"Red Light" - Stories

This Saturday, I experienced for the first the infamous red light blink.

This is my story:

I enter the room, wish "gl & hf" to the members on the room... I take a depth breath.. and I open the 250 points problem.

Suddenly a stressing and horrible sensation feels my body.. all my attention focus on the red light, ITS BLINKING! Noooooooooooooooooo
My hand tries to reach the stress ball.. but instead it discharges a punch on the table. My family asks me what happened.. and I start using swear words at the ISP.
The applet shows the "save your code" message and says it was disconnected :S

I try to think on the problem.. but I don't even have the samples, nor I remember every detail on the problem. :S

The connection is back..:D hurray! I reentered the arena and started coding. I hit the run-test button (compile errors, but kawigi locally saves your code and sample inputs :D), but the red light is blinking again X'(

The applet shows the "save your code" message and says it was disconnected :S

I locally fix the syntax code and and call some of my friends. Two of them don't answer.. and the other one is out of town :S

I ask my father to take me to a cyber-café, so he drives me by town until we find one.. "Hey look! that café seems to have computers inside!".. he lets me at the café door.. and goes park the car.

(15mins left!)

The internet is prepaid! And I only brought the mobile-phone with me.
I ask the owner of the café to lend me some money.. she refuses :S I offer my mobile as a proof that I'll pay her later.. she thinks I am crazy and refuses :S.. some random guy on the café offers me money :D :D

I go to the PC.. but it doesn't has a usb port since the computer is locked inside a jail :S.. I find the jail isn't 100% secure x'D .. so I'm are able to connect the usb with the code I had at home :D

But the computer does NOT has a working JAVA environment!

Other friend of mine sends me an sms saying he is on a computer now :D
I mail him the code and instruct him how to submit.
He manages to submit the code within 2 minutes to the end for (92points).

Meanwhile one of my friends mails me saying he saw my missed-call.. He lives 5 mins away off the cybercafé :D, thats gives time for the challenge phase :D
(Theres only one problem he says he has to go out of home very soon.. so I'd only be able to take part in 10mins of challenge phase)
I reach his home.. go to the arena.. and there's no active contest :O was it canceled? Nope they are fixing the room assignment.. and the challenge phase was postponed!

My friend has to go out of home :S and no challenge phase for me :(

And that's it, this is my red-light story :S
It would have been a good story if the 250problem had passed the system test :(

Originally posted on: Topcoder Forums