Since I've been here at USM there have been one or two blackouts. Mostly at the start of term, and I don't think any of them lasted more than an hour. Until today.
Today I woke up at about five pm, to the setting sun, to be informed by my roommates that we haven't had any power for about an hour. Our dorm is completely out, other dorms have lost some or all power. I don't think there's a single building on campus that has full power.
That was two hours ago. There is still no power. I'm sat up on my bed, looking out the window, and I'm mildly amused by the gang of 7 or 8 mechanics gathered around the big fuse box looking completely perplexed. I wonder if we'll ever get any power back. I hope so. My laptop battery can only last another 19 minutes. What am I gonna do after it dies? I have no torch. Go back to sleep? I'm tempted to go have a shower. The bathroom is fun at the best of times. There are no windows, so if you don't turn the light on, it's pitch black. I went in earlier and there wasn't even any ambient light from outside coming under the door. It was soooo much fun. One of the things eon my bucket list is to experience one of those sensory deprivation chambers. The bathroom during a blackout came pretty close, for my optical senses at least. Not a single bit of light. And my eyes were doing those kind of kaleidoscope light things. It was gorgeous. And a little mesmerising.
Another mesmerising sight during this powerout is the sky. I'm in Maine, and I'd always expected to see a few stars at night, but with the lights from campus there's never really been any visible. Until today. I went and sat on the steps outside for a while. It was beautiful! The stars were so bright. There are two constellations I can always recognise. The plough, and Orion. I couldn't stop Orion tonight, but I found the plough. Took me a while though, I was looking for something smaller. It was HUGE. I wish I could have taken a picture of it. I did try, but I guess I wasn't using the right technique. The best I got was a blurry picture from some dude's headlights. My sister Jennie is an excellent photographer, and she has a degree in astro something or other. I used to know, I've forgotten now. Stars and space and all that stuff. I'll ask her how to take photos of stars. I'm guessing I'd need a tripod, and a long exposure. I don't have a tripod, so I'm screwed for now.
In the meantime, I'm going to have a pitch black shower. Either that, or go back to sleep. I wonder how long this power out is gonna last.
Note: the blackout lasted about four hours. I fell asleep and when I woke up the power was back.
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