Memoirs of the Provo City power outage of July 10

July 10, 2012

11:16 PM

I was alone in the apartment when the power went out. As I headed towards the front door, I had only my dark form in various mirrors to keep me company until I found Levi and Mollie walking towards me on the second floor balcony. We survey the scene before us: although it’s just as dark inside as it is outside, many have migrated outdoors to the patio or the front lawn. Everyone seems to have been searching for candles. Flashlights. Matches. Lost Roommates... The air is filled with the light from cars and the previously thought useless strobe app on the iPad.

11:20 PM

Relieved to have found the security of my friends, we chat casually about when the power might return until an explosion in the mountains sounds through the valley. A few screams, laughs, and cheers follow. They may be fireworks or something more sinister, but the theories go flying anyway. Mollie concludes that this is one of three things. Maybe five. For convenience, I have compiled a list:

--Zombie apocalypse (not likely)

--Terrorists (not likely)

--Alien experiments (statistically more possible than terrorists...but still not likely)

--Armageddon (Levi's idea)

--Transformers (robots in disguise)

           

            11:32 PM

A few more have joined our gang at this point: Riley, Kirsten, Craig, and that judgmental kid that frequently creeps by our window to name a few. Hannah has returned from Smith’s as well. Together, we try to figure out when chaos will likely ensue. We come up empty. There’s really no way of telling with these kinds of things.

11:46 PM

            Text tones sound throughout the front lawn of the apartment complex; last minute attempts of contacting loved ones becomes a priority as none of the phones seem to have been able to charge adequately before the incident. About ten minutes ago, Hannah and Kirsten decided to go to their cars. They haven’t returned yet.

           

11:50 PM

That pimped out golf cart keeps driving past us, and I’m tempted to throw water balloons at them. Police lights are also seen, but we hardly believe there’s much that they can do about this situation.

11:59 PM

            I yell over the porch asking who is going to step up as leader. One girl scoffs and asks what we would need a leader for in the first place. The rest of the group agrees with her and carry on with their game. They've rejected my idea. Even though I feel like it’s my responsibility to inform people about the possibilities of mass hysteria, I have never had the heart of a true leader. I couldn’t handle a crisis like this. I suppose she and the rest of them will figure it out soon enough.

12:03 AM

            Riley, not impressed, returns home. As he departs, he walks tall. I haven’t realized how much of a friend he’s been to me in the past few weeks, and I fear that this may be the last I’ll ever see of him.

            12:17 AM

            Hannah and Kirsten update us on the survivors at an adjacent complex upon their return. It doesn’t sound good—people peeing off of roofs and setting the lawns on fire… The insane have officially run rampant. It’s only a matter of time before they begin looting our apartments. To relax, we sing songs with the guy that’s playing guitar. This attempt to calm down becomes increasingly difficult, especially with that person with the water gun shooting us down every few minutes.

            12:27 AM

            It seems as though Levi has stepped up to the plate; A leader in him has come forward. He takes inventory of our supplies, namely the items required for molotov cocktails. Unfortunately, those are not a legitimate possibility as we are still in need of a hose to siphon out the gas from someone’s car. And of course, none of our cars actually have gas because we’re in college and we’re poor. 

           

12:35 AM

It’s been over an hour. Hope seems bleak, especially when Mollie makes a comment about all these people reconnecting, until their limbs start disconnecting. (She was particularly set on this being an experiment conducted by aliens.)

12:37 AM

The power has come back on. Everyone is returning to their apartments and picking up where they left off. I, alone, remain outside, determined to finish these memoirs and to answer the following: What did this reveal about humanity? My mind is exhausted and I decide to mull this over later. Now, it’s time to get some shut-eye. It's been a long night.

The next morning--Conclusion

To be honest, I am still not definite on what the power outage was supposed to tell me. Perhaps it was simply to present to a part of the city the opportunity to let our vices go for one hour and get some fresh air. Maybe it’s embarrassing that we need an excuse like this to leave our air-conditioned, electricity-buzzing caves to interact with real friends and sing Tenacious D and scare the ever living out of ourselves, but if a reason is necessary… until the next power outage, my fellow tenants.

-rae

He passed four months in resolving to lose no more time in idle resolves.*

I'm sitting on this awful, cheap couch

drinking the tea that I bought and forgot about until tonight.

I bought it for a change and to make myself feel better:

To feel wealthier,

like my bank account doesn't have a leak in it somewhere.

To feel prettier,

like I'm not wearing my old paint shirt again, or that my hair

hasn't been tied in a knot for the past week.

To feel classier,

like I'm not drinking it from a two dollar mug in a messy

apartment with dim lighting that makes me squint.

To feel healthier,

like I don't live on all the cliché college foods.

To feel smarter,

like I haven't seen any of my midterm grades yet.

I bought it to feel peace, because Indian tea could do that.

I'll try anything to get the line on my forehead to diminish so my friends will stop asking me what's wrong--to want to be with my friends in the first place instead of staying in to clean the kitchen on Friday night.

I shouldn't feel so indifferent about secluding myself, and maybe it won't happen tonight--maybe not even for a week or a month--but I will get better. Eventually.

Tea can't do more harm than good, can it?

-rae

*Samuel Johnson's Rasselas

Two more hours

Back to the grind.

Is that the saying?

Another day another dollar.

