No Power - No Virtual World, Yet...

Yesterday, I was running through Avilion in my virtual world and merrily meeting people when I sensed something was different. I looked around at everyone I could see (perhaps someone was griefing the SIM (meaning they were trying to do something technically that would stop the GRID (remember the Matrix)). The light was dim, so I (who have power over a few interesting things) changed the world light from midnight to noon. Humm, very little difference.

You can get so intent in the virtual world that you just miss things. I realised it was also strangely quiet all of a sudden, or my perception was that it was very quiet. I sat up straighter thinking perhaps I was going to faint as it was that kind of snow-sucked silence that also happens right before you pass out. No difference. Just the absence of sound.

I turned to keep walking but seemed frozen in my steps so I decided to ask someone standing near me in the virtual world, if they could see and hear what I was seeing and hearing. I typed words (the preferred means of speaking to another) and nothing happened.

I looked at my little map and noticed that, yes, that must be it, it had gone red, a sure sigh that I or the SIM had crashed. The frequency of this happening goes up proportionally to the recency of an upgrade and today of all days I have finally given up and downloaded and launched the latest wonder-version. So I was not surprised.

I closed the virtual world and then noticed that something was still wrong, my Internet connection was closed. Even more of a concern, the power to my high-powered laptop was also off. I checked the battery life and had about 2 hours left!

Out of World

I went to my email system and tried to send some emails but the modem didn't work and the wireless link was also off. So I turned off the laptop and unplugged the power cord and the broadband connection. The absence of sound was everywhere. Wow the power must be off throughout the house, not just a circuit. Yes, checked the light -- nothing.

Some friends were over and they also noticed it but were leaving anyway, to come back a bit later for dinner, and left me to sort it out.

I went to the circuit breaker box and it was covered with spider webs, which did not set well with me and I peered in through the plastic cover and couldn’t see anything that looked wrong (I don’t remember ever looking at it before actually, so probably wouldn’t have known something WAS wrong).

Busy --Non Technical --Work

So knowing the power always works, thought I would just use the time to sort through a huge pile of mail and it would be up again. Through the mail and nothing. Reorganised some stuff on my desk, replaced all the books I had out for a couple of articles I was writing, worked on my clip file and then found my powerful wireless mini-laptop and powered it up. It had four hours of power so I was set, however the signal strength to the local source was very low and I realised I couldn’t actually work easily on it as the key board is meant for midgets and for petite women like my best friend, Carla, who has doll hands.

So I closed it down. I read some articles until it was too dim to read much and moved to another room where there was more light, but that too was futile.

My friends returned and were surprised that almost two hours had passed and still no power. We called the power company because it was apparent by now that every house around was also without power. The recording (for no human beings work at the power company nowadays (no human beings work in most places nowadays)) the recording was too funny to bear: “We know about the outages, but have not yet discovered the source, however all power should be restored by 9:30PM. We roared on the floor laughing at that!

Fun In the Dark

The boys thought it was great fun as they could not remember a time where there was no power. So we began to look for candles and torches (flash lights to the Yanks) and Carla told us all how when she was a little girl they didn’t have electricity where she lived and she studied by a kerosene lantern. We all tried to imagine that: opening books, using paper and pencil. Now too like a fairy tale for the boys to conceive of.

There was a sense of agitation from the youngest (7 years old) who has never liked the dark and he could not stop checking that his torch still worked even though we kept reminding him that batteries run out and he wouldn’t have it if he needed. He never got that message.

We cooked dinner on the gas (thankfully) stove by torchlight and then lit candles for the table. We talked about what we would do for the rest of the night and it looked grim because we are people who love to read and there was no light. The boys have just gotten a new bit of technology called a “WII”, and after only one and a half days of trying it out, they are now lost without it.

Me? I worried about the spiders who would certainly be out in force now knowing no one could see them slink around and pounce.

So we ate our meal and did something we rarely have time for, we talked with each other about our plans and hopes and dreams for the coming week. It was really neat.

As our meal was ending and we were thinking about how long milk would last without refrigeration, the power came back on. It had been off over four hours !! We all cheered and went back to our old routines.

It was really a gift you know, not having electricity for a while; not being able to go in world…