Don't you hate being locked out?

Don’t you hate the sound of the slamming door and the lock clicking shut, only to realize as you rummage through your pocket that your most precious item is left behind that impregnable barrier and you slap your hand onto your forehead and shout out, “Oh S**t!”. Yup such an incident happened to yours truly last Sunday accompanied but cursing of how stupid can I get. Normally I wouldn’t be so worked out because; a) my roommate, Patrick would be close by (usually next door chatting up the girls) and rescue is just a phone call away b) there would normally be someone about with known experience in breaking into the room without much trouble c) if all else fails there would always be the emergency call to the locksmith to try and unlock the door.

Well all options failed because I’m the only one left in the house and the keys were the only set left that I have. Thus after calming down, what else is there but to try and break into my own room. Here are the options;

Plan A
Climb onto roof and try to get to the room balcony without breaking neck in process. Get a makeshift long stick, improvise a hook made out of wireframe and try to get the key on my table, climb down and open door.

Plan B
Trust in my extra bulk to provide me the needed mass and velocity, go a distance back from the door and try in emulation of all the action movies to crash into the door in the hopes of breaking the lock or at the very least make my door come crashing down.

Plan C
Wait another 3 weeks, camp in my living room without the option of going out since my main house key is also in the bunch, live off ordered fast food and skip work with the excuse of a debilitating illness until the arrival of my roomie in July.

Plan D
Use whatever implements I can find in the house, use whatever force available and break the lock.

Though plan A seems practical it was discarded straight away, reason it is really impractical although I’ve known several people trying it before and succeeding. One the balcony’s windows are barred with grills as is the door. Two my table is situated at such an angle and there is so much obstruction thanks to my cluttered junk to allow for a successful extraction of the key even with a long pole. Also I do not wish to be sent to the hospital and giving my reason to the nurse as falling off the roof in the process of getting in my room. Plan B, I actually tried this, serious. They do make it look so easy in the movies, just a sharp kick and you’re in or barrel in and come out rolling without a scratch. Fact is its make belief, this is no plywood door not am I a professional stuntman. Using my shoulder and crashing onto the door only served to provide me with a painful shoulder and not access to my room. What’s more it seems the door is more sturdy than I give it credit for and the paneling were on the verge of collapsing instead of the lock giving way.

Plan C, well I could’ve done with a holiday but three weeks without y computer, no way. Lastly the final resort was to break the lock itself. It must be some stroke of luck that the lock we were using was of a high quality brand and not the cheap variety most of the students use which can be easily broken with a screwdriver or whacking it into submission. Using various sizes of screwdrivers, it took nearly half an hour to even pry the casing off and that not by much. Soon we graduated to using a hammer and trying to whack directly into the key slot but to no avail. Next came the momma of all battering rams, Laura took out our weapon, the batu giling tumbuk (stone mortar) and we started to hammer away at the poor lock and yet it didn’t give way! Finally after an hour, we managed to uncap the lock (combining the batu giling with the screwdrivers) and after much wiggling and work with a wire we got the lock to budge and the door swung open. I’ve got to give the lock some credit here, it has been with us for many years, from our first hostel to the various residences we moved to and finally resting in our current room. After that much beating, all that was visible were some dents due to the mortar and several visible entry wounds to the casing and after that, it still works.

Man wouldn’t want to repeat that again, I’m going to get another set made in case of this happening again. Hands up to all that think locking one's self out of their room is an idiotic and moronic act that would never happen to any intelligent person.