There are too many volts in this country.

I'm usually too impatient to blow dry my hair, and here I've usually been showering a few hours before bedtime, so that my hair has time to air dry. Yesterday, though, I took a shower in the afternoon, since I was meeting some friends in the evening, and I borrowed my roommate's hair dryer.

After turning it on and aiming it at my head, I noticed that it seemed to be making a funny noise. I looked for the switch at the back, wondering if I'd accidentally left it in between settings or something.

The blow dryer was smoking. Whisps of white smoke and the smell of something burning were coming out of the back. In a state of reasonably controlled panic, I turned it off, opened the bathroom window, put the dryer on the windowsill, making sure that it wasn't near anything flammable, and left the bathroom, closing the door behind me to make sure the smoke wouldn't escape and set off any alarms. When I checked a few minutes later, the smell had cleared and the dryer was cool to the touch. I didn't want to just throw it out, so I taped a note to it describing what had happened, thankful that words like "sorry I made the bathroom explode" were unnecessary.

Never a dull moment.