Power Failure

Adios, fluorescent slave drivers!
Hola, gentle daylight.

So long, glowing screen of productivity!
Greetings, chatter and laughter.

Farewell, stern time-keepers!
Welcome, giggling in a darkened hallway.

Good-bye, technology!
Hello, human interaction.

We were without power at work today for nearly an hour. No lights, no phones, no computers, no elevators, no air conditioning...well, you get the idea. Needless to say, the lack of modern technology was fairly alarming and positively crippling. It was fun! People got stuck in the elevator and firemen had to come to get them out! It was great! And it was somewhat surprising to realize there was really very little productive work we could do under the extraneous circumstances...so, we all just milled around, chatting and joking.

As a kid I always loved when we would have a storm and the power would go out at our house. Maybe it was simply the novelty of having no modern (by my childhood standards) conveniences. My parents would light oil lamps and my sister and I would dig out our flashlights and whip the beams around the room to create a "disco" effect. Sometimes we'd play a boardgame by candlelight (usually Monopoly) or we'd pop popcorn on our gas stovetop or Bethany and I would try to tell ghost stories to each other and then get totally freaked out. It was great. It was a giant step out of routine and normalcy and today at the office it was no different. Well....there was no popcorn or Monopoly...but there was a refreshing break from the expected. A break from technology. I would suggest routine power failures...but then of course that would defeat the fun, unexpected quality of the situation.