No Power; No Showers

Seattle Seahawks week night games terrorize this city. The first prime time game brought horrific rain and flooding, the second was met with freezing temperatures and paralyzing snow , the last game on a Thursday of all nights a record breaking wind storm that knocked out power to about a million folks across the state.

The wind storm was amazing, loud and somewhat scary. It literally roared and when the power clicked off at 1:15 it was not a surprise. The blue arcs from the transformers lit up the sky like fireworks. I could hear firetruck alarms all night. That was Thursday, today is Monday four days later and I’m still one of the unlucky who have no power at home.

Rico used his hotel connections to get me a room at the Holiday Inn Express in downtown Seattle. I extended an offer to Yazmine to come with me. Her husband left for a dudes weekend in Bend, Oregon so she was grateful and quickly packed a bag in the dark and met me for a return trip into the city.

Our night was nice; we walked over to Bucca di Beppo and ordered a pizza and a “small” salad which we took back to our room. We watched Lord of the Rings, Return of The King and then turned off the light and as we drifted off to sleep we discussed what items in our refrigerator or freezer we would be most saddened to have to throw away. For me it was some steaks and seafood.

We spent the day Saturday braving the horrific University Village holiday shoppers. Thankfully the valet parkers were still in a good mood and let us pick up my car even though the valet ticket had gone missing from my pocket.

Upon returning home Saturday afternoon I realized just how much time TV and the Internet sucks up when I cleaned my room and organized a couple closets in no time at all. I had been putting off these tasks for ages and with no distractions it was done in a heartbeat.

I made up the bed with all things wonderful, flannel sheets, quilts, the down comforter and the feather bed. I was ready for the sun to go down and for a long winter night. In the living room I set up candle after candle and hoped they would give off enough heat to make the room cozy. (WRONG) I wrapped the rest of the adopt-o-family gifts and had a delightful dinner (pb&j). Around 8 I finally gave in and went to bed. By moving 10 or so of the candles into the bedroom I was able to read for a while. This plan was not well thought out because I had to get OUT of bed to blow them out to prevent the house from burning down. Brrrr.

As a kid I use to think it would be so cool to go back in time and live like Laura Ingalls Wilder in Little House on the Prairie– well I was fucking WRONG! Those people had a suck-ass life – it is cold with no heat and boring with no TV. No wonder they had 19 children there was NOTHING TO DO after the sun went down except for sex.

Sunday – still no power. I willingly got out of bed and headed to church for a little warmth. After lunch I headed back home and decided that I am not rugged nor am I cut out for ‘roughing’ it. After dropping the gifts at our adopt-a-families home (which was roasty toasty) I darkened the door of Becca and her family. They have a guest bedroom with built in twin beds that are surprisingly comfortable.

They have a wonderful 4 year old son who increased the size of my heart tenfold, when he figured out I was staying the night responded with a little dance and “I’m so HAPPY!!!” Awe shucks kid, I like you too.

The bus service to Becca’s is a little strange – almost impossible to work a full 8 hour day – so I’ll be (darn) leaving work early today. Hopefully there will be power tonight – but I’m not counting on it.

I’ll update you when I can.