Five Days, Four nights. |
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Feeling: COLD! I'm so freaking COLD! For the past five days, I've been without power. For the past week, I've been without Internet access because of the power outage at my brother's house. This is the record of my life during those days... Be warned. It is very scattered. Otherwise, enjoy! Monday - January 26, 2004 12:XX p.m. I didn't get to sleep until 5 a.m. Somewhere around 9 a.m., I was awakened by my melodramatic mother hysterically screeching something about groceries (I think), our great dane, Georgia, and snow. By some miracle, I was able to add it all together, pull myself out from under the warm, snuggly blankets, grab my coat and hat, a bucket of dogfood, and a box of Morton's salt, all before the blast of cold air hit me when opening the back door. It was then that I noticed the inch of ice coating everything in sight. So, I made a path with the salt to the nearest point where the grass started (it's funny, really, I was mumbling "Mother's salt, please don't let me fall" the whole time), and then carefully made my way to the dog pen. The latch and lock were both frozen under that inch of ice I mentioned up there, so I had to hold it over the fence, and then lower with my fingers through the gap at the gate opening. Cold. Very cold. Made me have to tinkle. It's now half past noon, and huge tree limbs are falling everywhere. Our back yard looks like a tornado just hit. One has already fallen on our new fence, and I swear I keep hearing them hitting the roof. But maybe it's just a family of the small woodland creatures taking shelter from the cold. It's possible. In any case, Silver's power is out, so I have no Internet connection. I'm typing this in notepad and saving it every five seconds because I've already lost it once. I'm bored out of my mind, so I'll probably write lots of letters while I wait for the Gods of Energy to heed my desperation. Will write more on this later. Maybe I'll actually get to take a nap now. ------------------------------------------ 6:30 p.m. Power went off just after I wrote that first part, and it just came back on about 30 minutes ago. I'm so frozen. The temperature gauge LIES! It is NOT 61�F in here! I've got on two layers of clothing and a very ugly hat, and I'm STILL frozen! I tell you, I'm a spoiled brat when it comes to the technological necessities. Silver's power is still out. Which means I still have no Internet. Yes, you are correct: I am pouting. My sister came by earlier today. Guess she needed her daily dose of driving me up the freaking wall. I not-so-politely kicked her off her high horse. Bitch. Don't fuck with me when I have no electricity. Got two letters in the mail. And I've written one completely. The other will be an ongoing thing until I can get back online. Poor Neci. Our yard looks like a disaster area. Limbs were popping almost non-stop until a little while ago. It's like all the trees got rid of their weakest appendages or something. I really hope our power stays on this time. And that Silver's comes back up soon. I just need to check my e-mail! That's all! See if anyone's died in the ice storm! I'm not an addict! I SWEAR! Meh, better rap this segment up before SCE&G thumbs it's nose at me. I think I just saw flickerage. *cries* I'm not warmed up yet, please don't go off again! --------------------------------------------- 9:50 p.m. I fear we will not make it out alive. Our power is not strong enough to fight Evil Ice. Even now, it is waning. Our rations grow thin, and our hopes have been dimmed. Our allies, the Clan of Puppies and the Federation of Kitties, have forsaken us. They fight amongst themselves instead of defending us, The People, against the wrath of Evil Ice. They take our food, their stores having been spent long ago this afternoon. We can only pray that on the morrow our power be restored by the crew of the Mighty SCE&G. But we dare not hold such hope. Evil ice is too strong. We cannot keep Her at bay much longer. . . . . . . . . I fear this is the end. (God, I need my Internet back!) --------------------------------------------- 1-27-2004 11:27 a.m. Another day, another fucking round of this shit! It's STILL out there! This isn't right! This is the South! We should get one dumping of snow once a year. It should come in quietly, leave a beautiful dusting behind, and then quietly go away. This ICE can go to HELL! We have power, but the house full of refugees now, all waiting for the shower. You know, we're not the only ones