Power Play

Last night I was sitting at my computer writing yet another thrilling blog post when all of a sudden the house goes dark. We had lost power. We rarely, if ever lose power because we are on the same power line as a shopping center across the highway. I expected the power to come back on within a few minutes, but since this treacherous wind storm knocked out power to tens of thousands of people, my expectations grew grim.

I got up from my computer and opened the linen closet to feel my way to some flash lights and then made my way to the family room where my mom was getting the oil lamp lit. We had just returned home from Popeye's Chicken & Biscuits with dinner for us, my Aunt Sandy and Cousin Charlie who haven't had power since last Thursday. They were looking forward to not having eat by candlelight.

They arrive and we immediately begin ribbing them about bringing their power misfortune to our neighborhood. We all call the power company to report the problem and hope the power comes back on soon. I really wanted it to come on before SNL because Justin Timberlake was hosting and I remember him being very funny on his last appearance.

After dinner my aunt went to pick up my Cousin Samantha from a church party while Charlie, my mom and I talked in the dark. We received some phone calls from my grandparents and I tried calling Cold Stone in hopes of acquiring some dry ice for our fridge and freezer. My Aunt arrived and they immediately packed up and left.

My mom and I sat at the table, candles burning wondering what to do. It was too dark to read, too dark to play a board game, we ended up parting ways and went to bed. I received a couple of calls from Charlie, one telling me they had finally gotten power and another informing me of why we lost power. I played Contact on the DS for a couple of minutes before closing it and going to sleep at around 10:45pm.

Well, to make a long story short; the cause of the power outage was due to a massive explosion at a substation that knocked out power to nearly 50,000 people. I woke up at 2:40am and saw my my alarm clock flashing 3:32. If I had been awake, I would have caught Saturday Night Live. Blast it all!