Intriguing "crisis" event
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Intriguing "crisis" event
Hi Friends,
I need to share this. It's not directly related to drinking, but definitely has implications to how things possibly could have turned out had I been drinking...
Yesterday morning I went to my bathroom ready to take a shower, and realized that all the drains (tub, sink) were clogged. No problem whatsoever the night before. Clogged pipes had been a somewhat recurring problem in the apartment building where I live... but never this completely. OK, I try to call the building Superintendent (for those not familiar with this term, ~it's a manager responsible for maintenance and repair in an apartment building). No response all day. I find out he is on vacation for 2 weeks. The landlords never gave me contact info for a replacement Super. Sweet, no shower in the middle of the summer. My gym membership comes handy at least... So I find out who the replacement guy is from the neighbors. Give him a call, he says he would come look at the problem first thing in the morning.
No sign of anyone this morning, bathroom still unusable. I go to work, had an important meeting and I could not even clean up properly. Super anxious. After the meeting, I originally planned to stay at work all day, but suddenly the idea of going home comes to my mind. Not sure why, usually I like to work from home when I can, but I did not plan that today. Anyhow, came home... bathroom still clogged.
Then 5 mins in, literally and I am not lying, water starts dripping from the ceiling in the bathroom all over the place, including all around the ceiling lamp... obviously the apartment above me is flooded. I freak out for a moment, wtf do I do now? I'm very experienced with apartments and lived in many different places, but in this particular place had not had a problem yet. And I had never experienced this specific problem at my other places: water dripping from everywhere, including around electrical outlets... Again, the water flood started really ~ 5 mins after I came home, and I did not plan to came home this pm early. What a coincidence!
Finally I could reach the replacement manager, they went to the apartment upstairs, stopped the water there, and right now there is a plumber working in my bathroom as I type. I learned today that my upstairs neighbor is a elderly disabled lady and she could not do anything about the water...
Another interesting aspect of the story is that this morning I woke up in a very depressed mood, and before coming home, it was getting worse and worse, to the point of suicidal thinking (I think some of this is still due to the antidepressant I started taking ~ 3 weeks ago). I was thinking, how on Earth do I get out of this *** mood today??
This incident cleared my mind in a few minutes like nothing can, really. I experienced similar things in my life before quite a few times in crisis situations where problem solving was an acute challenge. It's like suddenly my mind becomes crystal clear and super focused, I don't think much at all just do the right steps to sort out the problem. All anxieties, negative thoughts, almost every emotion is gone, all my mental faculties are focused on the problem before me, and I somehow know what to do in an instinctual way without contemplation. I have not had this experience for a while now but today recalled all of them, and I really did have quite a few. These events are extremely intriguing!
Anyhow, I think they will fix my bathroom soon
Anyone had similar experiences?
I need to share this. It's not directly related to drinking, but definitely has implications to how things possibly could have turned out had I been drinking...
Yesterday morning I went to my bathroom ready to take a shower, and realized that all the drains (tub, sink) were clogged. No problem whatsoever the night before. Clogged pipes had been a somewhat recurring problem in the apartment building where I live... but never this completely. OK, I try to call the building Superintendent (for those not familiar with this term, ~it's a manager responsible for maintenance and repair in an apartment building). No response all day. I find out he is on vacation for 2 weeks. The landlords never gave me contact info for a replacement Super. Sweet, no shower in the middle of the summer. My gym membership comes handy at least... So I find out who the replacement guy is from the neighbors. Give him a call, he says he would come look at the problem first thing in the morning.
No sign of anyone this morning, bathroom still unusable. I go to work, had an important meeting and I could not even clean up properly. Super anxious. After the meeting, I originally planned to stay at work all day, but suddenly the idea of going home comes to my mind. Not sure why, usually I like to work from home when I can, but I did not plan that today. Anyhow, came home... bathroom still clogged.
Then 5 mins in, literally and I am not lying, water starts dripping from the ceiling in the bathroom all over the place, including all around the ceiling lamp... obviously the apartment above me is flooded. I freak out for a moment, wtf do I do now? I'm very experienced with apartments and lived in many different places, but in this particular place had not had a problem yet. And I had never experienced this specific problem at my other places: water dripping from everywhere, including around electrical outlets... Again, the water flood started really ~ 5 mins after I came home, and I did not plan to came home this pm early. What a coincidence!
Finally I could reach the replacement manager, they went to the apartment upstairs, stopped the water there, and right now there is a plumber working in my bathroom as I type. I learned today that my upstairs neighbor is a elderly disabled lady and she could not do anything about the water...
Another interesting aspect of the story is that this morning I woke up in a very depressed mood, and before coming home, it was getting worse and worse, to the point of suicidal thinking (I think some of this is still due to the antidepressant I started taking ~ 3 weeks ago). I was thinking, how on Earth do I get out of this *** mood today??
