Slightly more fun than a root canal

Our power went out for no good reason at all.

We had no thunderstorms. No lightning. No tornados nor car wrecks. It isn't excessively hot at 12:30 at night, so I don't think it was caused by air conditioners cranking up all over the county. The power just went out.

The kids and I stepped outside -- yes, the kids were awake at 12:30 at night, they're crazy people like me -- and looked at the stars, which we could see incredibly clearly because it was dark for miles and miles. The skittering, scattered remnants of Hurricane Dennis streaked the sky with the wispiest clouds, and the stars glittered like shattered mica in the sky.

"I can see the Big Dipper," Woodrow enthused.

"Well, DUH," said Emily, "It's, like, the biggest constellation in the west."

Oh, she's so cool. Seventeen is *so* bored.

We stood out there, craning our heads back and looking at the stars until we felt dizzy. Then we looked around and realized that our town -- in absolute, moonless darkness -- is really kind of creepy and scary. I remembered what my sister told me about "War of the Worlds," and even I got the heeby-jeebies, so we came back inside.

I called Amy to tell her my power was out. Then I tried to use her very old laptop to get online. I got online and then the smart, old battery said, "Please stop abusing me. I'm old and worn out." OK, it didn't say quite that. But it was something similar.

I finally got so bored that I got in the car and drove toward Loudon to see if the next big town had power -- they did, so I went to a convenience store and asked the clerk what was up. She didn't know. I bought a small bag of Black Pepper Jack Doritos.

When I got back to the car, the kids (who were now totally hyped up by the power outage *and* being out in the car at 1:30 in the morning) were making up new lyrics to Guster's "Amsterdam."

"ARE YOU GETTING SOME HAIR? OR DID YOU GET LOST IN HAMSTER SPAM?"

As we drove back down Highway 11, streetlights turned on. They were on, but dim, so I wondered if the power was really back on. By the time we turned onto our street, the power was back on fully.

So the stuff in the freezer isn't in danger. Heck, I bet the ice cream is still frozen solid. The computer recovered the document I was working on when the power went out, and I've saved it nicely so I haven't lost all my writing. And I have new lyrics that will probably ruin all Guster for me for the rest of time. Snort -- hamster spam. ROFL!!!