REMINISCING (Hope I spelt that right)

Funniest thing happened yesterday. I was waiting for my accounting tutorial to start at 5:30pm and at about 5:26 or so I was in the basement of the building doing some stuff and my friend was waiting for a me a little ways away talking to some other people we know. And while this is happening all of a sudden we're immersed into darkness...PITCH BLACK. The minute the lights go out I begin to hear people going "Oh my God! What's happening?" and you can hear girls shrieking (loudest of which were the girls my friend was talking to). The lights were out for a total of maybe about ooooohh...20 seconds (tops) I'd say before the generators kicked in and we got partial power returned to the building.

The whole episode reminded me of Pakistan though. Brought back a flood of memories gathered over an entire childhood. Power outages there were (and still are) the norm. The minute u had one drop of rain or even an intimation that it MIGHT rain we'd lose all traces of electrical power. If the power went out in the day it was a pain 'cause although you could see you'd sweat like a pig due to the heat. The nights weren't so bad depending on the time of year and I remember we always did make the most of 'em. We never screamed or anything when the power went out...What was the point? We merely stood our ground till our eyes grew accustomed to the darkness and then we'd grope around and get to the nearest candle and box of matches. Light the candle and find our way to where the others were. If it was a cool, clear night we'd put out the chairs in the yard (or lawn as we call it back home) and sit around and talk. Or we'd bring out the straw mats and place 'em on the roof (there are obviously no slanted roof tops in that part of the world). Then we'd sit around for hours playing cards or singing or concocting some other plan to cause some more mischief. (There were definite advantages to living in a house with not only your immediate family but also your uncle, aunt, cousins, and grandparents--there was always someone to cause mischief with and always someone who could be on the receiving end of all we'd cooked up).

I think we've forgotten how to enjoy the little things in life. Just sitting around and watching the night sky or camping out in the yard. I know I for one would complain about being bored and just sit in front of the TV set and watch it for hours rather than turn the TV off and go sit in the yard. The blackout in the summer of 2003 definitely hurt a lot of people/businesses financially and also hurt a lot of people on a physical/psychological level (getting stuck in an elevator or subway couldn't have been a very pleasant experience) but I also believe that a lot of us who were home DID enjoy it a lot. At our home we BBQ-d because our electric stove wouldn't work. We brought out the battery-powered radio and enjoyed the music under the night sky (probably the first time I saw stars from my Mississauga home). We took a walk through the neighbourhood, said "hello" to neighbours we hadn't spoken to in all the months/years we'd been living there. All because everyone was out on the street with nowhere to go. It was pleasant and I wish they'd happen more often. Atleast it makes one realize that there's more to this life than all the material things we're always so busy chasing.

Random song--None...didn't turn the player on tonight. Maybe next time.