15 Seconds of Fame

Last weekend, I was awoken around 2am by a loud BOOM coming from the front yard. Knowing that anything that can happen does happen to the Mazottis, I immediately woke Tony up to investigate.

From the front porch we could see and hear nothing. Pitch black. Well that is strange. Then Tony noticed that the metal trash can across the street from our house (for the park) was "blinking." He asked me to grab a flashlight so he could go look inside. As he approached the can a strong odor of smoke could be smelt in the air. I immediately thought my house was on fire. The trash can must be a separate thing....something blew up in my attic and my house was on fire...I just knew it! But no. There was no smoke in the house. One of my neighbor's houses was on fire! I knew it! But no. That was all just me being dramatic. The garbage can was on fire. Well, smoldering really.

Once Tony determined that the trash can fire wasn't going to spread we headed back in the house and Tony went back to bed. I stayed up, rewinding video footage from the security cameras that we had installed on the house last year after our 4th vehicle theft. Sure enough...at 1:56am the video showed someone dropping something on fire into the can, run off, and then 10 seconds later a huge boom! I made Tony watch the video and call the cops. We told them that the trash can was still smoldering. Then we went to bed.

The next morning Tony was leaving for the fire station. On his way to the car, he decided to take one more look in the garbage can. He saw a piece of pvc pipe and a large amount of marijuana stems inside, which usually has pizza boxes and remnants of pinatas. He called the police again to report a pipe bomb in the can and went off to work.

About 30 minutes later they had the entire street blocked off in every direction. The bomb squad was on the scene because all of the sudden, after a civilian had done his own investigation, they were concerned about everyone's safety. Apparently they weren't concerned at 2am when we called them saying that the garbage can had blown up and was still on fire. But now that a pvc pipe was found it was like priority #1. Ridiculous if you ask me.

After holding us captive for an hour while they did there "investigation" I was ready to go crazy. I put the kids in the stroller and was just leaving my house when the Channel 7 News van pulled up. A man got out and told me that he heard that I had video of the incident that happened there this morning. I told him I did. He asked if I would be willing to give an interview and show him the video. I said sure. While Channel 7 was there doing there bit, Channel 4 pulled up. I told them no more interviews. They begged for 30 seconds. I said ok. The whole time not telling them that I had video because Channel 7 had begged to have the exclusive rights to it. I should have charged. After all of the hubbub and after my run, I was back in my house when Channel 13 came knocking on the door. I didn't answer. This was getting absurd!

That night I was channels 4 and 7 at 5pm and 10pm. Then I was on the next morning. Then the next night. They were playing multiple clips from the interview. Every time I watched it was something different. They led with things like "she is afraid that something like this will happen again" which I never said. Totally sensationalized the whole thing. My perspective on news agencies has certainly changed.

Then the text messages started. "I saw you on the news." "Nice shorts." "Great interview." "Now everyone knows where you live!" "Can I have your autograph?" Then I ran into a firefighter at the gym. "Aren't you Tony's wife? I saw you on the news!" Then the UPS driver..."wasn't that you on the news?" Ahhhhhhh! I was ready to set my own pipe bomb across town just to take the heat off of my story! It's on You Tube for God sakes!

So that is the story of my 15 minutes of fame. I am no longer signing autographs. My hand is tired. And if I see you on the street, I most likely am not going to make eye contact!