And this, children, is why we don't play with candles

How Alyssa lost her candle-warming privileges and nearly half of her face.

Today I skipped by 10:30 Intro. to Poetry writing because Shoff is leaving for Philly and it was my last chance to see her this morning. People are more important than poetry. Also, my 2:30 today was canceled; so after just 50 minutes of class, I grabbed some lunch and started listening to a sermon from Redeemer Fellowship church, which I attended in KC on Sunday with my friend Jenn.

I can't get the audio to play if I open a new tab, so multi-tasking is out of the question. I have this candle warmer on my desk and it was on, just starting to melt the wax and make it soft. I can't just sit and listen, so I'm taking notes and kind of poking at the wax because it's all soft and feels neat.

Okay, so there's this pool of completely liquid wax forming at the bottom of the jar. I don't notice, but I continue pushing down on the wax and suddenly "squish!" This liquid wax is shot straight up and out, where it nails the bottom of my lofted mattress, rains down over my books, computer, and desk, and also squirts all over my face, hair, shirt, floor, messenger bag, pile of papers on the floor, etc.

I pretty much froze right then. And I had to laugh at the absurdity of it, especially when I stood up and saw myself in the mirror. I knew clean-up was going to be quite a job, and I immediately thought, "No one is going to believe this; where's my camera?"

Fortunately, a couple of months ago I purchased a keyboard protector for my computer to keep spills and food from ruining my keyboard, should something happen. This $6 item saved my computer. Without it, I would probably not have a functioning keyboard. Also, I had packaging tape down on my palmrests to protect them from sweaty hands (I know, gross, but it happens) and so computer clean up was relatively easy. I had to comb the wax out of my hair and scrape it off my face (no real damage but it did sting) and then I took a shower (well, after realizing there was no hot water it was just a hair-washing, standing out of the shower and leaning in and shivering much. What's up Van Zile?)

This is the aftermath:

I used a metal ruler to scrape the wax off my desk and books...
The candle that exploded -- pumpkin spice.
I'll probably have to take my bag and clothes home to get the wax out; I read you can do it with an iron and paper bags. Hopefully.



I surprised myself by not freaking out at this sight.
Matthew 18-20 will forever be stained orange.

My $6 keyboard protector that saved my computer's life. Also, the palm rests were covered in packaging tape which came right up, so I only had the touch pad to clean a lot.
And you can see it cleaned up very nicely.


Go ahead, laugh. I'll wait.
It was dripping down my part in my hair and it took a lot of combing to get it all out. And a shower. Ha! Until my new keyboard protector gets here, I have revoked my candle-warming, eating, and drinking privileges near my computer. It could have been worse -- a lot worse. It could have been something like water, then my computer could have been ruined for sure.