Dear Reader,
I come home last night after a great day at the beach and then a super-sweaty run around my city. There has been talk of a typhoon hitting southern Japan since Friday (the cause for concern even postponed my trip to Kagoshima), but this weekend was gorgeous. A nearly cloudless sky and really warm ocean waves.
So after my shower, I start making dinner. My toast is toasting and my egg is frying and then all the lights in my apartment click off. I am left in total darkness.
But it`s not even raining! There is no wind! Why did I already lose power? Now I may enjoy horror movies and scaring myself just for fun, but the reality is, I am a total baby when it comes to natural disasters. I have vivid memories of the summer after fourth grade when New Milford was hit with several tornado warnings. Every time there was a warning I would be sobbing in a corner of our basement, surrounded by my top 20 stuffed animals. A tornado never touched ground near us, but my dramatic self always ACTED like it did.
An Actual Picture of Me
So I immediately text Dina and ask if I can come next door (she still has power) and charge my electronics. My apartment is so dark, hot, and creepy now! Without AC or lights, all I can think is that all the cockroaches and (Snow White and the) huntsman spiders will come out of hiding now. This is how I die.
Did I mention that I am really dramatic?
I find my safe haven at Dina`s. I charge my robots, I sip chilled white wine, and I watch a quarter of Princess Mononoke before promptly dozing off like I do every time I watch a movie. Once I wake up, it dawns on me…
My power did not cut out because of the typhoon that hasn`t even hit us yet. NOPE, I just probably blew a fuse when I was making toast.
I thank Dina and then I rush back home. I flip on the switch in my doorway and my lights and AC buzz back to life. Hooray!
Because I am as nonsensical as a character in Wonderland, I paid no mind to the fact that all of my neighbors still had their lights on and the lights in my apartment stairwell were still running too. When I was left in the dark, all I could think was TYPHOON TYPHOON TYPHOON TYPHOON!!
Again, I just have to laugh. The silly things that happen to me here sometimes (a lot of times) have nothing to do with my limited Japanese ability. I think I lost some of my senses somewhere in space and time during that flight from Boston to Tokyo. Or maybe this is just me.
But really, I am doing okay.
The hours before the storm are hauntingly quiet. I swear I can feel it`s presence like a ghost.
Well, the outside world has just started to rain, howl, and sway on and off. Fingers crossed the brunt of it holds off until after I drive home at 4.
See you on the flip side of this typhoon monster!
This is the only time I`ll ever say I`m not excited about wearing purple.
The Becca Jar 