My Night Without Power

Last night at approximately 10:30, my lights blinked twice and then went out completely. As everyone naturally does, I sat there in complete darkness for about a minute to see if this was for real. I guess it was. I made my way to a flashlight and then to the window. I was disheartened to see that across the street (actually more like across the parking lot) there were people in that building (still in my apartment complex I might add) watching TV and otherwise enjoying the blessings of electricity.

I heard some people talking outside, so I went to join the conversation and found the teenage girl that belongs to my weirdo/parking challenged neighbor that lives beside me and the sweet old lady neighbor that lives downstairs from me chatting. The weirdo teenage neighbor was in shorts and a t-shirt and had her front door hanging open (it was bitterly cold out last night). My old lady neighbor turned to me and said "well, Girl Scout, what do we do?" Um...Get a flashlight and some blankets (and not leave your front door hanging open) what do you want me to do? I can build a fire in the middle of the living room and have a singalong, but I don't really suggest that at the moment.

We all went back to our apartments. I read in my bedroom ::gasp:: and had the presence of mind to turn off my light switch and unplug my TV so that they didn't come back on at 3 am or whatever when the power came on. I brushed my teeth and washed my face using my Maglite (my cave tour guide flashlight) stuck upright in a shoe to illuminate the bathroom. I set my cell phone and decided to go to bed, but surprisingly found it difficult to fall asleep. Because I kept thinking things like: what if my cell phone dies and so the alarm won't go off to wake me up? how long will it take to get really cold in her? (that was as I imagined myself getting colder and colder...probably all in my head.) What if the old lady downstairs lights a candle and burns the place down? If I still don't have power tomorrow, where will I shower? Where will I sleep? And I probably shouldn't open the refrigerator so that everything in there stays cold, so what do I have that I can take for lunch tomorrow?

But all my planning was for nothing as around 12:30 AM, my lights came back on.