So yesterday, we believe a house guest of our otherwise wonderful upstairs neighbors set our building on fire with an errant cigarette. It was 103 and the house was made in the 1920s making it stuffed with straw as insulation.

Miraculously none of our stuff was damaged by the fire or the water.

However, the clothes and electronics we managed to snag in the hour after the fire scramble still reek of the smoke even after washing. I left the door open so they could get in without breaking our lock, so there is some water damage to the floorboards right behind our door.

As it happened on a Friday, none of the claims guys will get to our case till Monday. This means two days of just sitting around. Waiting.

I can't wait to do the walk through with the adjuster but at the same time, I don't want to do it. We've already talked with the restoration guy and he'll take our couches, chairs, mattress, permeable stuff etc. clean em and give em back.

What about my book collection though? I hope they'll be able to take the books too. There's a number of Easton Press books as well as books signed by authors. We even have a book so rare that we've only seen it for sale once. At $2500 and in worse condition than mine.

We're currently holed up in his mothers house, but the place is... uncomfortable. Even the chairs and tables here are not at the right height and cause pain when typing. She also keeps the house warmer than we are used to. It's bad enough trying to sleep with the thought of vandals getting in and breaking stuff for the hell of it, I really don't need the burlap-like sheets to keep me awake too.

Yeah, yeah, ungrateful me. Part of me wonders if we'd be better off in a hotel though.

We can't legally find a new place. He's on unemployment and I'm a student. Not that I would really want to, but it's scary to not know how long this will last. Could be anywhere from a week to several months.

All because someone didn't want to put out their cigarette properly.