Another lesson in perspective.

I've always had a problem with keeping things in their proper perspective. I have this drama-queen tendencies to make such a big deal about certain events in my life.

Like my upcoming exam, for instance.

I've been so focused on it that life after it seems improbable.

(Told you I was a drama queen.) :0P

Well, life taught me a lesson today -- one that drove home the fact that there are more important things in life than passing or failing an exam.

Lemme tell you what happened today that made this lesson clear.

Mr.A and I were home today since we both called in sick; he was still nursing a cold and I was feeling feverish and achy. Little did we know that feeling sick today would turn out to be a real blessing.

Around 2.30pm, Mr.A and I heard a loud bang outside. I thought it was just an old car backfiring and he thought it was one of our neighbors finishing off leftover fireworks from yesterday.

We were both wrong. So wrong.

About a minute after the bang, someone rang the doorbell. While Mr.A went to get the door, I looked out the window to see who it could be since we weren't expecting anyone. Imagine my surprise, followed by panic, to see flames and smoke coming from the Juniper hedge that borders our lawn.

The neighbor across the street was the one who rang the bell. When Mr.A opened the door, he was already using the front lawn hose to try and put out the fire.

Everything that followed was a blur.

Mr.A called 911 while I tried looking for a pail -- paksyet, wala kaming balde! -- to help put the fire out. After what seemed like an eternity of thinking what the hell I could do, I finally realized that we had a hose at the backyard long enough to reach the front lawn. When I got out, 2 more neighbors were using their hoses to help put the fire out. It took four of us around 10 minutes to finally put it out. By that time, almost 3/4 of the whole length of our hedge was burnt to a crisp (as in tutong) and the fire also managed to reach the big tree in the front lawn. That's also the time that the firetruck and the police came.

I'm disappointed with the police and the firemen's response. They took their time getting here but from what I heard, there's been a lot of fire incidents the day before (4th of July) involving fireworks that they weren't that worried about this particular incident. Still, I was worried! It wasn't everyday that our front lawn bursts into flames.

Anyway, the first neighbor who saw the fire said that after the loud bang, he looked out of his window and saw a car speeding down the street but he soon was distracted by the fire and smoke coming from our lawn that he didn't pay any more attention to the car. From the looks of it, the police chalked it down to teenage pranksters.

It was only later, while cleaning the mess, that we found what looked like the fuse of a MoLOTov cocktail.

It was only about an hour after the incident that I realized how serious it might have become if we weren't home today or if someone didn't see it. The wind was pretty high and if the tree really caught fire, the fire could have reached the house.

So yeah, I'm not that anxious about the exam anymore. There's more to life than that.