Descending into Madness

I promise, this is my last post about the Frankenstorm. During the storm of early last week, I kept a diary of events. It is very clear from my writings, that I did not handle being without power very well. You'll see what I mean as you read it.

Disclaimer: No humans or animals were harmed during the course of events. Can't say that about my sanity though.

Monday

Morning and Afternoon - Typical damp day. Winds are pretty strong. Mom heads to work, post office, vet, and then is home by 10am. Rest of day like a regular Saturday around here when everyone is home... even though it’s a Monday.

4:30pm - Finishing up with laundry, changing sheets, putting away clean clothes, and preparing for the city’s power substations to shut down.

5:22pm - Two hours before the substations are to be shutdown to avoid any major problems, a transformer has blown in the neighborhood. Dad gets warm meal. Mom and I eat sandwiches.

8:22pm - Record broken for the longest time without power. Record breaking is overrated.

8:30pm - Mom using iPad. Bored. Going to bed. Ambien induced sleep kicks in.

10:00pm - Mom returns iPad. Write poem about Sandy. Must have revenge on Sandy. 

Tuesday

2:30am - Gryffin's dish is empty. He lets me know in every way imaginable. House is really, really dark except for a little bit of glow from the full moon. Or maybe it's Spike Lee.

6:30am - Gryffin becomes giant pain in the butt, again, because his food dish is empty. Now at 12+ hour mark for no power.

Morning - Sleep on and off. Thought power was restored. Wake up to find out it wasn't real. Go back to sleep.

11:00am - Tour outside. Everything non-living survived.Trees not so lucky. Sunny out. Take photos.

1:00pm - House runs out of Coke, still good on the cupcakes.

1:15pm - Dress new Becky doll. Take some photos. Pack her away with Mandy. Try to upload photos to Toy Box FB page. Phone won't let me. Hate phone.

1:30pm - Dad leaves for work after he gets new Taylor Swift song suck in head. Must now take ice pick to brain to remove it.

Afternoon - Test out some new building toys. Very anticlimactic. Buying them was more fun than playing with them. Still, will be useful for blog project. Also, more sleep.

5:00pm - Next street over has power restored. Streetlight shines right through front window. It is taunting me.

6:00pm - Governor press conference. Tells us nothing new.Radio hosts suck. Want to punch them.

6:30pm - Eating warm salads by flashlight. Watch as light gets dimmer and dimmer. Flashlight dies.

7:30pm - Write piece on Women's issues. Need facts and can't get them. Wish for old timey encyclopedias. Get angry. Move on to modern day issues. Get angrier at people's stupidity. Change to different article.

8:30pm - Neighbor gets a generator. Generator is crazy loud.Want to punch neighbor in head.

9:30pm - MacBook battery dies. iPad at 52%. Droid has a full charge thanks to battery backup.

10:00pm - Neighbor's generator stops. Hoping it has run out of gas.

10:10pm - Neighbor's generator restarts. Thinking about stealing it. If it’s going to be super load, I might as well benefit from it.

10:20pm - Open SimCity App. City in the red. Unleash all disasters on city. Watch it burn.

10:30pm - Ambien kicks in. Gryffin is snoring. Sleep has taken me.

Wednesday

1:30am - Need to pee. Stub toe on way to bathroom. Smear blood on cheeks like warrior. Feel like I should have a spear in hand.

2:21am - The generator has stopped. And there is no longer power on the next block over. Cackling like a bad movie villain.

3:00am - Gryffin starts crying over empty dish. Think it would be fun to hunt him like deer. Grabs a spear.

4:30am - Looters have come. Must defend home. Going to give head hunting a try.

5:00am - Have two heads to start my collection. Also got a squirrel. Wearing its paw on a string around my neck.

5:16am - Sensing my desire to hunt him, Gryffin deploys his cuddle moves and climbs into my bed. Calm washes over me.Followed quickly by a heat wave. How can one tiny little thing generate so much heat?!

6:45am - Realize it has been over 36 hours without any political nonsense. Smile for first time in days.

8:20am - Still powerless. Woke up in major pain with dry blood on my face. Feel like I might have been to war in my sleep. Mom and dad both at work. It's cold and wet outside. Gryffin has come to snuggle, going back to sleep.

10:20am - Seems like reports of rain all day were wrong.Sunny out. Can no longer trust food in fridge, so having cold pop tarts for breakfast.Forgetting what the taste of warm food feels like.

11:30pm - Head outside to attack dead trees. Trees attack back. Stupid zombie trees. Hands covered in sap. Overhead full of widow makers.Give up and climb back into bed.

12:00pm - Battery backup runs out of power. Phone at half power. Get notification of system update, repetitively. Phone isn't going to make it much longer. iPad at 38%

12:10pm - Mail was delivered. Mailbox now overflowing with political flyers. Fight urge to chase mailman down the street like rabid dog.

2:00pm - Sun has abandoned us. It's getting cold. Sleep has overtaken me.

2:30pm - Cupcakes are all gone. Mother Nature has bested me.She is like a scorned mistress.

3:30pm - Used last bit of phone power to text Happy Birthday to dear friend. iPad at 23%.

4:00pm - Mom stops home with mozzarella sticks. Stomach does not know how to react to lukewarm food. She takes all devices back to her office to recharge.

5:00pm – Tummy revolts.

5:15pm – Gryffin is crying his little head off. I’m not sure why. He is asking to be hunted.

5:30pm – I’m alone. It’s cold. House is getting dark.Realized it is Halloween. There is no candy in the house. Glad doorbelldoesn’t work.

5:45pm – Found a candle and a lighter. Going to go old school and write by it. Manage to get a number of pages done. Have indent in my finger from the pencil.

6:00pm – Wishing I had some music… “When a cold wind blows it chills you chills you to the bone. But there's nothing in nature that freezes your heart like years of being alone”.

7:00pm - Sitting alone in the cold, dark family room with my thoughts. Feel sanity slowly slipping away. It feels like I have been sitting here forever.

7:30pm - Made friends with a flame. I named her Amelia. She likes to dance.

7:45pm - Amelia is just sitting there, waiting. She is the flame that waited.

8:00pm - Mom returns home with a full charged battery backup and phone. iPad only got charged to 70%.

8:15pm - Amelia blinks and then she was gone.

8:30pm - Curled up in bed waiting for sleep to carry me away. Hoping the end is near.

10:00pm - Still no power. Pull on a pair of sneakers, grab my spear, and go hunt down the blown transformer.

10:15pm - Transformer found, turns out to be a Decepticon. We battle. He breaks my spear. Defeated, I return home and crawl into bed. 

Thursday

1:25am - Woken up by a strange, but familiar sound. "Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?"A 12:00 flashes blood red in the corner. The cable box is doing its restart dance. Random lights are on. Power has been restored.

7:00am - House is a buzz. Alive. Steam rolls out from the bathroom. A blow dryer turns on. 

10:00am - Turn on the laptop. Greeted by the familiar sounds of a Mac booting up. My TARDIS lets off a warm glow.

11:00am - Took a hot shower. As the hot water rains over me, I feel my sanity slowly returning.

1:15pm – Final Entry – Sitting down to a bowl of mac &cheese and a glass of Coke, while playing some games on Facebook. My world has returned to normal. Hoping the rest of the East Coast isn’t too far behind.