in town with power, and there are at least FOUR other family households they could have dispersed themselves among. I haven't had a bath since it first shut off night before last to conserve the hot water--that water heater DOES run off of electricity, you know. But no, because I took one just now (and ONLY because the power stayed on all night) I'm apparently selfish. And disrupting my sister's bowel movements. Oh, look at that, our lights just flickered again. Wouldn't it be funny if it went out again. Okay, so no, it wouldn't be--not for me, anyway. My mom just came to say that Silver was going to get "me" a pizza. Um.... why? Oh, right. So the other TWELVE people in this house would have something to eat. I fucking hate it when I'm used as an excuse. Well, I guess I should go and make nice now. Or read a book or something. --------------------------------------------- 5:10 p.m. Me: "Is Nyk spending the night?" Mother: "I'm hoping they'll ALL spend the night." Me: *chokes and turns three shades of purple* --------------------------------------------- 5:49 p.m. I am going fucking nuts. I will start hurting people soon. --------------------------------------------- 8:04 p.m. Took Roo to get supper for everyone. Am feeling better now. Everyone in the freaking county was either there at the restaurant, or had called in a carry-out order (like we did), so it took over an hour. But we drove around looking at all the damage while we waited. Suffice it to say that, though there's little (visible) structural damage to houses, it otherwise looks like a tornado went through. It was so good to get away from here for a little while. And even better, when we got home, Asa was asleep. Silver has a hair up his ass to charge up a power converter from their vehicle(s) in order to power the server. OVERNIGHT. Um... hello? That's just a wee bit retarded on a good day. It's even more stupid when don't know if your phone lines are up and running yet. Men. Anyway, I'll be taking my sleepy pills soon. I pray that when I wake up tomorrow, my house will be cleared of all these bodies, and everything will be right in the world again. I miss my e-mail. I miss my diary. I miss all of my online friends. I miss HPU. Hell, I even miss pop-ups. Oh dear. I think I've just reached a new low. I took pictures of our yard earlier today, so those should be accompanying this entry. Until tomorrow... --------------------------------------------- THE REST IS TAKEN FROM A WRITTEN JOURNAL: 1-29-04 Power went out at home at 1:30 a.m. yesterday. Something blew across the street, so I imagine it won't be fixed until next week. My sanity went bye-bye about thirty minutes after the power. I spent last night at my grandmother's on my sister's bedroom floor. Might as well have been sleeping in concrete. It was warm. That's about it. Apparently, I'm not entitled to be in a bad mood following last night. I went to "bed" about 9 p.m. and woke up at 12:41 a.m. I laid there until nearly 4 a.m. All the while, trying to find a position that didn't cause ungodly pain. Gave up eventually and by some miracle, was able to sleep again. Mom woke me up around 9 a.m. This has been an entirely shitty day. Am home at the moment. It's a toasty 50�--that's 1� colder than it is outside. I'll be leaving here in a moment. God only knows where I'll be heading. Other than hell. --------------------------------------------- 5:35 p.m. Am calmer. I can't believe it's taking this them this long to restore power. I mean, it's obvious there's flaws in the system. Good thing: Grandmother's going to cut my hair. It needs it. Bad. Aunt Psycho was here earlier. She's going on day 4 in the dark. She crawled out of her hole to get candles and such. Actually, she was in a peppy mood. She almost choked when she saw me, and then had to make a smart crack about how "the power must really be out." Needless to say, I was not amused. But she said Gigi had power now. If she has a phone, too, then that means she has Internet! Wonder if she'll let me check my e-mail...nah. I was thinking earlier today (yeah, I try to limit that to just once a day): my hair is falling out (has been for a while), I clench my jaw almost constantly now, I probably have high blood pressure, and my panic attacks have come back. Yet, I still don't think I have a stressful life. I mean, no... it isn't a normal day if my temper hasn't flared at least 15 times, there hasn't been at least 3 major crises, or my mom hasn't blown up/hit the roof at least twice about something stupid... Okay, I take that