered from the event they had just attended.
"Merry Christmas!" The fireman smiled.
The homeless man looked up at him, shocked. Everyone in the vicinity was smiling. There had to be at least $5-$10 worth of cans in there. That is a lot of cans.

Kinda restores your faith in humanity, doesn't it?

And firemen have always been freakin' awesome to me, so that's just made me love them even more. Omg.

Ojaye: I like these glasses. I want sunglasses like these but everyone has them. Heaps of people at uni wear them and I don't want them because of that.

Mum: It's about time you started to fit in. Don't worry about not wearing what everyone else is wearing... Remember when I told you when you were young to have your own style, don't wear what everyone else is, don't follow the crowd? I was lying. I only told you that to save money. You're a but embarassing to be around now, you should start trying to fit in more.