Sometimes I do severely stupid things, it’s difficult, because on paper I am a really intelligent human, and however, the troubles emerge when I am distracted with thinking about something else that is important in my life and go on autopilot; Under these conditions, I am bound to make stupid mistakes and look like a total idiot.
This is precisely what happened recently when I spent the night at a friend’s home for the holiday. My family plans had fallen through, so I had nothing in store for the cheery seasonal holidays, but luckily, my best friend invited me to his family’s holiday celebration and I was filled with boiling and fuzzy feelings knowing that I had someplace to be for the big afternoon. I undoubtedly wanted to be a positive asset to their holiday celebration. That’s why, when I was hanging out at the family home, I stupidly threw wood logs onto their fireplace without thinking. I was enjoying the dancing flames in the attractive fireplace hearth, when I noticed that they were starting to peter out. I often tend to the fire at my family’s holiday, so I decided to do the same thing here. I didn’t want to frighten anyone in my friends family, so I located a stack of fresh firewood next to the fireplace and carefully positioned some new fuel into the flames. I thought it was strange that the wood wasn’t catching fire in this delightful heating source, however continued trying to stoke the flame anyways. Eventually, my friend walked into the room and gave me a strange look as he noticed me stooped over the fireplace, then with some concern in his voice, he asked if I realized that it was a gas fireplace, not a real wood burning hearth. In that bad moment, I felt like an absolute idiot as my associate and I carefully pulled to the real wood out of the electric fireplace. Luckily his family didn’t notice.