my fourth was better than yours

so, i reluctantly spent the entire day at the squad, so if you got shitfaced (which i'm sure most of you did) then at least you've got that on me.

so last night i was bored cause no one wanted to hang out, so i stayed up late watching arrested development. this turned out to have been a shitty idea, because at 645 i got a call from the squad saying they were really shortstaffed. so i roll/fell out of bed, through on some clothes and drove up to weaton, where i've been since. After i was at the squad for a few hours, it wasn't really worth it to leave since i'd have to come back in later; wednesdays are my duty night, and it was jsut bad luck that it fell on the fourth.

so enough bitching. During the day, I responded to 3 or 4 fires. I'll admit, none of them were that cool as far as fires go, and i didn't get to see anything more than a little smoke. but still, you've gotta understand, i've only been in town for a month and i'm leaving in less than a week, so i was stoked to see even the smoldering remnants of a small oven fire.

after the fires, things were relatively quiet. to watch the fireworks, we went up onto the roof of wheaton plaza, cause hey, firefighters have keys baby! wheaton is a natural high point, and the plaza is the tallest building in the area (10 stories), so we weren't theo nly ones with the idea. at the plaza, we met an engine, a truck, and 2 ambulances who had also stopped by to see the show. We lost a few crews to calls, but whatever. we had a good group and an amazing view.

from the top of the building, you can see clear to crystal city, VA. We could see ALL THE FIREWORKS WITHIN AT LEAST 60 MILES. you name it. if you saw any fireworks in maryland, DC, or northern virginia, we were watching them too. The fireworks over the mall were gorgeous. the fireworks from virginia were just colorful explosions over the horizon. the wheaton fireworks, on the other hand, were something else entirely.

on our radios, we could tune in to the channel being used to orchestrate the show from the ground, so we even got to hear the countdown. The fireworks were being shot just a few blocks from us, and the biggest ones barely got above our eye level! it was a fantastic show. Looking down into fireworks that were shooting up in series looked like a giant tree of white light.

Ultimately, we missed the finale because we got a call, a "bicyclist struck." WE showed up, and thankfully no one was seriously injured. one of the patients spoke only portuguese, so I got to play translator for the ambulance crew and the cops, which is always fun (since I speak rudimentary french and spanish too, I end up doing the translator thing alot, but i'm so much better at portuguese that it's just way more fun).

So I started my day annoyed and tired. I had to brush off invites from friends and a barbecue at my house, but ultimately I had a great time. And you know what? I don't think I'll ever see a view of fireworks as spectacular as what I saw tonight.

Of course, i am still sober and you're not.