Remember the time you almost/could've died?

I almost died 2 weeks ago. Death usually ain't a funny thing, but since I survived, I laughed it off.

So, two weeks ago, there was a double Bauer hour, i.e. 2 new episodes of 24. It was awesome, but I almost did not get to enjoy it. Here's the story:

It begins the week before. After last week's episode of 24, FOX previewed the double hour, which would begin at 8pm. This instantly concerned me because I have a night class, Fundamentals of Technology Start-Ups, which lasts from 5:30 to 8:30. Holy crap! Great class, but nothing, and I mean nothing, can get in my way of watching 24. (The x-men 3 trailer, which was weak but enticing anyway, was also going to air during the hours.) So all week I was plotting on how to get out of class. Since I didn't want to skip it, I e-mailed the instructor over the weekend that I had an "extracurricular activity" that I would have to leave class one hour early for... so I wasn't lying at all.

So I went to class. The instructor announced that he would end class an hour early. "WUT?!?!?" This instantly brought smiles to many students in the class, including myself (so one could see who were the avid 24 viewers.) So I figured I could go with this. Nice! but, as 7:30 approached, he was no where near done. He went on for 15 more minutes on account that class started at 5:45 because stupid students came "retardedly."

So I was out of the room at 7:45, and from the distance I just saw the purple shuttle (which goes to my apartment) leave the stop at the corner. Holy fucking shit! The next one was coming at 8pm! That's too late. So I had less than 15 minutes to get back to my apartment from the technology advancement building (which is where the class was, which is just down the road from my apartment, but across a somewhat major highway). I began to scurry down the sidewalk at a decent pace, making good time.

Then suddenly, I got to the highway intersection. I hit the pedestrian signal to cross, but instantly realized there was no way i can wait for my turn. I had less than 5 minutes! "There is not enough time!" as Jack Bauer would say. So I played a life-and-death game of human frogger to cross the highway. Now, this wasn't terribly difficult nor all that dangerous. You could see the cars coming from a distance and there was enough leeway to make it through if I went fast enough. I got across rather quickly and thankfully unscathed, but then I had to cross one more road to get to the corner the apartments were in. This is where I could've died. There were cars coming in from both sides, which i was aware of. Once I [thought I] found an opening, I proceeded (less than 4 minutes now).

"Ahhhhh!"

Fracking cars from the highway turning right onto that road came in at ridiculous speeds. One car came in, and I had to jump back to avoid being hit (wearing all black didn't help). A second car screeched its brakes as I decided I was stronger than the car. Ultimately, I got across, with the biggest sigh of relief. Ever.

I continued to speed-walk to my apartments. 3 minutes left. 2 minutes left. In front of my door... it's locked. I stumbled for my keys. I get in. 1 minute left. but it's all good.

A few seconds later, the greatest show on television began.

Jam it back in, in the dark.