Getting Back To Normality
We are both hoping our crazy time is over. It all began last week, with the silly idea to shop after the end of a looong day of writing. Actually, it began before that, with our attempt to live as we felt like, slowly working our way around the clock daily with no real regard for a schedule. Things just completely imploded after the trip into town.
We made it into the next couple of days a bit shell-shocked, but forcing ourselves to function. Until J needed a nap. We went in for a short rest and awoke eight hours later, groggy and with total loss of our bearings. We couldn’t tell what day it was, what hour of the day. Our bodies demanded that we go to bed immediately, but we’d just come from bed. Our minds reeled.
We had to white knuckle our way into the next day, trying for a decent hour when we could again collapse. Thankfully, after that, we’ve been on a semi-normal routine of up at 4am and to bed by 9 or so. Do you know how good it is to feel normal??? To not have that constant buzzing in your brain? And I hate having to get up “early.” Thankfully, 4am doesn’t feel so bad when you get up, but don’t have to leave the house.
Our downfall was predictable. I set the thermostat. I should have known. Every time I adjust the heat to go on and off with our movements, something happens to completely reverse our schedule. Then we freeze while awake and constantly have to turn the thing back on or we cook in our sleep and I wake up shivering in a pool of my own sweat. Turn it down and it seems to think better and turns itself back up again a short time later. I can’t wait for our future, filled with robot butlers and mechanical servants. What will they decide is in my best interest?
During our time of crazy, I was walking through the kitchen at 3am and, as I took a step, everything went black and quiet suddenly. Just as suddenly, everything was on again and normal. I went ahead and crossed the room, then thought twice and yelled out to J, “Did that really happen?”
Indeed it had. It was one of those quick outages, where the tv/dvr system doesn’t trigger the need to reset. And it was the precursor for the outage to come. About 5am we lost everything again and went back to our pattern for when there is nothing else to do. We got out the Scrabble board and candles and waited for sunrise. When you write for a living and your mind is fried, playing with words is…not fun.
I should keep count this year of the number of times and hours we go without power. It is like living in Venezuela here. Only they aren’t attempting to conserve our electric. And this was before the ice storm!