The computer is at 20% and I forgot the charging cord at the house in Boyes where the power has been out since 9:00 Saturday. We do dumb stuff when we’re stressed. Lack of sleep, fear, eating questionable food out of the non-working fridge. It all makes for a giant cocktail of not feeling like all cylinders are firing correctly.
Uncertainty is the real problem; apparently PGE doesn’t know when the power will come on again. We got back from a movie at the Sebastiani Sunday night and homes were lit right up to our block where we were dark. And to make matters worse, Kate has had to work these last two days while I wait for school to reopen. Course I don’t really mind the time off but I’m not working on curricular improvements because it’s enough trouble just making coffee in the morning. I was in my classroom yesterday just to charge devices and change my Monday plan to a Wednesday plan but that was about it.
And really should we be that stressed? My home is not threatened by fire and the biggest loss was our AIR B and B couple who lasted one night of a five night stay even though we provided a nice bottle of Paradise Ridge Convict Zin and had plenty of flashlights and candles in the studio. Apparently, they didn’t like spending money to stay in darkness without devices or the constant sound of my neighbor’s generator permeating the quiet.
Food, shelter, water. That’s it people when you get down to it. You will not die without TV or Internet. You will not die if you have to sit down to pee in the dark (I know, TMI). You will not die if this crisis reoccurs each fall for 10 potential years.
But we need to learn. Remake the grid and the electrical infrastructure so that it is ready for all the potential craziness Mother Nature will throw at us now that we’ve upset her. Stop building in fire and flood areas. Treat the world as our partner, like the Native Americans, rather than something to be used and discarded, as certain people seem to believe.
Or we can continue to fight and push and sue and blame and be frustrated and deny that this new normal is happening and continue to believe that we can control it.
We cannot.
My computer is at 1%; better post this before I run out of p
Walt Williams is in it for the money, that and the prestige that goes with 22 years of teaching in California high schools (he’s not the smartest tool in the shed). He firmly believes in more standardized testing and that fitting all students into the same box is really the answer. He strongly supports fracking and that climate change is a fantasy made up by hippie liberals, also that the military needs more funding and that schools should just stop whining.