Reader Meet Author

Note: This post was originally hand-written on January 13, 2007 and is being typed on January 30, 2007.

As you may (or may not) know, The Ozarks were struck by a terrible ice storm yesterday, today, and, they say, will be tomorrow. The news told us to prepare for “widespread power outages”, but we rather foolishly thought that the underground power lines in our nice part of town would spare us.

Like I said… that was foolish.

Right as I was preparing to settle in for an afternoon of laughter with the movie “Clueless”, the power shuddered several times and died. So much for the benefit of underground power lines. We kept telling ourselves that the power come back on. I mean, we live next door to a hospital. Even though they have generators there, we figured a hospital would put us in a “priority zone”… or something.

Only later did we realize that the hospital had enough power to last forever… because the power wasn’t out the three blocks down the road to the hospital. After talking to a friend on the trusty cell phone, I realized power wasn’t out the five blocks or so down the road that she lives. And yes, she did invite us over. But we decided to stay at home and tough it out.

It wasn’t too bad at first. It was still light outside. We were bored. So bored, in fact, that we spend a good 30 minutes tossing a coaster back and forth from one couch to the other. It was almost like ghetto indoor frisbee. Almost.

We had no Internet even before the power went out. As I said in a previous post, our apartment complex, which provides our high-speed Internet, is in the middle of changing providers. Poor planning on their part meant that the old provider would pull service “a week to ten days” before the new service would kick in. But we’ve been able to take Mandy’s laptop out on our balcony to get a very weak and unreliable signal from the hospital. It’s such a hassle to hold the laptop up in the air (which is the only way the signal will come in) that we’ve only done it for “emergencies”.

Once the power was out, and thus no way to charge her laptop, we decided to save the two hours or so of battery life in the thing to make occasional checks of weather.com and the local newspaper. It was during one of these checks that we discovered Springfield had been declared a disaster area and that we were only two of about 70,000 people without power.

The photos on the web showed massive damage from fallen trees. Power was out sporadically all over town. Traffic lights were out. The initial shelters set up for folks without power were all full. We weren’t overly concerned, though. As of yet we have never had to run our heater all winter. This building just stays warm. Even now, as I hand-write this blog post by candlelight, our apartment is warm.

Oh. I guess I haven’t mentioned that part yet. I’m writing in my bed by candlelight. It can never be said that I’m not a dedicated blogger. Haha. Just don’t tell my apartment manager. I’m pretty sure she’s anti-candle.

But as night fell, we had no choice. And we weren’t alone. I took a stroll around the complex and noticed quite a few windows lit with orange, flickering light. But I also noticed people loading up their cars to head out of town. The National Weather Service advised against travel. In fact, their exact words of advice to people thinking about traveling through the area were: “don’t.” So far the roads are mostly just wet. But with trees and power lines down, and more snapping with each passing minute, travel could become quite dangerous without much warning.

As I’m writing that I’m grinning. Because we went ahead and took a little drive anyway.

By Monday temperatures are said to be in the single digits (and possibly below zero). I only had about 1/4 a tank of gas in my car and I didn’t want it to freeze. So we decided to go fill up with gas and survey the damage in our part of town.

We obviously weren’t the only people who needed gas. Because the gas stations that were not out of gas all had long lines. In fact, with the darkness and the crowds of people at the pumps, it sorta reminded us both of the TV show “Jericho”.

While passing through a parking lot we were almost backed into by a big truck with iced-over windows. It was obvious that the driver couldn’t see. Because even though he missed my car, he ended up hitting another one.

We decided to try our luck in another part of town. One of the bigger streets on this side of town seemed to have power, at least to the businesses on the street front (which is also how my friend managed to have power). So we followed that street east and away from our apartment.

The town looked almost fake.

Thick ice covered almost everything, making it seem like glass. Long icicles hung in neat rows off the power lines. And although the buildings right on the street remained lit, the town behind them was black. Eventually we found a gas station without lines. Unfortunately, they were out of every grade of gas except premium. But what’s $2.19 compared to $1.99 if it means you can go home?

