Living in the 1800s

For two days now I’ve had no power. My landlord’s phone is "temporarily disconnected" according to the automaton on the other end, the power company insists that power is going into the house just fine, I can’t find a breaker in my apartment or the basement apartment I broke into, and the electrician can’t come until tomorrow. Lovely.

But you know actually, it’s not a very big inconvenience.

Here are my observations:

During the day I don’t miss it at all, because since Earth Day I’ve gotten used to no lights before 9pm. Even after dark last night was kind of cool. Since I was afraid of using all the juice in my computer by watching a movie, or having my phone die if I called a friend to entertain me, I lit a few candles and climbed in bed with a pack of peanut butter sun drops (like M&Ms but ‘natural’) and a Dashiell Hammett novel. The wavering candlelight held right up to the page helped with ambience. I think something like Wilky Collins' The Moonstone or some other book that takes place in a time when there was no electricity would be better; I’ll try and find one for tonight. I read until 10:30 or so, and went to bed.

This morning I woke before 7, because the sun was shining through the window and I didn’t want to waste it. Feeling a bit braver in the light, I went downstairs and opened the door to the apartment beneath. It’s filthy: dishes in the sink, spills all over the floor, beer cans lining the couch, and a smell like old cat liter. No one’s been there for weeks, so I have no idea what’s going on. I searched again for a fuse box and didn’t find one, even in the closets. What I’ve now done is plugged a series of extension cords into the wall in the vacant yuckfest apartment, and flung them up onto my porch where they’re connected to a surge protector. Now I can charge my phone and computer a few times today, but can flip the switch easily on the surge protector after so I don’t mooch a ton of their electricity. I can unplug the whole thing before dark tonight and go again tomorrow if need be.

I’m worried about my fridge. I don’t want to open the door because it’s so tiny and poorly insulated. Then again, it may be hot already in there; should I be trying to eat those foods today? Guess I’m back to no fridge, huh? Now all I need is one of those old candlesticks with a handle to carry around with me and a whalebone corset and it'll be a regular Dickens festival in here!

Another thing --> All of this power outage business has given me a chance to look at the meter when I ordinarily wouldn’t. My metered electricity is 1/6th of what any of the 4 others in my building are. Woot woot! Granted, it's smaller and the others are 2 or 3 bedrooms. Still, it's not THAT much smaller!

NEW PROJECT RULE! ... and some Youtube for good measure.

Today being Earthday, I didn't allow myself any electricity (baring the computer charger. I NEEEEEEEED it. It is essential. There is a reason I'm not Amish.)

But anyway: I realized that for most of the day using the lights is completely unnecessary! My apartment is extremely well lit. It's sunny and delightful. However, I augment this pleasant natural glow with those horrible compact fluorescent lights most of the time I'm home. Why???? {Ok Ok, I know they're better for planet earth, but they take forever to warm up and make everyone look as though they're about to be incarcerated.}

This seems silly and wasteful. I have friends who refuse overhead lighting on principle and go about setting mood lighting in their homes through the use of many expensive floor lamps and track lighting. I could just NOT do that, not use lights anymore during the day, and achieve the same fabulous ambience! I could also outfit my tiny reading lamp with a better bulb and use it to light things in the evening (when, lets face it, all I need light for is reading.) I know that candles emit more greenhouse gases than using electricity to light your home, but once in a while some candle light wouldn't hurt in the evenings.

So there we have it, RULE # 3:

I WILL NOT USE ELECTRICITY TO LIGHT MY HOME DURING THE DAYTIME. IN THE EVENING I WILL LIMIT USE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.

Also: In honor of earthday I want to link to one of my fav Youtube videos, starring Clea Duvall and Leisha Hadley:

PET PEEVE: Flat-Rate Utilities!!

Like many in the under-twenty five bracket, I live in an apartment. It used to be NYC tenement apartments, now it’s Boulder house-converted-to-five-apartments apartments. Lots of things about my new city are different: the threat of mountain lions, the diseased prairie dogs, the unabashed hippies. But one of the most annoying things about apartment living still stands at the new address: I GET NO PRICE BREAK IF I CONSERVE UTILITIES!!!!!

I have “free” gas for the stove, “free” water, “free” garbage collection, and “free” power. By free of course, I mean it’s included in my rent already. So when I make a concentrated effort to turn my radiant heat down below 70, I don’t see another penny. When I turn off the power strip or unplug my phone charger when it’s not in use, I don’t earn quarters toward Friday night beers. IT DOESN’T MAKE A DAMNED BIT OF DIFFERENCE. So then, why should I bother? The stick-it-to-the-man part of my brain wants to turn the heat up to 90 degrees and wander around naked all winter just because I can and it costs the landlady money, not me.

I realize this doesn’t really matter to those of you who own your own homes, but as the economy gets more and more caustic, that is happening later and later in life for people.