Storytime Sunday - Shorting out a school

Hello and welcome to Storytime Sunday. The day of the week where I tell you how I almost died in fear, and then laugh about the circumstances which had caused me to feel that way.

If you were lucky, and are human, then you probably went to school like me. If you are unlucky, and are human, then it is likely you also did some things that almost got you into deep trouble while you were at said school. Like me.

Last night while reminiscing about memories of high school with some old and new friends, one of my friends, whom with I had been on the backstage crew at my old school, as mentioned here, reminded me of perhaps one of the scariest days of my life in that school.

We were at school during the holidays while various activities, play's or otherwise, were being rehearsed. Obviously, as members of the backstage crew, we were being put to use fixing various odds and ends all over the place in order to make sure that everything was ready for the performances. All was going well until we found ourselves with a set of non-functioning stage lights which myself and the aforementioned friend had to take down to test and, hopefully, fix.

Of course, Murphy's freaking law, it wasn't going to be that easy. Having performed some tenuously balanced acrobatics on desks and chairs in order to take these lights down. (Our misfortune to never seem to have access to a ladder when we needed one.) Having finally accomplished that mission of a task, we began testing the lights under the impatient eye of the teacher on duty during the rehearsal. My memory of the events that followed are fuzzy, but the next few moments were filled with my friend being electrocuted and stumbling back. Short of some worry and annoyance over that incident, we realized that the Stage's power had tripped, and wanting to get something done in the meantime, moved the stage lights with us to the sound and lighting room up at the top of the gallery I had jumped off of.

Proactive? Yes. Intelligent? I'm not sure since if what happened next had gone worse, it's likely the school would have demanded my friend and I to pay for damages to the school. Let me explain why. We had just shorted out an entire section of the stage with some lights we weren't convinced were working properly, and had figured it was a good idea to test them in the room with the most expensive electronics in the whole school, barring the computer labs... *facedesk*

So we tested one light which worked, tested the next which did not, and tested the third which promptly shorted all the electricity in the school and had my friend and I panicking slightly at what might be damaged. (oh boy...) Having to face the stage manager, sound and lighting crews, teachers and various other people after that was not fantastic to be honest. All I can say though, is that thank all the heavens and lucky stars that nothing more had happened than a circuit breaker tripping on the main switchboard for the school. (Que sigh of relief.)

All I can say is this. If you have faulty electronics, try not to test them while other, far more expensive electronics are running, unless you want your heart to feel like it is going to jump out of your throat. It's also a good idea to not let people rush you when dealing with electronics of that sort. Electricity be dangerous yo. That's your Public Service Announcement of the week from OddballGreg. 

On the upside, at least the event gave myself and my friend something great to laugh about, so silver linings can be found. Anyways, if you have something to say or have a suggestion for what I should talk about in a blog post, please feel free to leave it in a comment below. Also, perhaps consider following me on Twitter at @OddballGreg or liking my Facebook page. Perhaps even share this post with someone you know who's narrowly escaped deep shit and needs a laugh. Regardless of what you do, thank you for reading, and I hope you have/had an AWESOME day.

Dasvidanya my friends.