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Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Scenes from a darkened room

There's pictures at the end! Promise! I know, it's not the "lost in La Pine" post I've been promising, but I'm more in the mood for ruminations and rambling. Today was go-go-go non stop. The holiday season and the afternoon massage therapist (we'll call her C)'s imminent motherhood has my work schedule pretty much booked solid. This is awesome, and I'm completely grateful. Really. January tends to be a little slow, so anything extra right now will help with vacation and slow times. So, yay for the busy! Today was a flurry of solid activity. Here's how it went:

8-1:30 - booked solid work schedule

1:45 - pull into parking structure at Shops at Mission Viejo, witness man being arrested while more cops checked out a black mustang. (on a side note, I wouldn't call myself nosy, because I refuse to be one of those infuriating looky-lou's that blatantly stares. Class, people, get some. However, I am curious by nature and would have
LOVED to know the story there. Not the same thing as nosy. What!? It's not!!)

2:15- pick up laptop from apple store (no love for you, apple store, with your screaming children and pretentious employees)

2:30 - narrowly escape mall, but not before being horrified at the yeti-pelt vests and coats they're trying to pass off as "fashion". Me? NOT a fashionista. Ever. But I know ugly when I see it. Why would someone want to look Iike they're being swallowed sideways by Sweetums the muppet? OMMNOMNOMNOM!

2:40- bravely enter the 5 north, wondering if it's reheeheeally worth holiday traffic into Costa Mesa to get laptop fixed. Yes, yes it is. Le sigh.

3:30- drop off laptop to awesome Techroom, laugh and bond with nice girl helping me, said goodbye to laptop.

3:45 - pulled into UPS store nearby (never used UPS before, but how much more expensive can it really be? Famous last words.....). Did final inspection for loose threads and dog hair on items to be shipped, discovered that cellphone pouch snaps were not attached well enough and came off. Panic.

4:00 - pulled into nearby Michaels to pick up new snap pliers and snaps.

4:50- while sitting in Michaels parking lot, finally get snaps replaced and secured (yes, almost an hour. I hate those pliers, I hate those snaps)

5:00 - pull into UPS store, gather items to be shipped, talk to nice boy to get an estimate on how much to ship each item.

5:01 - literally snort and gather my things, telling him "thank you for your help, but I'll pass" when he states that the cheapest shipping will be $12 per item. I'm sure the customers would understand. It's a principle thing.

6:00 - arrive home after deciding to take PCH. 55 to the 405 to the 5? On a holiday weekend? Noooo thank you.

After being home for all of two minutes, the power went out.

Let me take a moment to explain something. Nothing ever happens in south orange county. I was born and raised here, and everybody Iives in a little cocoon of sameness. Same weather, the same places, the same happenings. If there's rain, or lightning, or crime, or a power outage, you bet your booty everyone you know is going to post about it on Facebook. Most people would find a power outage to be something freakout-worthy (ZOMG!!1111!!!eleventyone! I can't watch my reality television!), but I not-so-secretly love it. When I was little, and the power would go out, my Mom would bring out the old glass hurricane lamps and put them on a little table in the hallway as a nightlight. Then she would crawl into bed with my sister and I and read us stories. Cool stories. The old Grimm fairytales that involved scary witches, dogs with eyes as big as dinner plates and evil stepsisters chopping off their own toes and heels. It was special, and most of all, DIFFERENT. Out of the ordinary. I adored it. As a teenager, I was a fire marshall's nightmare, because I was constantly lighting the millions of candles I had all over my room. A copy of the Star Trek book "Federation" bears testament to this with its slightly charred, melted book jacket. Girl scout swear, this is true. It was accidental, and the carpet doesn't hold a grudge. I think.

To this day, I feel a strong pang of disappointment when the power comes back on. It marks the return of the status quo, the same ol' same ol'. Boring. Orange county. And yes, the power came back on about an hour ago, but I'm clinging to that feeling that things aren't the same as usual. Things got simplified for a while, and I'm not ready to let that go yet. So here I sit, in my bed, in my room, surrounded by candles and silence and sleeping huskies. For right now, things are different from the status quo. I'm not missing out on awesome social events tonight (okay, so yes I am....but we're pretending. Remember?), but instead I am reconnecting with my younger, more imaginative self who used to pretend that she was one of those characters in her beloved books who carried candles to light her path, wrote in a journal with a feather quill by candlelight, felt deeply that she was born in entirely the wrong century. I liked that Bonnie. She was full of inspiration and creativity. I'll be the first to admit, I'm a techmology whore. If it's new and nifty, I WANT it. Want with the fire of a thousand burning suns. I love me some groovy gadgets, but I also relish a simpler, more centered existence. It's nice to sit here in candlelight, not having to rewind whatever is playing on the dvr because I was too busy cruising the net on my ipad (see: techmology whore) or checking facebook. So to try and share a little bit of this blissful, simplified evening I will leave you, my one loyal reader (hi, mom!) with a few pictures of my little universe while the power was out this evening.






My knitting/reading corner. The plants and other cuteness make me ridiculously happy.




The owl was a gift from one of my bestest best friends Monica, and the hedgehog from Target had to keep him company. Woodland creatures. It's a crafter thing, just go with it.




You can tell Loki and Rowan are seriously worried about the power outage.




You're still going to feed us, RIGHT?! I know where you sleep, woman.....

3 comments:

  1. Remember the cobwebs on your ceiling that got blackened by smoke??!! I like the quietness of lights off - sounds go off too.

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  2. Hey Bonnie
    You write really well
    Very engaging
    And yea I totally get what you were talking about too
    I moss the teen version of myself who was much like you described here... Sometimes wondering where she went
    I still go to ren faires when i can and have my costume
    Read fantasy
    Draw fairies and dream I was one of the characters in the books too
    I miss the days when we all gathered together in Seans living room to watch xfiles
    And laughing when you all proves to me that o do look like the blueberry girl violet Beauregard from the original willing wonka
    Thank you for being a part of my most favorite times in my life
    Miss you
    - Jen

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dang I hate auto correct on the iPhone sometimes
    Lol
    Tech whore here as well.... Lol

    ReplyDelete

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