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Changing Hawaii
EVERY year, an unexpected happening prior to the holiday season manages to slow me down. Could it be someone up there is trying to tell this Type A to cool it with the frenzied shopping, maniacal driving and, in general, mandated malarkey of making merry? Power outage brings
an enlighteningIn the past, these serendipitous signs from above have come in the form of spraining my ankle, getting a bad case of vertigo requiring hospitalization, and being zapped by the flu bug.
My year 2000 message to "slow it down, sister" came last Monday, when a Hawaiian Electric power outage affecting 13,000 Oahu customers forced my usually fast-paced world to fade to black.
I had just settled in front of the television for the 6 o'clock news and the latest on the Florida follies.
Dinner was nicely microwaved. My home-delivered Star-Bulletin was spread out in front of me, ready to be devoured as well. And a batch of clothes was warmly swirling around in the dryer.
Then, zap! Everything went ebony.
Feeling my way to the cabinet with the household's one "good" flashlight, I used it to scrounge up candles received as gifts over the years. Their gentle flickering brought on a soft and comforting illumination.
A sudden trickle of perspiration brought the terrifying reminder that -- oh, no, not that! -- the air conditioning didn't work. So the windows and lanai doors were flung open, causing fresh air to flood in.
Now what? The kiddo decided to do her homework by candlelight, while I sat on the bed reading the newspaper via flashlight.
But I felt utterly useless and, consequently, guilty as heck.
That's a woman's bane, you know. Because she is capable of multi-tasking, a wahine feels totally neglectful if she's not being productive -- usually accomplishing something to better the lives of family members, work associates or friends (but rarely herself) -- during prime-time waking hours.
Once, after I had just given birth to my daughter, I found myself one evening breastfeeding the baby, while drinking a big glass of water, while reading the newspaper, while watching TV news, while a batch of clothes was in the washer, while dinner was cooking in the oven. Pretty impressive, hey?
But without electricity, you can't create cuisine, clean up, wash/dry/iron clothing, vacuum the carpet, chat on the phone, channel-surf, watch a video or go online. All you can do, pretty much, is lie there and think.
WHO has time for such nonsense, especially during the busiest and most insane time of year? Yet, for an hour and a half Monday night, I did just that.
Begrudgingly, I actually appreciated the forced-upon-me opportunity to revel in the sweet scent of burning candles and the calmness of the dark.
What a luxury to simply lay quietly and reflect on what is happening here and now, not what needs to be done later over there.
So when the power suddenly kicked back on, the kiddo and I yelped in unison but for different reasons.
My daughter's cry could have been translated as, "Civilization, at last!" while mine meant, "Oh, drats. So much to do. Where to start? Don't tell me I missed the latest on the Florida follies!"
How does one go about ordering another blackout?
Diane Yukihiro Chang's column runs Monday and Friday.
She can be reached by phone at 525-8607, via e-mail at
dchang@starbulletin.com, or by fax at 523-7863.