"I'd Like To Get Down Now"

So. Yeah. About the whole roof thing.

I go to my internship every Wednesday and Friday. For the most part I am surfing the Internet and sometimes doing some post production related stuff. I am the only girl in the office who has no idea what she is doing, and Lenny has been patient about this. I do a lot of the research stuff, administrative task, and sometimes manual labor. But I'm cool with it.

On Wednesday i met the other two interns working there. One has been there since this summer. He has already been inducted into the 'cool people club' and they trust him with tasks outside of the office. The other intern, Mat (with one 't') started the same time I did, and he has some proving to do himself.

The director is documenting a building that is being constructed from the ground up. It is literally right next door, and it gives him complete access to the building. He has set up three cameras located in the city to take a picture of the buildings construction every 3 minutes. He and Lenny have been doing this for 2 years, and the effect is pretty awesome. Once you paste all the images together, you literally can see a building being built in a matter of minutes. One of the intern responsibilities is to check that the cameras are working in order for the project to be a success.

So, while the other two interns were there, Lenny thought it was a good time for us to learn how to check the cameras, just in case we ever had to do it. The three cameras are located on rooftops in the vicinity of the massive 20 plus story building of his interest. Lenny sent us to learn about the camera with his IT friend Adam who does freelance work there a couple of days out of the week. At first I did not like Adam, he was standoffish and aloof. But New Yorkers are apparently always standoffish at first, especially when strange new girls are hired to do grunt work in a cool office.

However, on Wednesday Adam was really cool. He is very smart, easy to talk to, and down to earth (though he has that neurotic new york thing where he talks really fast about everything!). I smell a potential crush in the works. The four of us made our way across the street, up 12 floors and a flight of stairs until we reached the roof. The camera was locked in a box located on the edge of the roof. Adam gave us a tutorial of what we would have to do, should we ever need to come up there. I was paying attention but the box was too high for me to see in, so I didn't really know what he was talking about. And he sort of has that IT approach to everything, calling things 'simple' and 'easy to do' because he as done it a million times.

I figured I wouldn't be assigned this task because of the small situation with being unable to see inside the box. Needless to say I was very shocked on Friday after I completed my usual tasks when Lenny told me that I had to go back to that building (alone because I am the only intern who works on Friday) and check the camera. You should have seen my face. I was mortified and scared and I let Lenny know that I wasn't able to see in the box which made learning things about the task very difficult. He told me it was really 'simple' and wouldn't take that long. All i would have to do is check the camera, and grab the hard drive. "that's it, you can't mess this up". He handed me a crate I could take with me, so I could stand on it and get access to the contents in the box.

It was very windy Friday, and this did not make the situation any easier. I carried my crate and book bag across the street and made my trip up the elevator and stairs by myself. It did not occur to me that the door to the roof would lock after me. I was hesitant to even open the door because there was a "will alarm once activated" sticker was on it. I was going to call Lenny and tell him that the door was locked and I had no way to get on the roof. Instead I braced myself for a horrible alarm noise and just opened the door. There was a moment of relief when the door opened and no alarm sounded. The winds were so terrible on the roof the door slammed shut even before I had a chance to wonder if it would lock behind me.

I opened the box and finally had a visual of what I was working with. Of course this visual was like rocket science, because I had no idea of what anything was. The wind was causing me to shake on the crate and though I was far from falling off the roof, the thought that a gust of wind could send me over caused paralyzing fear. I sat everything down, grabbed my cell phone and decided to give Lenny a call and tell him that I had no idea what I was doing. I walked to the door, pulled once and thought maybe I forgot to turn the knob. After four more tugs and turns I realized that I had locked myself on the roof. Without a jacket, with gusts of wind throwing me about and no sight of another exit.

I called Lenny and first explained that I had no idea what anything was (in regards to the contents in the box). That it all looked like hogwash to me. He said he was going to kill Adam because he should have taught us the steps thoroughly on Wednesday.

"It's not Adams fault. I just couldn't see in the box, the day before that's all. Oh....and by the way. I'm kind of locked on the roof. So if you can be all up on that "getting me off the roof thing" It would totally be cool ".

Yes I said "be all up on that". It seemed necessary

I expected Lenny and his cool yellow shoes to come to the rescue. I expected him to drop the phone admittedly and be on his way to open the damn door so I could get off the damn roof. I expected a lot. Instead Lenny said "I can't really leave the office.' The director' isn't here, and someone needs to be here to answer the phone". My heart sank. " I'll come over and soon as he gets back from his meeting but until then..."

"I just have to chill"

"Pretty much"

I didn't think this would be hard. I mean besides the wind I was sort of safe on the roof as long as I didn't get too close to the edge. But when I say the wind was bad, I mean it. I had no gloves, no jacket and I was wearing flats. The clothes that I did have on were very "walk in the park" spring wear. By the 15 minutesmark I was freezing up there. My hands were already losing color, I was shivering like no one else's business, and the wind was smacking me in the face. I tried to keep warm by jumping, talking out loud and snapping pictures. I would occasionally bang on the door to get the people's attention on the 12th floor. I called Marie, just in case, and told her that i was stuck on a roof. I couldn't call my mom. I wouldn't have called her.

