I love my job. End of discussion.

I can't express how lucky I am to have a job I love. Sure, the pay sucks, but that's what you get for job satisfaction.
Today has been a busy day. I woke up to a multiple vehicle collision which I ran down to the station and stood by for. Nothing too exciting out of that one. I then ran a few errands and came back to the station for a trailer house that was on fire, it was burnt to the ground so the owner told us he'd take care of it. I ran home and came back with my stuff for shift tonight.
I did an interview with a couple of captains for my research paper on firefighter fatalities. I got some good stuff from that... Then the insanity began!
We got a page for a wreck where a poor girl collided with a state trooper... Of all the cars to hit, you pick a trooper, good going! We got a code green on that one and before we could even get our bunker gear off we got called out for a medic assist for a pregnant woman having severe complications. We got there, loaded her in the ambulance, and I narrowly saved my hand from her not-too-friendly dog. Right after we got back from that call we got paged out for a wreck where I finally got to use my new rescue technician skills! We got there, cribbed it, busted out the glass, took the doors, and then cut the roof out. We did a reasonably quick extrication for having two rescue tech rookies on scene. Mark and I were really glad that our first real wreck wasn't huge and we were able to extricate the patient without them screaming bloody murder the whole time. As I was walking to the scene I was carrying a box of cribbing (a tub full of wood, weighs about 30lbs) that was blocking my view of my footing... As I stepped off the embankment I fell into a conveniently placed hole about 3 feet, smashed my face into the box and overextended my knee... I'm still grumpy about that one. It like a chunk of the hill was missing and replaced with a big 4X4 hole! Ow. I'm still aching in the knee area and I'm supposed to fill out an accident report.
After we got back, we got the rescue truck back in service just in time to get paged out for a chimney fire. We arrived on scene, Mark and I grabbed the ladder, and got ready to go up. As I grabbed the halyard (the rope on the ladder) to raise it, it snapped in my hands! That was irritating, but we still had to get up there, so I used my "mad muscles" and pushed the ladder up by hand. Then I ended up heeling the ladder for an hour while the guys got to play on the roof. Oh well, I was really hungry at this point and ready to just hang around.
Thankfully those calls ended by 10:00ish and we were able to get some food by 11:00. Yikes... It's 1:00am and I haven't even begun working on my EMT stuff! *sigh* I suppose I'll be up all night working on that... unless we get another call!
On a plus note, I got an email from one of the chiefs today asking if I'd be willing to "test" some new station wear... New pants! New shirts! New JACKET! I'm excited. Unlike my helmet which is stained black and proud of it, new clothes are always welcome!
If you're looking for a new song to listen to, I've recently discovered "Mad World" by Tears for Fears... I was watching a really disgusting preview for "The Crazies" and the only thing that caught my interest was the music! Google it and listen if you're bored.
-Jess