This incident cleared my mind in a few minutes like nothing can, really. I experienced similar things in my life before quite a few times in crisis situations where problem solving was an acute challenge. It's like suddenly my mind becomes crystal clear and super focused, I don't think much at all just do the right steps to sort out the problem. All anxieties, negative thoughts, almost every emotion is gone, all my mental faculties are focused on the problem before me, and I somehow know what to do in an instinctual way without contemplation. I have not had this experience for a while now but today recalled all of them, and I really did have quite a few. These events are extremely intriguing!
Anyhow, I think they will fix my bathroom soon
Anyone had similar experiences?
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It's a very good observation haennie, I've had a few of those "clarity" moments when all the emotions/feelings of the day are wiped away in order to deal with a crisis.
In the last few months they have mostly occurred in relation to my car, I came out of work a few months ago and I only had a few hours to drive to the airport to catch a flight, sure enough I arrived at my car and I had a flat tyre, it began to rain and I ended up having to call my breakdown cover as I couldn't get my tyre off the car, it was jammed on and the wheel was slippery with the rain, and then there was the time I had my car in a multi storey car park and when I went to turn the key, the battery was dead, again I had only a few hours to get to somewhere else!!
I guess there's something inbuilt within humans, a survival default mode when there's a complete panic or when things don't run according to plan, maybe when the adrenaline gets pumping emotions/feelings are short circuited simply to cope with the immediate situation!!
I hope everything works out with your bathroom!!
In the last few months they have mostly occurred in relation to my car, I came out of work a few months ago and I only had a few hours to drive to the airport to catch a flight, sure enough I arrived at my car and I had a flat tyre, it began to rain and I ended up having to call my breakdown cover as I couldn't get my tyre off the car, it was jammed on and the wheel was slippery with the rain, and then there was the time I had my car in a multi storey car park and when I went to turn the key, the battery was dead, again I had only a few hours to get to somewhere else!!
I guess there's something inbuilt within humans, a survival default mode when there's a complete panic or when things don't run according to plan, maybe when the adrenaline gets pumping emotions/feelings are short circuited simply to cope with the immediate situation!!
I hope everything works out with your bathroom!!
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Originally Posted by Purpleknight 
I guess there's something inbuilt within humans, a survival default mode when there's a complete panic or when things don't run according to plan, maybe when the adrenaline gets pumping emotions/feelings are short circuited simply to cope with the immediate situation!!
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OK so this clogging situation seems complicated. I clogged the lady above me. Just met her in the hallway and she says it must be my hair (I have long thick hair).
OK yeah, maybe.
I went downstairs to talk with the people in the apartment below me. I met a furious woman telling me all bad things about the lady two floors above and that it's all her fault.
Oh my...
In any case, how could this problem be explained? Most likely blockage in the pipes on the lower levels.
OK yeah, maybe.
I went downstairs to talk with the people in the apartment below me. I met a furious woman telling me all bad things about the lady two floors above and that it's all her fault.
Oh my...
In any case, how could this problem be explained? Most likely blockage in the pipes on the lower levels.
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Join Date: Jun 2014
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Plumbing is weird. Last year we had a blockage in the main sewer line in the basement, thankfully I was able to snake it out- just barely avoided knocking over a somewhat (at the time) rickety set of shelves filled w/ paint cans w/ parts drawers full of screws & nails on top...
The symptom was air bubbling up thru the traps in the downstairs bathroom whenever the upstairs was flushed. No long hair here.. 1st time in 15yrs here that it happened. My brother rented a place a few years ago where they had a sewer line backup so bad they had to get a pro in to scope the pipe, he found a feminine hygene product a guest of theirs had flushed wedged into the pipe right were it joined the street sewer line.
If the people below you did not have a problem then the problem was above their lines into the plumbing stack but there's no guarantee you caused it- your pipes enter the main up/down pipe the same as everyone elses- anyone above you could have flushed something which somehow jammed things up.
The symptom was air bubbling up thru the traps in the downstairs bathroom whenever the upstairs was flushed. No long hair here.. 1st time in 15yrs here that it happened. My brother rented a place a few years ago where they had a sewer line backup so bad they had to get a pro in to scope the pipe, he found a feminine hygene product a guest of theirs had flushed wedged into the pipe right were it joined the street sewer line.
If the people below you did not have a problem then the problem was above their lines into the plumbing stack but there's no guarantee you caused it- your pipes enter the main up/down pipe the same as everyone elses- anyone above you could have flushed something which somehow jammed things up.
