power day
lisa and i meet at work before we go to the gym in the morning. we do this at an ungodly hour when all self respecting people are asleep or at least wishing they were asleep. on my way in this morning i noticed two things: #1 that it was fearsome windy out. on a couple of ocassions my car was blown forcefully sideways, and #2 that the lights were out at the nearest intersection to my work. there was a blockade down the road with a flashing police car behind it. "power day!" was my first thought and if i was honest, hope as well. sure enough the power was out at work and lisa was waiting for me in her car. she was hoping that the power was out at the gym too. she said then we could go back to her house and sleep for another couple of hours. but no such luck.
all throughout my work out i hoped and dreamed of the possiblity of a power day. on my way back to work i noticed the power was still out. this was a good sign. lisa usually gets back to the clubhouse before me so i was alone when i went in the back door. it was pitch black as i felt my way past the lockers to the front where there was natural light. dave the boss was in no hurry to call a power day. he phoned the power company and they said the power should be back on by 9. we didn't hold our breath. they always underestimate the time.
we sat in dave's office for a while talking about his trip but the hunger was knawing holes in mine and lisa's stomachs so we took the only candle and braved our way into the coal black kitchen and made scrambled eggs. the blue flame on the gas stove looked cool in the darkness. i kept tripping over the garbage can. lisa kept walking into the walk in cooler to get things or put them back and every time she came out she would say "yep there's definitely a dead body in there."
back in dave's office i bided my time doing the new york times crossword in the sun. lisa joined in. and people would come by and offer their ideas. everybody always wants input to a crossword puzzle. it was cold and the alarm kept up a steady beeping. finally around ten thirty dave the boss called the power day and i left shortly there after.
i was all excited for a power day but the truth is, when i have an unexpected day off like that, i'm totally thrown for a loop. i just waste time. i'm a total waster. i listened to some vinyl cafe stories, i played spider soletaire, i ate some hummus and cheese sandwiches, i watched whale rider (her speech makes me weep every time i see it. even when i saw a clip of it in the "making of the film" speacial feature. i knit bethany's scarf while i watched. then i read my scriptures and had a two hour nap. and i didn't want to have a nap, but i was so sleepy and my bed was so inviting. and now i should be in bed so i get enough sleep tonight but i can't. not a whit tired. not a W-H-I-T.
i looked through all my knitting books dreaming of the projects i want to do, reading patterns, trying to imagine if i could do the tricky parts in the patterns and so on. meanwhile karey came in and put on a dvd of season one of the british version of the office. so i watched a couple of episodes with her. sometimes funny and sometimes way too crude and sometimes excruciatingly annoying.
karey and i are talking back and forth on msn. she's upstairs on her computer. we're both talking to our old friend israel. we're acting kind of like a team and suddenly it all came back to me. back when we lived in nanaimo and i worked for dad at his office. we were there after hours for some reason and dad had left his lap top in his office. we decided to go on an lds chat site from our respective computers and pretend to accidentally meet up there. purely for our own amusement. so we did when we were playiing out our little skit, karey asked me what my real name was. i totally surprised (and delighted if i say so myself) her by saying sister hartford (a mom in our ward). she laughed from dad's office and said she was sister vanderleek. or else it was vice verca. we asked each other about the potluck coming up... anyways, i just made a sister vanderleek--sister hartford comment and we both had a good private laugh about it. but i could hear her laughing upstairs and that made me laugh more. you know?
all throughout my work out i hoped and dreamed of the possiblity of a power day. on my way back to work i noticed the power was still out. this was a good sign. lisa usually gets back to the clubhouse before me so i was alone when i went in the back door. it was pitch black as i felt my way past the lockers to the front where there was natural light. dave the boss was in no hurry to call a power day. he phoned the power company and they said the power should be back on by 9. we didn't hold our breath. they always underestimate the time.
we sat in dave's office for a while talking about his trip but the hunger was knawing holes in mine and lisa's stomachs so we took the only candle and braved our way into the coal black kitchen and made scrambled eggs. the blue flame on the gas stove looked cool in the darkness. i kept tripping over the garbage can. lisa kept walking into the walk in cooler to get things or put them back and every time she came out she would say "yep there's definitely a dead body in there."
back in dave's office i bided my time doing the new york times crossword in the sun. lisa joined in. and people would come by and offer their ideas. everybody always wants input to a crossword puzzle. it was cold and the alarm kept up a steady beeping. finally around ten thirty dave the boss called the power day and i left shortly there after.
i was all excited for a power day but the truth is, when i have an unexpected day off like that, i'm totally thrown for a loop. i just waste time. i'm a total waster. i listened to some vinyl cafe stories, i played spider soletaire, i ate some hummus and cheese sandwiches, i watched whale rider (her speech makes me weep every time i see it. even when i saw a clip of it in the "making of the film" speacial feature. i knit bethany's scarf while i watched. then i read my scriptures and had a two hour nap. and i didn't want to have a nap, but i was so sleepy and my bed was so inviting. and now i should be in bed so i get enough sleep tonight but i can't. not a whit tired. not a W-H-I-T.
i looked through all my knitting books dreaming of the projects i want to do, reading patterns, trying to imagine if i could do the tricky parts in the patterns and so on. meanwhile karey came in and put on a dvd of season one of the british version of the office. so i watched a couple of episodes with her. sometimes funny and sometimes way too crude and sometimes excruciatingly annoying.
karey and i are talking back and forth on msn. she's upstairs on her computer. we're both talking to our old friend israel. we're acting kind of like a team and suddenly it all came back to me. back when we lived in nanaimo and i worked for dad at his office. we were there after hours for some reason and dad had left his lap top in his office. we decided to go on an lds chat site from our respective computers and pretend to accidentally meet up there. purely for our own amusement. so we did when we were playiing out our little skit, karey asked me what my real name was. i totally surprised (and delighted if i say so myself) her by saying sister hartford (a mom in our ward). she laughed from dad's office and said she was sister vanderleek. or else it was vice verca. we asked each other about the potluck coming up... anyways, i just made a sister vanderleek--sister hartford comment and we both had a good private laugh about it. but i could hear her laughing upstairs and that made me laugh more. you know?
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