this is why women go to the bathroom in groups

opthamologist appointment rescheduled for next week, disappointing! had a fun time last night, met up with some of the older RPI arch. grads at Ear Inn, had a couple of drinks and caught up, then hopped on over to chinatown to meet up with Jen for the Teabag Variety Hour (haha, very funny). we went to watch one of her friends, Taiyo, perform an acoustic set. he's so super talent, an amazing singer.

an exciting story from that night: during one of the opening acts, i went to use the bathroom only to find that the person who used it before me hadn't flushed completely and a wad of toilet paper was sitting right at the very bottom of the bowl. not paying much more attention to it, i use the bathroom and i flush... and the water starts to rise. in a panic, i thought the toilet might overflow, so i grabbed the plunger and attempted to fish out the rapidly wet and melting toilet paper that i had used... unsuccessfully. when the water didnt look like it would stop flowing, i started to plunge away, only to splash water all over the floor. the puddle around me was getting bigger and bigger, and my sandal-clad feet, refusing to get wet, caused me to move my lower half further away from the bowl, but still keeping my upper half over the tank. i struggle to remove the tank lid, tip-toed and hovered over the toilet. having some experience from toilet flushing trouble at the old house in troy, i stuck my hand in the tank, lifted up one of the metal pieces, and breathed a sigh of relief when the water stopped.

so if you can imagine me now, im on my tippy toes, my feet are about 2 feet away from the toilet bowl, im leaned over with my hand in the tank, and if i move, if i attempt to take my hand out of the tank, the water will continue to overflow. the door is too far away for me to reach with my other hand...im trapped! and then i had a super-smart "i-ate-my-healthy-breakfast-this-morning-and-maybe-a-mentos" moment, and with my free hand, i grabbed the plunger, wedged it under the metal piece i was holding up in the tank, put the tank lid over it to hold it in place, and slowly backed away. whew! i felt like the james bond of toilets or something. anyways, so i run out of the bathroom and pretended nothing happened.

ok, just kidding. thats what i wanted to do. but i left the room, and went to get one of the employees to check it out. i led them to the bathroom, opened the door, and started to explain why there was a puddle around the bowl, floating toilet paper in the restroom, and a toilet plunger sticking out of the tank.

by the end of the night, the toilet was up and running again.