Bad Luck, cont.

Emma doesn't think I'm cursed. I disagree. Monday, an ice storm hit. The Powers That Be decided to shut the university down as the sleet began coming down and coating the roads. Reason would have dictated that we not come in at all, as the satellite images had clearly shown the storm moving our way for days. As it was, several thousand employees hit the iced road at the exact same time that morning.

I tried to order pizza for dinner, but all locations refused to deliver. I realized the situation was serious. Sleet continued to fall and freeze throughout the night. A wind struck up, and I lay in bed listening to branches fall around and on top of me. At midnight, there was a dramatic flash and boom as we lost power.

When I awoke, the house was in the fifties. Although I had no power, I had hot water, and I was able to make myself a lukewarm cup of coffee with my french press. A neighbor knocked on my door to inform me that there were utility lines down over my car, tangled in branches.

As the morning wore on, those who had four wheel drive left for warming stations or friends' houses. The neighborhood was eerily quiet, like the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust. I discovered it was colder in the house than in my freezer. This amused me. I put my soy meat in a duty free bag I had gotten in Puerto Rico, and stuck it out my back door.

I slipped across the alley (literally) to visit my neighbors, who are in their 80s. They had several dozen candles burning on their coffee table, and it did indeed keep their house warmer than mine. Mrs. D said that her grandson had tried to take them home, but that she "didn't see why we should go to their house, since they don't have power, either." As I was leaving, their smoke alarm went off. Mr. D spoke up from under his blanket: "Well, I guess smoke rises." I took their alarm down for them.

Back in my own house, it began to get very cold. I huddled under the comforter with the cats and listened to my iPod. My friend A. called to tell me that the U was closed. She also said she would send our friend S. to pick me up if it got too cold. I called the fire department (the utility company wasn't answering) and they said electricity would not be restored that night. My desire for comfort won out over my desire to be self-sufficient, and I called S. to come rescue me. She sent her husband in his jeep, and I spent a lovely warm evening at their house.

Wednesday morning, we picked up A., who couldn't get her car out of the driveway. She gave us the very bad news that the Powers That Be had decided the library needed to be open, although the rest of the U was closed. To add insult to injury, we didn't need to be open for library services, but so that the computer lab that we house could be available. So we went to work in very bad spirits.

By Wednesday night, my power was half on. My car was still under cables, which A. suggested lifting with a rubber spatula. S. and I decided that this was a plan that might work better in theory than in practice.

Most of my outlets appear to be not working, some are giving a low charge, and 2 are working well. Luckily, whatever controls my heat is working. I believe this is because one of the three wires in the bundle is split. Every man I have mentioned the matter to has his own theory, and is quite certain it is accurate, whether or not he has seen the situation with his own eyes. It's rather like when Av.'s father told me from a thousand miles away that Av. didn't have strep throat, although I had examined his throat myself. We know what happens when a woman opens the hood of her car. I guess male over-confidence may have served a purpose several million years ago.

Thursday morning I decided it was nonsense that I couldn't use my car, and I discussed the cable lying atop it with a firefighter, a cable television agent, and my landlord. The consensus was that the wire was a cable wire and not an electric wire. So I moved it. And I'm still here. After the grueling task of scrapping 2 inches of solid ice off my car, I sprinkled kitty litter on the driveway. Navigating that successfully, I put the car in neutral and slid slowly down the ice in the alley.

Today my main challenge is having only two working outlets. I've relocated my microwave and my computer. Really, I can get along fine without everything else.

So I've beaten the Lent Curse thus far. Stay tuned for whatever fortuna next decides to throw my way.