A Cautionary Tale

For years I have tried to impress upon R that he isn't invincible. He hasn't outgrown that phase yet. Most men get there earlier in life, but he hasn't realized he isn't Superman. I tell him that sometimes smart people do really dumb things.

After tonight I can certainly attest that's true. I have been trying to clean my desk. I have an amoire for my computer and it has all these lovely cubby holes and drawers and it really is a catch all for endless amounts of junk. I have been tackling it one cubby hole at a time.

Tonight I was sorting through some books and found a CD stuck between two of them. It was labeled back up and dated two years ago. I didn't need it any more so I thought I would throw it away. But with all the identity theft and what have you I have gotten cautious about what I just pitch in the trash. So I thought it was a good idea to break it in half.

Having a good grasp on physics, I used what I thought was the correct applied pressure in the right way to snap it in two. I bent it ever so slightly back and forth a couple times to weaken the center and then gave it a good snap. What happened next was all simultaneous within a split second. It's going to be hard to describe it, but I will try...

There was a really loud crack, immediately followed by the sounds of things bouncing off the walls. I felt pain in my face above my lip, my cheek and in my chin and I was momentarily blinded by an array of dazzlingly bright reflective confetti.

The CD did not crack in half like I expected it to. It exploded into dozens of pieces of knife edged plastic shrapnel that went all over the room and stuck in my face. Thankfully I had my glasses on, and closed my eyes from the instant glare. The laser readable coating peeled off it and shattered even further than the plastic into pieces so fine that they were hard to pick up. I finally gave up and got the vacuum.

If you ever have the urge to do this...don't. Just don't. It honestly would have never occurred to me that it would shatter like mercury glass. I am lucky it wasn't worse. R was less than amused when I told him what happened when he got up this morning. He worries about me, but he never tells me that. Instead he just gets annoyed because he can't protect me from everything...even myself!