night of my third world

a commercial break during the american idol austin auditions shows some big-wig from pg&e on our television screen. he proceeds to tell us that the costs of electricity are going up and before he is able to resolve the problem, we hear a sound- a loud pop outside the house and all goes black.

lori and i grope in the darkness to find the flicker match wand and she smartly uses her laptop as a guiding light. we step outside into the mistiness, flicker torch in hand. without reason, some houses on our block still have lights on, others are pitch-black like our own. we talk with our neighbors, outside, in darkness assessing who will contact "the man".

it's interesting trying to find things to do in the dark. other than showering and singing which both do not require light, i attempted reading by candlelight for a while. at any given moment, frankincense, bergamot, ginger and cedar scent the air in my bedroom, so though i can't see much, the smells intoxicate and overcompensate for the obscurity. i pretend i am overseas and consider what i would have done back in india, probably tell stories to my roommate, since the electricity used to turn off unexpectedly like a fickle man. but i can't convince lori to pull out her guitar.

i end my evening watching part of amelie on my laptop, underneath a mound of covers, happy that not everything is contingent upon a plug-derived power source.