Okay, I know that one's right.

I've only finished my first class and I'm already committed to having a bad attitude for the rest of the day until I can go home to try and find something to eat other than Nutella and pistachios. And frozen waffles.

I'm sure there's some significance involved with the moment I stopped calling my house my home.

Huh.

Anyways, I'm listening to this song in hopes that the earth-shaking bass will jar me awake. Or shift my brain back into gear. Or just a normal spot for that matter. That'd be excellent.

But it's just making my forehead tingle.

Did you know that the space between your eyebrows is called a glabella? I have some very stubborn wrinkles there. These are mostly from frowning, but also from squinting all the time.

Is it possible for a 19-year-old (and 5 months and 5 days) to have cataracts? What about bad knees? I feel like an old person.

Last night, I was teased for watching Jeopardy every night on KJZZ.

I kind of have an old soul. I know this and I've accepted it. I don't like partying and I like prunes and I enjoy the company of other old people. I don't think I even need to grow old now. I'm already there.

Know that I'm not being an annoying kid who thinks they've experienced all they need to and also thinks they know everything... I'm just scared of getting old.

I'm scared of realizing, 50 years from now, that I spent so much time getting music and money and boots, and I won't like that music anymore or the boots won't fit anymore--no, I'm scared of regretting the time wasted.

I'm scared of The Christmas Story on TBS not airing anymore because all the parents whose lives were like that will be gone--no, I'm scared that the next movie won't be as good.

I'm scared of the fact that I'll probably be calling my old home 'the house' for the rest of my life--no, I'm scared that all my other homes will never live up to it.

I'm scared of not being ready to die because I didn't leave anything behind for the world to remember me by--I'm scared of this mattering.

I didn't mean for this post to turn out the way it did.

"... and I'm not scared of losing my family and friends, I'm scared of missing them," said the tortoise.

"I'll look out for them. And I'm not leaving, so you don't have to worry about missing me," said the tortoise's creator and sat back listening to music with the tortoise and massaging the lines between the tortoise's eyebrows until the tortoise had to get back to work.

-rae

MISERABLE WRETCH! FOUL DAEMON!

I am currently sitting in my favorite study spot on campus.

There's a wide window where I can see the mountains right in front of me which only made this experience all the more... well, just read on.

This spot was a little more inhabited than usual, but I sat down anyway in the only available seat and resumed my reading of Frankenstein.

I am about to make what I have recently learned is called tangent:

I hated this book in high school. My tenth grade English teacher made me read it and he (along with what seems like every other English teacher) completely exhausted me of any appreciation I might have had for the book prior to his class.

The list of detested books also includes The Great Gatsby, My Antonia, and The Chosen, all of which are probably outstanding works.

Well... maybe not My Antonia.

To be honest, I didn't even finish Frankenstein the first time.

Anyways, the book just pops up on my reading list for British Literary History (the history about literature from Britain) and I curse this professor that I haven't even met yet.

Well, the first time I felt like an idiot was on the first day of class

BECAUSE

the teacher whom I thought must be terrible to assign the reading of such an abhorrent book turned out to be one of the most passionate and sincere and donut-providing teachers I've ever had.

But hold on, I'm shamed even further.

(Tangent ceased.)

I actually did finish reading Frankenstein the second time.

I didn't really realize what was happening until the kid next to me tapped me with the highlighter I must have let drop from my fingers.

I took it and then looked at him.

"Thanks," I said.

"No problem," he said and continued to look at me strangely for a few more seconds before asking, "are you okay?"

I blinked in confusion, and then felt something wet on my face.

No... I couldn't actually be crying-

Oh, for the love...

I turned my face away quickly and showed him the book.

"Ah," I heard him say in understanding. "'Nuff said."

That was the second time I felt like an idiot. And not necessarily because I was crying in front of someone, which was bad enough, but because it was this story, this once despised, disgusting monster (haha no pun intended) of a book that had made me cry.

"No creature had ever been so miserable as I was; so frightful an event is single in the history of man."

No, that's not how I felt.

It was just a good quote.

-rae

Let me learn it properly from my guru

Mmmm... this guy is just livin the dream.

Happy international day of preserving the ozone layer.

Now don't be playing with me... Respect the holiday.

Don't drive your car,

don't use any hairspray,

don't even think about farting...

Okay.

What needed to be said was said.

This morning I walked down the hall to take a shower, and the cleaning ladies were just leaving the bathroom.

"Are you done cleaning the showers?" I ask.

"Yes-" one of them starts to say.

"NOOOO!!!" the other one turns to me and beckons me into the cleaning storage. She picks up a bottle and points to it. "A veeeery dangerous chemical in showers right now that I just cleaned. No shower for ten minutes!" She jabbed the skull and crossbones on the cleaner.

"Veeeery dangerous..." I nodded and walked back to my room.

I waited an hour until I went back.

Walking into the English building, I visited the restroom before going to class.

After I washed my hands, I realized the paper towels wouldn't come out of the dispenser.

No one else was in the room and I began to panic...

I started hyperventilating and right as I was about to call for help, I noticed a notice:

*EMERGENCY FEED ON THE SIDE, TURN KNOB*

Oh for the love of all that is good in this forsaken universe...

THANK HEAVENS.

-rae

P.S. This is comforting:

This, on the other hand: