Blackout and TR517 Closure
1/9/2

I was tense when I left for church.

I got there early so I poked around the literature room, which is separate from the library, and got some stuff for when I have to teach Sunday school in a week and a half. I kept thinking about the camera during the mini service before our classes. I really didn�t hear the lesson.

After the mini-sermon, when we all stand and sing, the power went out.

I carry a small flashlight in the inside breast pocket of my leather jacket. I slipped out and handed it to the guy working "security". They used it to light their way to the room where the flashlights are stored.

We didn�t have classes, but instead sung songs in the auditorium that everyone knew without being able to look at the hymnals. It was very relaxing. It was good. It really got me untensed about my camera which was in a questionable limbo.

We sang for about 30 minutes and then were dismissed.

I already knew that the power was out for quite a distance outside since I�d moved my car so the headlights were facing the north windows. The biggest provider of light was this really bright flashlight. It was Mulder and Scully bright. However, it burned through it�s batteries in about 10 mintues.

When I got out on the street, it was dark. The first light I got to wasn�t too confusing. The truck in front of me may disagree with my assessment. I called Aisai since I was at a crawl.

�I�ve got a present for you.� She cooed into the phone. Hurray, my camera.

The lady who got it was quite old and it just really confused her. She didn�t really know what kind of camera it was or where it came from. She assumed that the hotel that she had stayed at recently had found it and thought it was hers and had shipped it to her. She called Aisai at 6:30 and was about to get into bed. Aisai rushed down and got the camera.

The lady was very insistent that there was only the camera and the cord. That�s what we expected. Everything was there.

It never occurred to the lady to look for a name or call anyone. She was quite old and confused.

So, I drove home in freaky heavy traffic. It was dark for as far as I could see. There sure are a lot of stars when it�s dark. Quite pretty. About a mile down Mastin Lake Road there was light on one side of an intersection and the traffic light worked.

When the light changed to green, I was back into darkness. Even when I passed Jordan Lane [Highway 53] all was dark around me. Plummer Road is usually dark since it�s kind of woody around there. Over to Rideout and it�s still dark. But once I get on Rideout, from the top of the overpass that goes over Oakwood, I can see that Target has it�s lights.

The commercial district was dark from Rideout all the way to the Parkway from the look of it. That�s around eight miles of stores and restaurants. The traffic was chaos as the police couldn�t be at every intersection to act as traffic signals.

On the west side of ridout, as I crossed over University, never had I noticed how well lit the closed Home Depot was. On the dark side, people were fuddling around in the parking lot of the movie theater. On the light side, research park looked magestic.

It doesn�t take much to look majestic when everything for miles is dark.

Oh, but the Saturn V was lit. You could see it from way up north on Plummer.

Once I made my turn onto Madison Pike and made my way toward Madison, all was lit.

The camera is great. I sent an email to Kenny that went something like this:

�Hey, you know, you used to have a really cool camera. But, you know, now I have a really cool camera.� And I explained about the lady, and then gave him positive feedback on ebay.

Aisai is watching some lame �Little Voice� female movie.

I also got my Deception III game in today. Whoo hoo.

The camera came just in time. Dinoback, Ukman, and Damian leave tomorrow. So, I�m charging the battery and I�ll print the manual [I have it in PDF format at work].

Gah, Little Voice is the most audio-offensive movie. It�s disgusting. Micheal Cane is singing and the gal just said �There�s no place like home� a few times.

If you know what I�m talking about, pity me.