I'm Not Looking Forward to the Energy Crash...

2:15 PM or thereabouts- Power goes out.

7:10 PM - Power comes back on... but surges off-on about every five minutes for a second for nearly two hours.

8:55 - 9:40 PM - Uninterrupted power.

9:40 PM - 11:15 PM - Uninterrupted no power.

Guess which part of the proceedings were the most irritating?

When I was younger I spent a lot of nights in homes with no A/C, trying to get to sleep with the aid of an electric fan. Somehow I managed it. Tonight, it wasn't particularly warm in my room- maybe 85 degrees, probably less- and I tossed and turned, too sleepy to get up and play with the flashlight, too awake to go unconscious.

The day was so quiet I could hear the constant ringing of my ears. The thud-thud-thud of the nearby oil well and the insects chirping on the other side of the walls (I hope) seemed deafening.

And someday, probably within my lifetime (probably pretty soon if I can't find a reliable source of income) little things like air conditioning will become too expensive to maintain, either because of my low cash flow or the rising costs of energy in general.

I should devoutly love to see about a hundred Green Party / Greenpeace / whatever neo-Luddites spend a month living without electricity, or at the least living in the "economical" rationing such people advocate to preserve the environment. It'd be educational, and it'd make better TV than fucking Fear Factor.

Most importantly, I think a few of 'em will think the same thing I'm thinking right now: "Man, I couldn't live like that."

I'm Not Looking Forward to the Energy Crash...

2:15 PM or thereabouts- Power goes out.

7:10 PM - Power comes back on... but surges off-on about every five minutes for a second for nearly two hours.

8:55 - 9:40 PM - Uninterrupted power.

9:40 PM - 11:15 PM - Uninterrupted no power.

Guess which part of the proceedings were the most irritating?

When I was younger I spent a lot of nights in homes with no A/C, trying to get to sleep with the aid of an electric fan. Somehow I managed it. Tonight, it wasn't particularly warm in my room- maybe 85 degrees, probably less- and I tossed and turned, too sleepy to get up and play with the flashlight, too awake to go unconscious.

The day was so quiet I could hear the constant ringing of my ears. The thud-thud-thud of the nearby oil well and the insects chirping on the other side of the walls (I hope) seemed deafening.

And someday, probably within my lifetime (probably pretty soon if I can't find a reliable source of income) little things like air conditioning will become too expensive to maintain, either because of my low cash flow or the rising costs of energy in general.

I should devoutly love to see about a hundred Green Party / Greenpeace / whatever neo-Luddites spend a month living without electricity, or at the least living in the "economical" rationing such people advocate to preserve the environment. It'd be educational, and it'd make better TV than fucking Fear Factor.

Most importantly, I think a few of 'em will think the same thing I'm thinking right now: "Man, I couldn't live like that."