what i did this weekend...

Looks like they've finally closed down that illegal off-market Red Bull lab - where gallons of energy drink are cooked up in the bathtub.

But, no. That padlock is on my apartment door and there's actually two of them.

Here's what happened:

On Saturday night, my friend Gretl was over, we were about to leave the house for a party in Manhattan and were dressed to go out. She wore a cocktail dress, fishnets and heels. I wore a denim skirt, halter top, fishnets and heels. Suddenly there was banging on the door, firefighters and black smoke filled the hallway, the apartment across the hall was on fire. Gretl scooped up Lulu and we wrangeld her into her carrier. By this time, it was too late to use the stairs so we had to go through the fire escape in the back. I've never been on the fire escape before. I have a serious fear of heights and I was fine until we got to the second-floor landing but I could not bear to take the rickety, insecure-looking ladder down to the ground. Gretl made it like a pro fishnets and all. She even climbed up again to get Lulu safely down. I tried to climb down the ladder and was seized by fear - I'm such a whimp!

A hero firefighter came to save me, letting me in one of the windows on the second floor. Our heroes were able to put out the fire and my neighbors and I stood on the street and watched as the windows (frames and all) of the flaming apartment were completely removed giving the building a bombed-out look. This was quite surreal.

When I was able to return to my apartment, I noticed my door had been busted, the frame broken and part of the wall missing. I guess they were checking to see if the fire had spread into my place. Luckily, it had not.

Anyway, since the locks on my door no longer work, I was given the padlocks as a temporary replacement until the insurance inspectors come and check out the situation or something. I'm not completely sure how these things work but I was told this is what needed to be done. Still not sure the cause of the fire, but no one was hurt, all humans and animals in the building are safe and grateful.

Spent most of Sunday trying to make up for lost sleep, both from Satrday night and the last few weeks of partial insomnia. I was not successful. Last night's ATOMIC was great. Fabulous readings by Tony O'Neill, Michelle Wildgen and Christine Hamm. A very nice end to a very stressful weekend.