Sunday, July 29, 2007

Perfect Example of Irony

As an English teacher, I was always looking for good examples of different literary terms: foreshadowing, flashback, irony. I often went blank when trying to coming up with a good example of of irony and tried like the dickens (get it, Charles Dickens?) to make sure the kids could figure out the difference between irony and coincidence. Finally, I have the perfect example so I'm sharing.

Lit a candle in the bathroom yesterday morning to...uhhmm... how do you say, mask the smell. I went about drying my hair and had to bend over to get something between the counter and the toilet bowl and completely forgot I had lit the aforementioned candle. Do you see where I'm going? My head upside down while being dried, my bending over, the candle lit. Sure enough, as I lifted my head, I saw floating droplets of fire on the counter and kept wondering, "What the hell is that?

Sure enough, I had lit my hair on fire. Now, if you know me, you know I have a lot of hair... thank God. Because now I have torched part of it. Thankfully, I caught on to what was happening and started slapping the fire out of my hair. (I think I hurt my widdle head.) Black ashes everywhere. And the ends of a wad of hair fried. And the smell. Damn, it's true what they say about the smell of burnt hair. I Febreezed the hell outta the apartment, spray air freshener, nothing would eliminate the smell. I left on my errands hoping time would evaporate the horrid smell. I could smell it in the car and realized it was coming with me wherever I sent.

Upon my return that evening, the apartment just reeked of burnt hair. My burnt hair. So it was a good friend of mine who remarked, "Isn't it ironic that you lit a candle to mask the smell in the bathroom and caused a smell far worse throughout the entire apartment?" Thanks for bringing that to my attention. Very perceptive of him.

Ahhh, the perfect example of irony.

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8 Comments:

At 10:09 PM, Blogger Snow White said...

LOL Very ironic, indeed! Will trimming the ends of your hair help? I can't say I've ever experienced burning my hair with fire... just chemicals. While your burning may have been smelly, I'm thinking it's an easier fix! xox

 
At 11:09 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

It was just coincidence that you made your head stink in the bathroom.

 
At 8:12 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

LOL, what a story! That would be the luck that I would have! I'm glad my hair is short enough that I couldn't do that! Guess your's is too now huh? LOL

 
At 9:52 PM, Blogger ~grey said...

oh my goooodness!!! Girl!!!

that is too funny....
Sorry for laughing...

hope the smell goes away quickly!

 
At 5:37 PM, Blogger Marianna said...

ROFLMAO!!! Ok, I just can't type after this one!!!

But I gotta say. When I was growing up, I used to go back to Greece often to visit family. We'd have fresh farmer's markets every day, where we'd go get food for our meals. We'd buy fresh chickens (with the heads still attached sometimes!). One thing we had to do every time we got a chicken, is that we would have to light a match under it to burn any excess hairs/feathers off. Your story just reminded me of that smell!

M~

 
At 2:33 PM, Blogger H. Alan Scott said...

irony, aint it grand!

 
At 6:27 PM, Blogger Sailor said...

And, just think of the myraid questions that may come up, should you use this perfect example in a class:

"What smell were you trying to cover up? Did it work? How come you had to cover it up anyway?"

Delicious irony indeed!

 
At 8:57 AM, Blogger Michael said...

Luckily it was just hair. Good thing it didn't burn anything a bit more tender.

Take Care
Michael

 

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