A Flicker of Hope

6.30.12 and 7.1.12

I woke up and did not have a clue what time it was.  My microwave clock was not on, and my phone was completely dead.  I turned my phone on long enough to see it was around 9:15 am.  My thoughts: “I still don’t have power, it is 9 on a Saturday, my basement is still half-way cool, I’m going back to sleep.”

And that is exactly what I did until around 10:30 until my IF dad came and knocked on my door.  He assumed I was up (since I normally am by this time).  I woke up and was told the power was still out.  Alrighty then. 

Not too upset over being up, I wandered upstairs to see how everyone else was.  There were lots of small tree limbs and leaves in our cul-de-sac, and we were the lucky ones.  A cul-de-sac over, a tree had split in half, been partially uprooted, and fallen on two cars (luckily, they didn’t appear to have taken much damage). 

After debating for a minute on how I could charge my phone, I realized I could use my car charger (at least, for a while.  Eventually keeping my phone in my car raised the battery temperature to a level too high to continue charging.  Phones are so smart these days).  I was going to check on my phone at one point when our neighbor, who moved in around the same time, came over to talk to us.

His name was Chris.  He worked for AT&T and was a very interesting individual. We discussed the stock market and then Austrian and Keynesian economics.  Chris is Chinese, so he had some interesting world views.  He seemed to be very skeptical of Austrian economics working, but didn’t think that Keynesian worked either.  We had a fascinating discussion.

After my economics discussion, I decided I needed to shower (luckily, the hot water heater is gas, so plenty of hot water!).  I wandered inside and showered in the dark (kind of creepy) and got ready by the light of my flashlight app.  It was quite the adventure.  I am just happy my basement stays relatively cool! 

Around 11:45 I was bored of just doing nothing and I needed to charge my phone more.  I started up the good’ol escape and started driving.  I finally managed to get cell service (that’s another thing, something must have knocked out the cell tower, because neither my IF nor Chris had cell service) and found out that GMU had power.  My random driving had actually brought me very close to the campus, so I informed my friend Thomas “Cheesy” Cheeseman that he should expect company!  He was very gracious and opened up his dorm apartment to me!

I was able to charge my phone on Taylor’s charger (Thanks Taylor…you didn’t know I used it, but I appreciate it!) and I chatted with Cheesy for a bit.  Since Thom hadn’t showered, and I hadn’t eaten, I decided to run to McD’s (along with everyone else in the area) and let him shower.  After a short wait, I was able to get my food and headed back to the AC of Cheesy’s room! 

A group of KIPers were going to wander around Georgetown and I was debating on going.  Thomas at first refused, but I eventually bribed him into going with the promise of seeing the school (which I also wanted to see, but we didn’t actually manage to see, oops!).  So, much later than the original meeting time, we headed to Georgetown to meet up with people.

We wandered around the area, stopping in at an Italian suit shop that was going out of business and a really sketchy souvenir shop, before meeting up with the rest of the group.  From there we wandered some more.  I wanted to get either ice cream/frozen yogurt or Cupcakes (from the famous Georgetown Cupcakes) but that never materialized.  Georgetown cupcakes had a line out the door, and we didn’t want to wait (but I will go back. I will get cupcakes, I shall enjoy them!).  Instead we navigated the street and then made our way down to the waterfront.  It was a pretty waterfront, but by this point, we had been walking around for a few hours, in 100+degree heat, and I was quite warm and very thirsty. 

A few members of our group were hungry, so the group decided to try the Tacklebox, a local fish joint. I wasn’t all that hungry (plus, we were going to order pizza and hang out at GMU later that night) so I just ingested high amounts of water and iced tea.  Time was passing by, and we were supposed to meet a couple people back at Cheesy’s GMU apartment so we (that is, Garrett, Thomas, and I) departed from the group and headed back to the Metro—harassing Garrett (aka Ken Doll) the entire time.

While it took us much longer than planned to get back, we finally made it to Vienna/Fairfax and I ordered Dominos on my handy-dandy-newly-downloaded Dominos app.  I ran inside my (still dark) apartment and grabbed my laptop and charger.  We had decided to watch a movie once Emily and Kevin arrived. 

It just so happened that as we were walking to my apartment, Kevin was already at Thom’s room (oops) so we were in a bit of a hurry.  Luckily, Emily was running behind as well, so the majority rules.  We grabbed Kevin from GMU, ran to Dominos to get the pizzas and then next door to Giant (a grocery store like Kroger’s or IGA, but I may have already mentioned that) and got some drinks, a small USA Cake (even though Emily doesn’t support being patriotic) and a few other food items to go with our pizza. 