back. My life is stressful. I just don't have to go to a proper 9 to 5 job in order to reach that level. But it doesn't matter. To anyone in a position to lend assistance, I'm a lazy bum. A leech. A good-for-nothing who has no right or room to complain, or show physical signs that it is taking its toll. I'm so miserable right now. And depressed. But I have no right to be. I just want my power back so I can get online and escape this bullshit of a reality. ...Oh yay. Snow in the forcast for tomorrow night. --------------------------------------------- 1-30-04 about 1:00 p.m. Roo and Silver just got their power back about an hour ago. She was just about to walk out the door to come up here (yes, still at g'mother's) to bathe herself and Asa. Marla said there were SCE&G trucks all over town earlier, and I saw one myself. So, apparently they DO exist!! Now, if we can just get them to swing by our house before they go "poof" again, we'll be doing good! Mama said the man that lives up the road from us called the power company to ask if he could get a fire truck (he's a volunteer firefighter), and go up to fix the line himself. They had a cow. Said there was a very strict procedure when repairing the lines and that if they didn't follow it, the whole thing could blow. Sounds like bad organization (or engineering) to me, but what do I know? Anyway, if it's not fixed at our house by 7 p.m., I'm going to Silver's to check my e-mail. Screw my school work. I'm sure I have a valid enough excuse for any lateness. Will write more later. --------------------------------------------- 1:47 p.m. Mom just snapped. Expect all SCE&G employees to experience strange, sharp pains in groin regions. Bless their hearts. Am exceedingly amused. --------------------------------------------- 2:51 p.m. Who cares if I haven't been on my computer for 4 days? Who cares if I haven't washed my hair in 3 days? Who cares if it might be Monday before I am able to do any of these things. I have chocolate! All is right in the world. --------------------------------------------- 3:35 If Silver would just come home and transfer the servers from the generator to the main power, I'd go out and check my e-mail. I'm sitting in the driveway at home right now. I've got one eye on the utility pole across the street and one eye on this notebook. I've just realized that I can't remember everyone's e-mail addresses, except Neci's. Plus, I don't think Nathan will let me tie up his comp for very long. So, she'll just have to pass the word along for me. Sorry Neci! My mom is going nuts. She wants the power back. Now. I'm actually cool today. See? We can't get our moods together for shit. --------------------------------------------- 1-31-04 1:15 p.m. Woke up about 10 this morning. Marla and I were going to get a late breakfast, but the place was pack with the rest of the population. Obviously, they had the same idea. Power peeps were down here earlier, but they're gone now and we still don't have ours back. Damnit. There are FOUR TRUCKS sitting across the road from my g'mother's house. Not doing a damn thing. I was like "What the fuck?? Can't you spare ONE to go back to our house and finish?!" Don't think they heard me. Bitches. Paula's been reading this. Well, the written part. Hi Mom! Getting an eyeball full? Yes? Good! Bon appetite! God. I've got to wash my hair. Screw hot water preservation. There are just some moments in life when you must be selfish. Make sure those moments are always purely superficial. Bleh. --------------------------------------------- 2-01-04 3:54 YEEHAW!! We have POWER!! Of course, we're the LAST people in the county to have it restored. My mom called for the umpteenth time to report it, and we got two calls back from the power company. Both people said, "You don't have power?! You should have power! Everyone ELSE has power!" *blink* Exactly. So, anyway, two guys (very nice gentlemen, too) showed up and we told them what happened when it went out (i.e. sparks flew from the pole across the street). It took them not even 10 minutes to change out this teeny-tiny rod in what looks like a C-clamp thingy. Probably a switch, but again...what do I know? I was happy, of course. I'm ecstatic to have my power back!! But really. Five days wait for less than 10 minutes of work. *dies* Anyway, I just spent the last 30 minutes typing up these written notes, and now I shall post them and check in with all of my friends! Yay!! Power!! *giggles* Save The Rayne! - 2004-12-27 �
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