dirtylibrarian

I went to water aerobics last night, for a change of pace, wore myself out good and was asleep probably by 10 on the couch, and in bed by 11:30.  Around midnight I awoke to what I thought was gunshot.  It sounded like it was outside my house, and I swear I saw flashes of light with it, which freaked me out, my mostly asleep brain imagining the shooters must be very close if I could see something like that.  Or maybe I've just watched the Wire too much?  So I literally rolled off the bed, with my blankets, and nested up on the floor next to it...thinking that would be the safest thing (very very tired).  These sounds went on for quite a while, and I never heard police sirens.  I assumed if it was gunshot, some of my neighbors would call.  It went on so long, I began to imagine what it must be like for people in countries where there are wars.  Or zombie invasions.  After it went on for a while, I just wasn't sure what was going on anymore, and as tired as I was I decided the only thing to do was to fall asleep on the floor.  I woke up a few hours later to quiet, got back on bed and got a few more hours of sleep.

Now I'm just confused.  There were some really bad wind gusts last night...apparently 46 mph in Seattle around midnight.  Was I just hearing that? Tree branches maybe?  Was there lightning that would explain the flashes of light?  I had a dream at one point that what I thought was gunfire was tiles popping off my roof.  Ug.  I just can't imagine that there could have possibly been that much gunfire.  There is nothing on the news websites this morning.  What the heck was it?

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Update:  I got confirmation from someone in the neighborhood:  FIREWORKS!  At midnight. In a storm.  Happy Chinese New Year, everyone.