"by candlelight"
22:43 25-7-2005
One of the things I love about summer is the thunderstorms. A really good one is good to watch from inside a house or stopped car, curled up with a book on a futon and so on... It's a really cozy - a safe feeling. Not just that, though: there's also the wonderful part of standing, playing, and dancing in the rain; the feeling of sidling between the drops and into them, feeling the moisture be sucked out of the air and falling onto you.
There's only one drawback, and that is the power outage. It's not even that bad - the most it means is that the inside of my house will eventually be the same temperature as the outside, that we can't use the fridge much, and that I have to read by flashlight. I haven't read by flashlight since my lamp's bulb blew out a year or two ago, except for Wednesday night. (Anne: how did you know I'd want a flashlight to read by?) It's nice to have that feeling of espionage, as though what I were reading were something of a secret indulgence, something special for that time.
Of course, it also allows me to do things like this right now: writing an entry in my sketchbook by candlelight. Candlelight is one of the most wonder-filled things an electric society can see. An unwavering flame, an orange glow that evokes a sort of calm and beauty, dancing just on the edge of danger; something that is small and contained but also universal and elemental, and sheds not only light but darkness.
I just hope I don't have to go downstairs again... the Bloody Mary ghost we raised in the basement bathroom mirror on my sister's 10th birthday still manages to override my rationality.
-Eli
---
Addendum:
The power's back on now.
In addition, the UW-Mage portion of the M.A.G.E.S. site is live, although there is one broken link (the 131 Questions link) and only the UW-Mage portion is the new part. The M.A.G.E.S. information will be revamped and will go live sometime soon. I'd appreciate looking for typos, especially in the FAQ section.
I did have to go down into the basement. I had to sleep there, in fact. My room was a sauna but the basement was nice and cool.
One of the things I love about summer is the thunderstorms. A really good one is good to watch from inside a house or stopped car, curled up with a book on a futon and so on... It's a really cozy - a safe feeling. Not just that, though: there's also the wonderful part of standing, playing, and dancing in the rain; the feeling of sidling between the drops and into them, feeling the moisture be sucked out of the air and falling onto you.
There's only one drawback, and that is the power outage. It's not even that bad - the most it means is that the inside of my house will eventually be the same temperature as the outside, that we can't use the fridge much, and that I have to read by flashlight. I haven't read by flashlight since my lamp's bulb blew out a year or two ago, except for Wednesday night. (Anne: how did you know I'd want a flashlight to read by?) It's nice to have that feeling of espionage, as though what I were reading were something of a secret indulgence, something special for that time.
Of course, it also allows me to do things like this right now: writing an entry in my sketchbook by candlelight. Candlelight is one of the most wonder-filled things an electric society can see. An unwavering flame, an orange glow that evokes a sort of calm and beauty, dancing just on the edge of danger; something that is small and contained but also universal and elemental, and sheds not only light but darkness.
I just hope I don't have to go downstairs again... the Bloody Mary ghost we raised in the basement bathroom mirror on my sister's 10th birthday still manages to override my rationality.
-Eli
---
Addendum:
The power's back on now.
In addition, the UW-Mage portion of the M.A.G.E.S. site is live, although there is one broken link (the 131 Questions link) and only the UW-Mage portion is the new part. The M.A.G.E.S. information will be revamped and will go live sometime soon. I'd appreciate looking for typos, especially in the FAQ section.
I did have to go down into the basement. I had to sleep there, in fact. My room was a sauna but the basement was nice and cool.