Thursday, September 16, 2021

More Wondering

 As a follow-up to my previous post...

I probably would've had a new piece for either piano or string quartet up here by now, but I'm in the area that was hit most directly by Hurricane Ida, and have been without power (and hence my ability to produce or post any work) for 17 19 days now. There are rumblings from my electric company that I may have power later today or tomorrow, but as of now, my street is an island of darkness (Hey! That sounds like a good title -- all I need to do is write something to fit it; ideas are already percolating, even though it's not coffee, so "percolating" is probably not the right word) surrounded by light -- the power grid here is not very grid-like, but more like a tangled ball of yarn or a backlash on a baitcasting reel.

And then, when power does come back on, I'm going to have several things to do at the house before I can really get back to working on any music, so it may be October before I end up posting anything, and at this point it could be one of the several things that is close to finished, or something that pops into my head from having electricity restored, as momentum on the works in progress has come to a screeching halt -- really; I actually heard the screeching on the night of August 29. However, I'm determined not to let an entire year go without posting anything; just because the entire world has gone insane is no reason for me to join it.

On the plus side, I have gotten to sleep in a real bed the past two nights, although last night was less restful thanks to a tornado warning popping up just after I went to bed -- upstairs. Apparently, Nicholas decided that Ida had not completed its job on us, so has been pouring in more rain and wind before winding down. Not as bad as the initial hit, but probably pushed back my power restoration a couple of days. Oh well... the roof has bee tarped, my broken window patched for now, and I'm looking forward to cleaning out the fridge (yuck).

...

Naturally, by the time I had typed the above (on Wednesday, 9/15), the internet went out here -- again. I wasn't even surprised; it's just the kind of thing that's been happening for the past nearly three weeks. Plus, no bed last night, as power went out at my refuge, so it was back to mattress on the floor in front of the window unit. And the electric company once more said that it will probably be "a couple more days" before I get power, a line that they dropped on me last Sunday, so I'm less than confident that it will be true this time.

But there's some good news: Apparently, my cable and internet were restored last week; I just have no power to run them. Meanwhile, my brother got power back four or five days ago, but had no cable or internet until yesterday. Between the two of us, we had one fully up and running home, but also between the two of us is about two miles, so it didn't do us much good. I haven't priced extension cords of that length, but I assume they'd be pretty pricey.

So why am I making this post? Partly, it's to explain why the new music that I hinted at in my previous post has not materialized yet and probably will not for another few weeks. Also, though, it's because this situation is something that I would probably find funny (I'm easily amused) if it was happening to someone else. It's not nearly as much fun as it sounds, but I've had worse. In fact, many people here did have worse. My damage is probably below average here; parts of town look like a bomb hit -- it's almost as bad as the aftermath of Mardi Gras parades! You're welcome.

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