Powerless

This evening my power was out for 90 excruciating minutes. Anxiety built up in no time. I just sat on the couch, not knowing what to do with myself. There's nothing that i do that doesn't involve electricity.

Having my blinds wide open, i watched as the sun slowly descended. Panic crept up. I'm afraid of the dark. I don't even have real candles! I have tealights, for crying out loud.

I reported the outage first thing. Just couldn't stand feeling helpless. Having the response completely automated left me feeling very isolated. Half an hour went by and i was pacing the room.

I called back to check on the status. Any update, any information please. Convince me someone is actually working on it.

The window of restoration was between 6:51 p.m. and 8:51 p.m. It was already 7:11 p.m. An hour had gone by. By 8:51 i'd be in bed, after having a nervous breakdown of sorts.

At the onset, i heard a rukkus in the hallway: People running by, opening doors, asking each other if this was happening to them too. Soon it died down. Followed by dead silence.

In despair, I stared out at my neighbor's balcony in hopes of a sign of human life. I swore i saw something that resembled a boar's head. Decaying and putrid, perhaps. Great, i had started to hallucinate. Very Lord Of the Flies, no less.

"I need a drink, i need a drink," my head chanted.

But wait, i can't open and close the fridge 37 times like i do every single night. SHIT!!!!! So i can't even drink when the power is out??!!

Darkness gradually befell. I started to fear having to go to the bathroom. I had to put a tealight by the sink.

Ah! It dawned on me i could have blended malt, straight up! (Which by the way is not nearly as divine as single malt, i've learned the hard way.)

Just as i uncorked the sucker, my fridge began to hum. There was light again.

Back to civilization!! Hooray! To celebrate, i poured.

50 minutes after power came back on, one of PG&E's robots called to report the good news, just as i'd requested.

Oh, really? Power is back on? I didn't notice, with all my lights blasting. Thanks!!!