My Diary

Sunday night/Monday morning was a bit of an adventure for Chuck and me. I’ve included below a diary of the events. Times are approximate, and get wildly inaccurate as the night goes on:

11:30PM – Power goes off

11:45 – Get panicked call from neighbor (Miniyee): can’t get Chuck on phone, is worried about power outage, sees many emergency vehicles outside

11:49 – Conclude even backup systems non-operational, possibly including alarms; disaster possible

11:55 – Agree to go investigate with Chuck, report back to Miniyee (and other neighbors) on situation

12:00AM – Grab Chuck’s very bright LED lamp and start heading downstairs from 18th floor

12:01 to 12:10 – Pick up many people along the way, scared lightless people hoping to piggyback on Chuck’s beacon of hope

12:04 – I make first Lord of the Rings reference (after our group expands to 9 people trekking into the dark)

12:12 – Get to bottom floor, discover outage not localized to our building, but biggest problems are; emergency vehicles gone, problem diagnosed as part of grid, city and electric company could take hours to repair it, but no immediate danger

12:13 – Report to Miniyee, who tells the neighbors

12:14 – Hungry, tired, thirsty, and not wanting to trek up all those flights of stairs immediately, head off to Wawa with Chuck

12:15 – Grow excited that the Hoagiefest deal should have switched at midnight from cheesesteak to turkey

12:17 – Meet Penn grad student who lives in building also going to Wawa, exchange pleasantries and conspiracy theories about the night’s events

12:20 – Get to Wawa. Hoagiefest switch did not happen at midnight. Employees useless and unhelpful. Had to settle for hot dog and metabolism-boosting pomegranate tea (needed for trek back up the stairs).

12:35 – Arrive back at apartment, only to be told the door to the stairwell only opens from inside as security measure; elevators still operational; dozens of people stranded in lobby

12:45 – Crowd gets sick of waiting, calls someone for help

1:00 – Chuck gets sick of waiting for the person called to actually come down, calls Miniyee for help

1:01 – Miniyee goes searching for some company since it’s dark and scary

1:15 – First person called arrives, opens door

1:15 and 5 seconds – Miniyee arrives, with two neighbors. Receives many thanks from Chuck and myself. Her words and smile are gracious, but her eyes hate us and our very existence. Faced with climbing up 18 flights of stairs, I agree with her eyes.

1:16 – Second Lord of the Rings reference made (by me), though at Chuck’s prompting. LED lamp is like the Light of Elendil.

1:17 – Third Lord of the Rings reference made (also by me). Some joke about heading back into Mordor. Stupid stairs.

1:18 – Someone in the group mentions that at least there’s no 13th floor. Trying not to be a Goapy Gus, I decline to point out that the first few floors are extra tall, and the ground floor is at least two stories. I do, however, make a clever joke about Ms. Zarves living on the 13th floor. No one laughs. Exercise must make people humorless.

1:19 – I observe, out loud, that there’s this thing called a “Stairmaster,” and I wonder why on Earth (or Middle Earth) anyone would pay money for it

1:20 – Miniyee makes joke about this stair-climbing being the most exercise she’s ever seen me do. Too winded at this point for snappy comeback.

1:21 – Walk Miniyee and other 10th floor neighbors to their doors and chat for a bit, make sure they’re OK—ostensibly to be gentlemanly (but really to procrastinate imminent stair-climbing)

1:29 – Resume intrepid trek, despite overwhelming urge to set up a base camp and make for the summit in the morning

1:32 – Return to apartment. Thighs hurt.

1:33 – Exchange pleasantries and commiseration with Chuck. Borrow an LED lamp for the evening so as not to injure myself getting to bed.

1:40 – Get ready for bed. Wish shower was operational.

1 minute later at 2:00+ AM – Finally look at clock. Night’s events took longer than thought. Exhausted. Barely remember to make sure cell phone alarm will wake me up, as normal alarm is inoperable. Toss and turn for a bit (no A/C, hot and humid night, just climbed up all those stairs). Finally fall asleep.

6:30 – Alarm goes off. Power back on. Only 84 hours until the weekend.