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When I moved into my new place, my roommates and I knew the ceiling of my temporary bedroom was in bad condition, but we figured it would last for a couple more months. Since I was only going to occupy the room for three weeks, we figured it wouldn’t be a problem.

Over the last week, we’ve changed that initial estimate from a couple of months, to a month, to “well, it’ll probably last long enough.” Tonight, when I got home from work, I noticed small flakes of plaster coating most my furniture and a crack I didn’t remember from this morning.

10:30pm - I get home from work, notice the flakes, and call my roommates in to have a look-see. We talk about it for a while. Justin and Mark think I should move my stuff out tonight, while I’m arguing that we should wait until tomorrow. It’s my bedtime, after all. Justin finally convinces me that I should move into the tiny, unoccupied upstairs bedroom.

11:00pm - We start clearing out the upstairs bedroom, which has been acting as a game room. We also start moving my most essential stuff (my bed and computer) out of my bedroom. I’m getting pretty tired, because normally at this time, I’d be in bed.

12:00am - My computer and bed are in my new bedroom. We’re setting up the essentials and moving small non-essential stuff into closets.

12:15am - The ceiling in my old bedroom collapses. The ceiling surface falls as a single piece, taking out my dresser mirror and a couple of bookcases. The space where my bed had been an hour before is underneath a large piece of unbroken plaster and concrete weighing several hundred pounds. Had I decided to go to bed and wait until tomorrow afternoon to move out, as I had planned, I would be at best seriously hurt and at worst moderately deceased.

I think I owe Justin and Mark for convincing me to move out. Of course, they did move me into the bedroom directly above the obliterated ceiling, so maybe we’re just delaying the inevitable here. :)