I filled up and we headed back. On the way home we ran across a couple of downed trees that required redirection. And about that time, I got a call from my friend to inform me about a tree that was on fire next to her apartment. Apparently, it fell on some power lines, which were sparking on the ground next to a car, and had caught fire. That story confirmed two things for me:

1. It was time to get home
2. I would most certainly not be going over there! Haha.

By now it was completely dark inside the building. The emergency lights in the public halls were not working (surprise surprise) so you could only see to navigate the stairs and hall with a flashlight - which I was clever enough to take with me.

To pass the time we played a few games of the super-easy Tribond. When that thrill wore off we decided to play “name that tune” with my iPod, which proved to be more entertaining. Keep in mind this is all being done by candlelight, too. After the iPod game got old we moved on to charades.

Between games we made trips outside to see if the hospital, our reminder that civilization still existed, was still lit. Mandy had seen two bright green flashes off in the distance earlier and based on the intensity we decided they were probably caused by transformers blowing out. We halfway expected the hospital to lose power at any minute.

But alas, even now it is still running off city power (you can tell because all of the signs and other “non-essential” lights are still on). The sirens continue to roar past, going to and from the emergency room I assume. And other than the sound of the occasional car of the brave/stupid driver willing to risk going out in this, all else is quiet.

Very quiet.

In fact, I just realized that I haven’t heard the normal coming and going of the MediVac helicopters that usually go non-stop from the roof of the hospital. Maybe they’ve been grounded by ice?

As over-dramatic as it might sound, the quiet is quite erie. This is normally a bustling part of town, even at night. Saturday nights are karaoke nights at the bar across the street and I can usually hear it. I can hear people coming and going… leaving loud and drunk… singing poorly… squealing out of the parking lot.

But not tonight.

Tonight I can hear the sound of this pen as it moves across the page. Tonight I can hear the water moving through the pipes. I can hear my neighbors talking in their bedroom (at least I hope they’re talking). I can even hear my cat snoring!

They say it will take “at least” until Wednesday before power is restored to everyone in the area. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we’re not last on the list to get fixed. I know that a power outage isn’t the most traumatic experience a person can face. But this is my first long-term one and it’s been a little unnerving.

I’ve also realized how much I’ve come to depend on our technological wonders during my day-to-day existence. I keep going for the remote to turn the TV on. I keep flipping light switches on when I enter a room, even though I have a candle in-hand like Ebineezer Scrooge. I keep wondering if anything good is on video-on-demand or if I should just pop in a DVD instead. I want to look at the clock to see what time it is - but all of my clocks are digital. And I wanted to make a frozen pizza for dinner… but over is out and the freezer food is in a laundry basket on the balcony. Mandy suggested we cook jalapeno poppers over a candle… but something told me that would turn out badly. And once my phone charge dies and Mandy’s computer runs out out juice, I’m cut off. Wait. Mandy has a car charger for her cell phone, so scratch that last part. We’re out of hot water so a long, comfy shower is out of the question.

I know I’m not going to die and that all of these things are just inconveniences. I know there are a lot of folks in Springfield and elsewhere that are being affected in much worse ways. But my experiences and my feelings on the situation are all I share for now. And I wanted to share them.

At first I thought to myself: “this will make an interesting blog post when the power comes back on.” But when I started thinking about all the other things that I’d taken for granted I decided I would not let lack of power keep me from “writing on my blog.” So I went back to the basics, grabbed a pen and some paper (which I had to actually search for) and started writing this.

It’s quite obvious I haven’t written anything of length in a long time - my hand hurts, my arm is sore, and I might actually be getting a blister on my finger! But it’s been worth it. Using a pen and paper honestly makes me feel like a writer again. And there’s something almost intoxicating about the feel, sound, and smell of paper crisp with ink-written words. Or maybe I’m just weird like that.

But it has reaffirmed to me that writing is my passion. It’s what I love to do. With all of the writing I do for work and at Reader Meet Author on the computer I’d almost forgotten how much I loved watching pages fill with words. My words.

Since I have no scanner and no Internet right now I don’t know when I’ll be able to post this. I thought about typing it up once the power came back on. But I don’t think I will. I think I’ll leave this one on paper. Maybe I’ll find a way to scan and display the pages on Reader Meet Author. Or maybe I’ll just tell you about writing this. Regardless, I don’t know when/if anyone else will ever see it. And that’s okay. Hopefully I’ll figure something out.

Until then, remember that a little old-school pen and paper work just well as a keyboard.

****BLOWS HIS CANDLE OUT****