I am clumsy
FYI I'm in Iraq.
I work all day, and go to work before sunrise and get off after sunset. That means the only time I can help set up the satellite for internet (one day, I hope to have internet in my own room) is when it's pitch black outside.
We don't keep any lights on that are visible from off the base, because we don't want the locals to a) see that we have electricity all the time when they're jealous of it because they don't always have reliable electricity and b) in case there are bad guys we don't want them to shoot us from far away where we can't see where it's coming from. Or something like that. Regardless, this base is the darkest place I've ever been. And I've been camping on Alaskan glaciers before.
So I'm setting up the satellite dish on the roof. I'm with 2 friends, and we successfully get the dish mounted finally after 3 nights of working around 2 hours per night on it. I am successful and triumphant. We high five. Then I start stepping across rooftops back to where I can climb down. I look, because I know there's a gap somewhere, for the edge of the roof. But it's dark, and I have my glasses on instead of my contacts, and see it incorrectly. And I step directly into the center of the gap. Moments later I recognize that sensation of unexpected falling - and I catch myself with my elbows on the next roof. Very painful. Also, my knees slam into the side of the wall where I'm hanging off. I was laughing so hard I couldn't even pull myself up for a few seconds.
My buddy tells me that he saw me line up like a foot away from the edge of the roof, as if I saw the line dividing "roof" and "not roof" clearly, right before confidently stepping out onto nothing at all.
The guys on the floor couldn't really see it happen, but they were seriously concerned that I was going to have to go to the hospital.
I work all day, and go to work before sunrise and get off after sunset. That means the only time I can help set up the satellite for internet (one day, I hope to have internet in my own room) is when it's pitch black outside.
We don't keep any lights on that are visible from off the base, because we don't want the locals to a) see that we have electricity all the time when they're jealous of it because they don't always have reliable electricity and b) in case there are bad guys we don't want them to shoot us from far away where we can't see where it's coming from. Or something like that. Regardless, this base is the darkest place I've ever been. And I've been camping on Alaskan glaciers before.
So I'm setting up the satellite dish on the roof. I'm with 2 friends, and we successfully get the dish mounted finally after 3 nights of working around 2 hours per night on it. I am successful and triumphant. We high five. Then I start stepping across rooftops back to where I can climb down. I look, because I know there's a gap somewhere, for the edge of the roof. But it's dark, and I have my glasses on instead of my contacts, and see it incorrectly. And I step directly into the center of the gap. Moments later I recognize that sensation of unexpected falling - and I catch myself with my elbows on the next roof. Very painful. Also, my knees slam into the side of the wall where I'm hanging off. I was laughing so hard I couldn't even pull myself up for a few seconds.
My buddy tells me that he saw me line up like a foot away from the edge of the roof, as if I saw the line dividing "roof" and "not roof" clearly, right before confidently stepping out onto nothing at all.
The guys on the floor couldn't really see it happen, but they were seriously concerned that I was going to have to go to the hospital.