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Join Date: Mar 2013
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I have had a few moments like that. Usually it is to solve some problem I just can't see from where I am at. The latest was over my drinking. You mentioned the fight or flight response. It feels like it is usually accompanied by some type of adrenaline flush. Only once did it last more than a few seconds. I took a test in a national academic competition in a subject I knew nothing about. I had placed in others at state so I could take any of the test I wanted. Suddenly all the distractors feel away in my mind and I only saw the correct answers. I finished that test in minutes. That test was important because a boy who had bullied my brother and I was expected to place in that subject. Just a nod from the universe I guess.
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Interesting indeed, Haennie! I have had those moments too, primarily when traveling. I've landed in weird places like El Salvador and Honduras, all by myself and with no experience in the countries. Somehow, I don't freak out. It's what I call "Robot Mode", I'm like a machine just accomplishing tasks left and right: Pack. Airplane. Land. Baggage. Customs. Immigration counter. Taxi or shuttle? Shuttle. Hotel desk. Dinner. Bed. I remember flying to Indonesia by myself with no hotel reservations or anything. No problem.
On the other hand, last summer I had a panic attack walking to the grocery store 10 minutes away from my apartment that I'd lived in for 7 years. Very weird stuff.
On the other hand, last summer I had a panic attack walking to the grocery store 10 minutes away from my apartment that I'd lived in for 7 years. Very weird stuff.
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BigS - I have so many travel stories like that myself! Both from actual traveling and also from my "adventures" with going to live in new places; I always moved by myself.
Well the bathroom issue turns out to be more complicated than expected. They could not find the problem earlier in the day. I went out late in the afternoon thinking that at least we'll be dry and just came back home an hour ago, and again water dripping, not as bad as earlier though (yet?). Ran up to the old lady above me, ringing her door bell, knocking on the door etc, but she would not respond. So I called the poor Super again around midnight because this cannot go on all night. Waiting for things to happen. I'm so tired and now not in that "uplifted crisis mood" but back to the depressed one again. I'll also have to do something about this antidepressant experiment, calling my doc in the morning, I can't stand these mood swings anymore. Some days for a couple days I feel great but then like this, all over the map.
Well the bathroom issue turns out to be more complicated than expected. They could not find the problem earlier in the day. I went out late in the afternoon thinking that at least we'll be dry and just came back home an hour ago, and again water dripping, not as bad as earlier though (yet?). Ran up to the old lady above me, ringing her door bell, knocking on the door etc, but she would not respond. So I called the poor Super again around midnight because this cannot go on all night. Waiting for things to happen. I'm so tired and now not in that "uplifted crisis mood" but back to the depressed one again. I'll also have to do something about this antidepressant experiment, calling my doc in the morning, I can't stand these mood swings anymore. Some days for a couple days I feel great but then like this, all over the map.
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lol sounds like plumbing! That stuff will drive anyone crazy... our latest drama was the 3yr old front-loading washer- the rubber boot that seals the door to the tub rotted out down inside a fold where we couldn't see it, the symptom was progressively worse leakage onto the floor over the last few months. It got to the point where we had a pump sitting there to clear the water away you could stand in front to move clothes to the drier w/o getting feet very wet.
Soo, schapp went off to lowes to get a new one on sunday and put it in- man washers are HEAVY- counterweights for the tub spinning I guess. So that was clearly the next right thing.. the permanent wet spot was going to be growing mold before too long aside from the constant wet feet tedium.
I could certainly buy a partial blockage somewhere below where your bathroom enters the stack, perhaps the plumber opened it up bit but it clogged again. Kind of surprised he's not going from floor by floor and snaking out each waste line, trying to hit the blockage from different places.
Soo, schapp went off to lowes to get a new one on sunday and put it in- man washers are HEAVY- counterweights for the tub spinning I guess. So that was clearly the next right thing.. the permanent wet spot was going to be growing mold before too long aside from the constant wet feet tedium.
I could certainly buy a partial blockage somewhere below where your bathroom enters the stack, perhaps the plumber opened it up bit but it clogged again. Kind of surprised he's not going from floor by floor and snaking out each waste line, trying to hit the blockage from different places.
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Originally Posted by schnappi99
Kind of surprised he's not going from floor by floor and snaking out each waste line, trying to hit the blockage from different places.
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Originally Posted by Sudz No More
You haven't been in here talking about how you want a drink from your troubles and this is a big fat win. It's beautiful thing. Who needs toilets anyway?
I was wondering about the drinking trigger as well. It truly has not occurred to me even once since yesterday morning that I would want to drink... And I've been in a pretty *** mood even before all this happened. I thought about it quite a bit... the pattern I see in my past is really strongly that I would never want to drink when in acute high level stress (even few days or a couple weeks). Long term unpredictable stress, yes, but I do have a very strong tendency to drink/crave alcohol when things are good, as a reward. I experienced this even during my heavy drinking periods: whenever there was a crisis/chaos, it sobered me up temporarily. Well, no such thing as temporarily anymore!
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