Finally, we made it back to GMU with food (by this point, I was hungry).  Emily had beaten us to GMU, but she quickly had to leave again to go get gas.  We decided to chillax until she got back, meaning we ate pizza and hurled insults at one another.  Typical guy stuff.  Once Emily got back, Garrett decided he wanted to open the cake.  I say open because he didn’t cut it, he simply opened it.  Emily mocked the joys of the USA, professing herself to be a staunch Communist.  Can you believe that?  She must be a mole, trying to infiltrate the free-market movement, having us all fooled by her Asian economist pseudonym.  But know this:  We are onto you Emily! 

After many rambling conversations about some hilariously controversial topics, Emily convinced us to watch The Dark Knight (it was a hard sell too, I mean, we were all soo opposed to watching it!).  For the rest of the evening, Kevin, Emily, Cheesy, and I had a group cuddle (ok, so not really) on the couch while watching The Dark Knight.  At least, until a live action Police Drama started outside of Cheesy’s window.  A GMU police officer pulled over a car and then, for the next hour to hour and a half, kept the driver and passengers there.  I don’t have a clue what went down, other than someone had to come and drive the car with the original driver and the other occupants away. Quite the excitement (I felt like the world’s biggest creeper). 

When The Dark Knight was over, it was time to call it a night.  I had to run Garrett to the Metro stop, and we were all tired, so we disbanded our little group (which had acquired two of Cheesy’s other roommates) and went our separate ways. 

I was really hoping that my power would be back on when I got home.  I was momentarily optimistic when I noticed that one traffic light that had previously been out was on…at least, until I got to the next light that was still out.  It was strange to be driving thru an area with lights and then, the next block is completely black. It was incredibly eerie.  Almost like something from a horror or war movie.  

After arriving back to my apartment (with a small spark of hope left) I walked into the dark house.  Still, no power.  I walked down to the basement—which I am incredibly happy I decided on—and got ready for bed in the dark.  When I was apartment hunting, a small voice kept saying live in a tall apartment building. I wanted to have the experience of an apartment building, but I am ever so thankful I decided to take the basement apartment.  It stays relatively cool down here at all times (even when the AC and power have been off for 42 hours). 

So, I called it a night, hoping, truly hoping that I would have power in the morning. 

Which I didn’t.  (7.1.12)

I did, however, have a phone with a charger, because I charged it at Cheesy’s all during the movie.  So, I at least knew what time it was when I woke up. 

Around 11 or 11:30, I was in the shower when I heard lots of clicking and I noticed a light was on.  I reached out of the shower and pushed the dimmer switch and the bathroom light turned on!  I was so excited, until the lights flickered and went off again.  For that moment, I had hope that they would flicker again and stay on, but my hope quickly died.  That flicker of hope was simply that, a flicker!

I wandered upstairs where my IF was very excited; they assumed the flicker meant that by the days end we would have power again!  However, even their hopes dimmed as we read the news (via cellular phone device) that there were still 280,000 people in Northern Virginia alone that still did not have power.  That number did not include the rest of Virginia, Southern Ohio or West Virginia.  Ugh.  That’s still a lot of people in need of power with very little hope of being on the top priority list.

Since I had not blogged in the past week, I decided I would use my laptop for as long as I could (and so far, we’ve been going for 4 ½ hours with batter life still left. Woo! Go HP long lasting battery!).  However, I am starting to run low on juice (less than an hour left). I also sapped some juice from my laptop to my phone to make sure I didn’t have to leave my phone in my car or drive anywhere too soon.  However, if my power isn’t back on within the next hour (and I’m not holding my breath) then I shall venture to GMU and utilize Cheesy’s AC and power to charge my laptop and my phone.  Can’t be without my electronics (especially since Skyra s also my alarm clock)!

And so, I have spent my afternoon blogging, and quite upset with that small flicker that gave me hope.  Oh well, eventually they will get to us.  I was very afraid that all my cold food was going to go back, but my IF has made sure that they keep the fridge and freeze stocked full of ice to keep all of our food safe! Yeah!

Well, you are now officially up-to-date (as soon as I either a. regain power or b. go to GMU and upload these).  Let’s hope this doesn’t happen again, because I’m not a huge fan of living without power.  However, I am a lot better off than many, many people in this country, and especially the world!  I mean, I’m in the DC area as a paid Intern!