Another 40 minutes passed, and by this point I was drowsy and freaking out. Lenny never called me back, I was near tears, and I seriously thought I was going to die. I couldn't think straight, I wanted to lay down, I started to lay down but then I remembered if I went to sleep I wouldn't have any control of waking back up. My body was shutting down. Even the shivering became numb. I started to think that the building was swaying and that I would topple off the edge. I started estimating how far 13 stories really is. I worried about planes flying too low, or me getting too close to the edge and just stumbling over. I started thinking but none of it made sense.

By then i had taken a seat on the floor, I propped my book bag up like a pillow and put my head down. But quickly i nixed that idea and got up. Instead of laying down, I literally got up from where i was sitting and decided to beat the hell out of the door. By beating the hell out of, I mean I took my numb fist and started going at the door like it owed me money. I saw some industrial items laying around (a pipe, some bricks, and paint supplies) and decided that if beating the door wasn't going to work I would break the window. Yes, the window probably cost more then my whole life but it would get me inside and I wouldn't freeze on top of a roof.

Besides Lenny and Marie no one else knew I was up there. The next bout of construction guys wouldn't be back until Monday and by then....I'm just saying. That frightening thought ran through my mind the whole time I was up there. I am all alone up here, and if I had left my cell I would have been in worse trouble than I was in then. No one would take notice that I was gone until it was too late, and I had already succumb to something. So I grabbed the pipe and used that instead to wail on the door. My shivering was uncontrollable and I couldn't get proper aim, so I had to swing my whole body and hit which exhausted much of my energy.

I was minutes away from swinging at the window when it finally opened. On the other side was a construction worker who gave me the "what the hell are you doing up here look". I couldn't explain because talking was rough. I crashed unto the floor and when i was able to I tried to explain my story in between my shivering voice. He listened, looking from me (cold, shivering, pruned) to the door (beat up) and said these words:

"You know there's a rope to hold it open".

Yeah asshole. I just wanted to be locked on a roof for an hour. Thanks. He finally asked me if I was okay after showing me the rope and how to prop the door open. I said that I was, just freaked out a little, cold and possibly suffering from some stage of hypothermia. I sat for 15 minutes, glued to the floor and trying to breathe. It hurt to breathe as if my air passage had decreased some.

I wish that this would have been the end of my ordeal. Just when I was heading back to the office, Lenny finally called. I told him that I got off the roof to which he replied 'that's cool'. He was not calling to check on my well-being, he still wanted me to check if the camera was working and called to give me Adam's phone number (because Adam was in another location) so he could walk me through the steps.

For the next three hours I was on the phone with Adam who was hella patient as he tried to get me off the roof as fast as possible. His IT training helped a lot, while I was freaking out on the phone with him. I was still freezing, it was still gusty outside, and I was standing on a crate inches away from falling to the ground. Easy tasks were very complicated and I just couldn't concentrate on anything he was saying. In between his "it's okay you can do this" I kept repeating "I'm so cold Adam. I. can't. do.this. Please get me off this roof. I'd like to get down now". He kept repeating that he was sorry in between my rambling and suggested that i just do the best that I could even if that meant putting everything back in the box and heading back to Lenny.

In between our conversation my hands were not cooperating. They were shaking and blue and numb to the point of pain. I was incoherent and all I remember telling him is "I'm going to hang up and call you later".

"Okay." He said with some concern. He just kept repeating Okay while I kept telling him I was going to hang up "I'm. Just. So Cold. Adam". So, I hung up the phone. Went inside and cried. When I regained composure , I called him back and we finally got the damn camera thing to work. I told him I deserved a present or something for being stuck up there too long. "like a nice new phone" he laughed, because he is obsessed with the newest phone technologies. He talked about his new phone for an hour on Wednesday and wanted us to see everything it could do. I mentioned that I hate my new phone and he gave me a list of some I should consider.

"maybe a new phone will work." I said " But I would settle for hot tea or something".

Four hours later, I returned to the building with the stupid Hard drive and seriously suffering from some level of hypothermia. Lenny was talking on the phone with Adam (who was probably voicing his concern for me and the state of the camera) and gave me a "sorry i sent you up there for no reason" look. I dropped the crate on the floor and went to the bathroom. I felt like I was going to throw up because my stomach was cramping up and my head hurt.

I think my crush for Lenny has all but gone away. At the end of the day it's camera equipment and project before your interns well-being. I seriously don't want to go one any more roofs for a while. No lie.

I have been resting ever since. I had to go to work yesterday and I was suppose to go to my dads today but I am just not up for anything but sleep and warmth.