When the lights go out....

When the electricity goes out, I suddenly have no idea what to do with myself. This morning I was looking forward to sleeping in, having a relaxing morning, and going into the clinic late. It was supposed to be a glorious day. But as the neighbors' crazy dogs barked as usual at 9am, the ceiling fan in my room suddenly stopped turning. I looked up and thought to myself "damn." I laid there getting hotter and hotter by the second, so I pushed the covers off and decided to go ahead and check my email and news for the day on the internet. Whoops! No wireless connection. And my computer was almost dead, and whoops! It wouldn't charge. No electricity. Gosh...ok, let me go ahead and take my shower. Uh oh! No electricity for the heater, so no hot water (and very little pressure).

As I stood under the cold droplets of water and pretended I could actually call that a shower, I thought about all the things I couldn't do without electricity. I've been so spoiled and dependent on it here, I forgot how much I lose when it goes away. As I got dressed and went to eat my breakfast, the yogurt was warm, the juice was warm, the water was warm, the cream chesse for my bagel was warm, my friggin apple was warm. And the fan I usually put directly in my face so as not to sweat out of my business casual wasn't working either.

So I left the house miffed and already sweating, on my way to work where there were so many patients and for some reason the AC wasn't working. It is SO hot here and people who know me, know that in this type of climate I usually look like Shaq right after a championship game (that went into overtime and everything). At one point, one of the ladies in the pharmacy stopped in front of me, smiled and asked, "Do you need some juice?" There was probably steam coming off my bald head.

Anyway, I thought to myself, where could I go to change and cool off? - the gym! of course, they have ice cold water there, plenty of Powerades for sale, fans all over the place. I arrived at the gym with a little swagger in my step. After changing into more comfortable clothes and starting in on the first machine, the electricity went out again! So I worked out in the dark heat for about 45 minutes. The water cooler was even hot. No Powerade today.

I moved on to a place I usually stop to get lunch. I ordered some fried chicken, platanos, and rice, and asked for two huge pineapple juices (one of the times I wish there was a "super size" option). For some reason I wasn't cooling down. The pineapple juice did nothing. I walked home a sweaty mess, saying a small prayer that the electricity would be back by the time I got to the house. I entered the door and flipped the switch and there was light. I almost fell to my knees in gratitude, but I was afraid I'd be too tired to get up...