Coffee Table Declarations
Monday, January 10, 2005
The other night the power went out. Actually, I was on my way home and when I turned onto my street headed toward the square, it was pitch dark. I had never seen it that way. I felt like I was driving into a tunnel.
I walked up the sidewalk, fumbled for my key and let myself into my building. There was an emergency light on in the second floor hallway and a girl standing in the doorway of a dark apartment. "The power is out," she so helpfully informed me as I passed. There was no emergency hallway light on my floor.
Entering my apartment, I literally had to fight the urge to reach for the light switch. It's funny how some things are so automatic. Unfortunately, it was even darker inside my apartment and I had no idea where to find a flashlight or matches or a lighter. I started frantically groping around in drawers and on surfaces but came up with nothing. This went on for about ten minutes until I realized that without light, I wasn't going to find a thing. I had to shine the blue glow of my cellphone into the back of a drawer to finally locate a pack of matches.
I lit a bunch of candles and brought them into the bathroom so I could take a shower. It would've been romantic if I hadn't been so aggravated. I then brought about 50 candles into my room and put them on the nighttable so I could read in bed. It was freezing because my hair was wet and the heat wasn't working and even the small fire glowing beside me gave only a dim light to read by. I felt like I was living in colonial times.
After about half an hour the power came back and I was so happy. I cranked up the heat, turned on some lights, turned on the television, and said right out loud, "I love you, Electricity!"
It's amazing how much we take for granted. Honestly, what can you do at night if the power is out? How did people not die of sheer boredom in the 1800's or whenever it was that they didn't have electricity? And is there something that hasn't yet been discovered that hundreds of years from now people will say, "My god, how did people not die of sheer boredom in the 2000's?" Probably but for now I'll be happy with my primitive internet and my simplistic cable television and my age old forced air heating system and the warm glow of a well lit room and 8000 other modern conveniences that run on good old electricity. (New Year's resolution # 1: feel more thankful for electricity.)
I walked up the sidewalk, fumbled for my key and let myself into my building. There was an emergency light on in the second floor hallway and a girl standing in the doorway of a dark apartment. "The power is out," she so helpfully informed me as I passed. There was no emergency hallway light on my floor.
Entering my apartment, I literally had to fight the urge to reach for the light switch. It's funny how some things are so automatic. Unfortunately, it was even darker inside my apartment and I had no idea where to find a flashlight or matches or a lighter. I started frantically groping around in drawers and on surfaces but came up with nothing. This went on for about ten minutes until I realized that without light, I wasn't going to find a thing. I had to shine the blue glow of my cellphone into the back of a drawer to finally locate a pack of matches.
I lit a bunch of candles and brought them into the bathroom so I could take a shower. It would've been romantic if I hadn't been so aggravated. I then brought about 50 candles into my room and put them on the nighttable so I could read in bed. It was freezing because my hair was wet and the heat wasn't working and even the small fire glowing beside me gave only a dim light to read by. I felt like I was living in colonial times.
After about half an hour the power came back and I was so happy. I cranked up the heat, turned on some lights, turned on the television, and said right out loud, "I love you, Electricity!"
It's amazing how much we take for granted. Honestly, what can you do at night if the power is out? How did people not die of sheer boredom in the 1800's or whenever it was that they didn't have electricity? And is there something that hasn't yet been discovered that hundreds of years from now people will say, "My god, how did people not die of sheer boredom in the 2000's?" Probably but for now I'll be happy with my primitive internet and my simplistic cable television and my age old forced air heating system and the warm glow of a well lit room and 8000 other modern conveniences that run on good old electricity. (New Year's resolution # 1: feel more thankful for electricity.)
