I woke up last night to a huge crash of thunder and no electricity. I usually sleep through thunderstorms, but Zeus came onto the bed, which was a good thing since it made me open my eyes to see what time it was. Luckily my battery powered alarm clock was functional and I could see that it was only about half an hour before it was scheduled to go off anyway, so to avoid the risk of oversleeping, I went ahead and arose, hoping that the power would return in time for me to get ready for work.

The storm was still pretty ferocious, so I went ahead and unplugged my computer (though I fully realized that if anything was going to happen to it, it would have already happened, but it made me feel better anyway.) I got various candles lit, and then took a candle-lit shower, even though I know you're not supposed to shower during thunderstorms. But I wanted to leave enough time for my hair to air dry if necessary. (Gaaah! Talk about having a bad hair day!) After I got out of the shower I looked out the window at the neighborhood and saw lights over on my parents' street, and a quick phone call confirmed that yes, they had power. The rain had let up slightly by then, so I packed up my face and hair tackle and went over there to do makeup and hair. I also mooched breakfast while there. Damn nice of them to always keep a stocked fridge for me.

I returned home to still no power. I then attempted to find, by candlelight, something in my closet that I could wear to work that did not need ironing. I fumbled around for stockings, and managed to grab--as I later discovered--the most worn out pair I own. Figures. I then fired up my laptop on battery power, got online, and checked the radar (and my email, while I was at it.) There were lots of storms all over, so I left for work about twenty minutes early, partially out of a desire to not be late due to the weather, and mostly because it's really damn boring sitting in a dark house.

But, the worst part was that with no electricity I was unable to make coffee! I ended up having to drink some of the execrable crap that passes for coffee at work, just to reach coherency.

And judging by the time flashing on all of my clocks when I got home this morning, the power must have come on about 30 seconds after I left the house. Scowl.