and so i jumped

So, today I jumped off of a second-story balcony. Would you like to know why? Well, I was on my way to Seaco for brunch and I had just walked out the front door of Marshall when low and behold this Asian high-school aged guy comes up to me and asks me if the campus is open today. I was like "Do you mean the academic buildings?" and he was like, "Yeah, I'm supposed to have an audition today in Pollard I think, but all the doors are locked." He wasn't sure because his mom had answered the phone when the school had called and she barely speaks English so she didn't know whether they said Sunday or Monday. Anyway, I initially advised him to go to the campus police station and ask if he could get into the building and then I thought, no . . . I can probably get him in through the front of Dupont. It's not like the fine arts building is really easy to get around anyway, he probably just missed a door or something.

So being the nice person that I am, I told him that I'd walk with him over to Pollard and see if I could get him in (although I think we both began to have the sneaking suspicion that his audition was really for tomorrow). Well, the front of Dupont was unlocked so I was like score, I can get him in through the second-floor balcony door that is connect to Dupont, into Pollard. (Keep in mind that back in the times when I had known Pollard, as in last year, they never kept these doors locked). So we went onto the balcony and tried the door into Pollard. Locked. I was like crap, oh well. We walk back to the door leading into Dupont. It had locked behind us. We were trapped on the second floor balcony with no way to get off.

I wasn't about to be stuck up there all day/night, so I suggested that we jump off the balcony. The kid agreed. We decided not to jump off of the side with the white railing but the side inbetween the two buildings, facing the inner courtyard because there was a little ledge mid-way down that we could put our feet. Not a big ledge mind you, but a ledge nonetheless. So the Asian guy jumps off the balcony, lands on his feet but almost runs into an adjoining wall from the momentum. So I throw my coat off the side of the building so it won't hinder me and begin to place my feet on what little space I can find on the ledge. I am, of course, scared as hell because the jump is still pretty high and I just knew that I was going to break some bones (aaand I have a huge fear of falling). The Asian guy tries to give me encouragement interrupted with statements like "yeah it is scary" and finally I jumped. I pseudo-landed on my feet. My feet and my butt. But I didn't break anything. AND I JUMPED OFF A SECOND-STORY BALCONY. What the heck? Never saw that coming when I woke up this morning.