Mid-afternoon, Dante warned me that a big storm was headed my way. I checked Google and saw alerts for tornadoes, 70-100 mph winds, hail, all kinds of stuff. But it was still a bright summer day. I thanked Dante and went to take a nap. As a precaution, instead of going to bed, I napped in the closet with a sleeping bag and pillow.
I woke up an hour later, at around 4 pm, to dark skies and howling winds and tornado sirens wailing in the distance. Also the power was out. I tried going back to sleep, but it wasn't happening.
By 6 pm, the storms had subsided, and everything outside was calm and serene (except the downstairs neighbors partying and blaring hip-hop and smoking pot), but the power was still out. The apartment was hot and stifling. It was like the Captain's Quarters debacle in Copenhagen. It's times like this that make one really appreciate electricity. My work is all digital. (I hope Melanie doesn't need to contact me for anything.) Games are obviously digital; so are my books (ft. The House of Shattered Wings, an e-book which I almost finished last night and then foolishly did not finish before the outage). Practically all the food in the house needs heating, and it's all in the fridge/freezer, which I don't want to open and let out the cold air.
Several summers ago, there was a multi-day power outage over a weekend. I took the train downtown and spent all day camping at Starbucks with my laptop so I could at least have internet and air conditioning and purchase hot meals. With covid, that's not even an option any more.
After nightfall, I used valuable phone battery to check the outage map on the ComEd site. It said there was a power outage in the neighborhood. Thanks, ComEd! It also said there was not yet an ETA for power restoration. Thanks, ComEd!! It looked like we might be in for the long haul. I ended up not having dinner (I consumed 645 calories today—great power outage diet) and just went to sleep as best I could in the heat.
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edit (8/11):
At 2 am, there was a power flicker. The bedroom light turned on (I deliberately left the switch up so I'd know when power was restored) and the air conditioning in the living room rumbled to life. By the time I opened my eyes, everything was off again. A dark room. The sound of crickets outside. Did I imagine it? Or dream it?
Then at around 4:45 am, everything turned on and stayed on. The modern miracle of electricity! All hail the heroes at ComEd who worked through the night to restore our power.
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