It took me forever to read The Hunger Games.
I checked it out from the library probably three or four times. I’d read the first page or two, get bored or distressed, and set it down. Little did I know I needed to make it to page ten to get hooked. lol
But The Hunger Games was an exception to my anti-dystopian policy. I think my aversion is because the end of the world is….depressing. Imagine that. And when you throw in things that could actually happen in real life–power outages, water shortages, groceries stores with bare shelves, PLAGUES!–it’s freaking scary. That’s why I prefer to read fantasy and space-y science fiction. Vampires and fae and aliens are complete fiction (okay, the last one can be debated but still). I can relax when I read those stories because none of the events will happen.
This week feels like I’m trapped in a dystopian novel.
Okay. That’s being a little melodramatic, especially since we were one of the SUPER FREAKING LUCKY households who had rolling power outages. Between Monday at 1:30 am and Wednesday late evening, we would lose power every 20-30 minutes. We had power just long enough to keep our house comfortable in between the outages (except for the random times when we had power for an hour).
Losing power for us was an inconvenience. Other people lost power for DAYS. Some still don’t have power back. They are in homes that are 40 degrees. People’s pipes are bursting, even when they’ve been dripping faucets. Our homes are made to keep us cool in the summer, not warm in the winter.
We were also lucky in that we were fairly well off grocery wise. We haven’t ventured out still (no four wheel drive, snow plows, salt/sand in our neighborhood, though I think maybe some of the main roads are sort of okay), but I’ve seen picture after picture of bare grocery shelves. The stores lost power too, so all fridge/frozen items had to be tossed out. Since our roads are covered with snow/ice, deliveries slowed or stopped. Gas stations ran out of gas. Water treatment plants lost power and many, many people are under boil water notices. (Side note: apparently, our city passed a bond and invested in infrastructure not too long ago, so our water equipment stuff (yeah, that’s the technical term for it lol) is in good working condition and our city is fine on water (though we’re still conserving because our water district asked everyone to).
Even though we have been very, very lucky, it still stresses me the hell out. All the What-ifs take over my thoughts and my mind runs with them. We’ve been okay for this week. Assuming things get back to relatively normal, next week will be fine.
It wouldn’t be fine if this had all lasted two or more weeks. Not fine at all, and from news reports, it sounds like Texas was Very Freaking Close to a cataclysmic power outage. Like seconds or minutes close.
Um. That’s not good.
And, um, did you know that in 2003, something like 50 million people lost power in the US and Canada because a tree hit a power line in Ohio? (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/2003-blackout-five-years-later/)
And that Russian hackers have breached our power grid?! (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/23/us/politics/energetic-bear-russian-hackers.html)
This is a dystopian novel waiting to happen.
*deep breaths*
We’re still covered in snow here. We should get up past freezing today, though. It’ll refreeze overnight then melt again. Sometime in the next few days, we will hit 60 degrees, which is a normal temperature for us. 3 degrees isn’t normal! Then hopefully the kids can go to school on Monday. I’m a little worried about that. I’ve heard of at least five schools in our district with busted pipes. Not sure how bad the damage is or if kids can go to school around that mess, and I haven’t heard anything specifically about the boys’ school, but it’s a freaking mess. People have had ceilings cave in because of frozen, busted pipes.
And maybe next week, I’ll be able to write. I should have this week because I didn’t have anything else to do, but I’m revising A Void of Magic again, and I’m in one of those this-book-sucks cycles. I remember loving this book at some point but can’t remember why. lol
How is your week going?
Hi, Sandy. In Virginia we often lose power at the edge of the power grid. Our water pump in the backyard needs power, so we bought a Whole House Generator for it. It covers the water pump, tv, and microwave.
Not this storm (luckily, since our driveway has a 4-inch sheet of ice on it), but the last storm we had to camp out in sleeping bags in front of the fireplace, since 20 degrees plus no power = 20 degrees inside the house. It took half a week to return to normal. Naturally, once the road was cleared, I commuted to work early to get warm.
Dystopian novels are an on-again/off-again interest of mine. A good one has a world that does not mimic ours now, but it can warn us of the consequences if we ignore signs of future calamity, or make me feel better when our lives don’t suck as much. Strangely enough, I feel better now if I read about someone who is in a worse situation.
Maybe that explains my sudden interest in bully romances. While I would never ever want any person to be humiliated for sport, I have been bullied in the past, and I feel better knowing it did not break me. I feel better if the protagonist overcomes the challenge and wins.