absolute power

it was looking like a good evening. my son was asleep unusually early, a good football game was on the television to occupy the old man, & i was settling in for a nice peaceful time online, when it happened.

first a flicker, & the sound of the hard drive clunking, then... darkness. it was dark as hell, actually -- power out in the whole neighborhood, hardly any moonlight. it took a few minutes to find some candles & at least get enough illumination so that the house was not a virtual minefield.

then it began to sink in -- what if the power stays off for hours? what the hell will we do? have sex? oh, that'll kill a whole minute. then what? not enough light to read, what are we gonna do, talk? about what?

i was getting ready to go get my wind-up radio out of the car & listen to some tunes, when the lights came back on. nervously, i pressed the power button on the puter; last time this happened, it fried the power source. sweet relief, as the machine whirred to life & booted normally. as it scanned its hard drives, i reflected on just how dependent i am on southern california edison. i must say, they have my undying gratitude for getting the lights back on in short order.

i don't want to think about life without modern technology. fifteen minutes without it was enough.