electricity fuels my lifestyle
How dependent are you on electricity? Last night I found out how much my lifestyle depends on electricity, as a large storm bore down on Victoria. Lots of rain (60mm at last check) and gusts of damaging wind forecast, it was no surprise to find the power out. We noticed at about 4 o’clock, as my Grandma saw that her clock was dead. A quick test of the light switch showed that in fact, the power was out. Now, we were both reading by natural light at this time, and this didn’t bother us. As the sun dipped (not that we could see it for the clouds) it became darker and darker and harder to see. We rang the energy company power-out hot line, and heard the recorded voice list lots and lots of areas, ours included, and the expected times that the power would be restored. 10:30pm! So we got the candles out of the top of the cupboard.
A candle lit dinner!
The first part of our routine: dinner. Oven cooking is out, as we have an electric oven. Our stove stop is gas (even without that I have a camp stove) so we’re ok. So we’ll get that plastic tub of spaghetti leftovers and… oh yeah. Can’t microwave it. Power’s out. No problem, we’ll just put it in a saucepan, man! It’s frozen and won’t come out of the container. Put it in hot water. (Good thing we have gas heated water!) The frozen chunk of meat and spaghetti is out now, let’s cook it. But only the bottom of the chunk is touching the pan and melting! So we’ll break it up. *thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk…* after concentrated effort and team work (I’ll hold it down with the wooden spoon, you hold the pot and attack it with a knife) we have a smooth mix that is heating up nicely. Our cooking space is lit by a candle.
A candlelit dinner! It’s meat and spaghetti slop on bread (sorry, no toast, power’s out) but it tastes ok. Good thing everything was cooked to begin with.
Entertainment that doesn’t come in a box
So, what now? There is no TV or radio to catch the news. In fact, there won’t be any quiz shows, reality shows or any other kind of TV show! (Power’s out, remember?) Let’s play rummikub! Rummikub, (Grandma beat me every time! She’s a crafty one,) various attempts at me teaching Grandma card games and trying to get the dog to go outside and do his business (don’t blame him for not wanting to go outside in that weather!) And stories filled up our evening till 8 o’clock. There was nothing else to do but go to bed!
No TV, No internet, no lights (other than candles and battery torches), no car (stuck in the garage behind a button open roller door) (technically there is a way to open it by hand, but we couldn’t be bothered), no microwave, no toaster, no radio, no central heating, no light in the fridge (off fridge! good thing it’s winter), no electric blankets, no external CD drive, no electricity!
How we cheated
It wasn’t a totally energy free evening though, we still had running hot and cold water (city water, not relient on a pump and well system), the phone, both fixed and mobile (one because of the phone lines and one because of a battery), we still had gas, and the computer I’m writing this on now is on battery power.
Overall though, it was shocking to realize how dependent we are on power, especially for a long period of time in the evening when it is dark.
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css “fun”
Today I’ve been working on the Mitcham youth website. At the moment I’ve given up for the evening… IE7 is really annoying as the easy layout that worked fine for me broke on IE7. Things just get more complicated from there.
Sigh.
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messing with gelatine
Tomorrow, I am cooking dinner for some friends. I’ve decided to do Bolivian food. (Yay!) However, this means some prep the night before… the filling for a salteña needs to set. Hence the gelatine.
No pictures… it’s too complicated cooking without trying to be a journalist as well! Maybe when I can afford my own ‘embedded’ crew. As it is I feel coated… yech. Should taste great though.
Also on the menu: sopa de maní and chocolate flosh. I had planned to have some cuñape for an appetiser, but I don’t have the right cheese.
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ice cream homesickness
So, googling for “chocolate flosh” (as you do) I came across the web page of my favourite Bolivian ice cream parlour: Heladeria Dumbo! (to pronounce it with a Spanish accent, it sounds a bit like “doom-bow”.) You can also visit their competition (family spat, apparently) at Heladeria Globos. Mm… food pictures.
A chocolate flosh (roughly “choco-latte flawsh” (aw as in saw)) is an icecream served in a tall thin glass, with a scoop of ice cream, a scoop of cream, a drizzle of chocolate sauce, a scoop of ice cream, a scoop of cream, a drizzle of chocolate sauce, a scoop of ice cream, a scoop of cream, a drizzle of chocolate sauce, and a cherry.
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3 men, 3 legs 3 hands and a boat
I always feel slightly ashamed when I see the accomplishments of disabled people, as I see something as too hard and don’t do it, where as they see something as hard, and deliberately set out to conquer it, even though they are less able bodied than me.
There is something inspiring about their courage though, which is why I liked this audio slide-show [bbc] about 3 men, with 3 legs and 3 hands between them, sailing in a tough ocean race from Norway to Scotland. (I also liked it because it is about sailing.) Check it out, then come back here to tell us what you think.
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State Youth Games
This weekend, I drove up to Warragul. It was to join our team of MASH competing in a variety of sports at the State Youth Games, which is where a bunch of church youth groups come together to camp at Lardner Park, in the freezing cold of the Queens Birthday weekend. Yes, we may be insane, but what is fun if it doesn’t include a little craziness?
I arrived in time for lunch and then the afternoon session. I cheered on our pool volleyball team (it’s nice and warm in the swimming centre!) and got to ref a match. That evening we had spaghetti, and I went to part of the rally (note to self- bring ear buds next time), sat around the camp fire, and went to “the village” to do a bit of dancing. The next day I coordinated the men’s under 18′s tennis, and after lunch I had a shower (oh YAY!) and cheered on the under 18 ultimate Frisbee. Back at camp a few of us went to see the aerobics, and after a nice roast dinner, we went to the rally. The speaker was really good. A party at our camp site, more camp fire watching, and bed.
I woke up that night to a strange sound- a strange sound in the drought. RAIN! “oh no…” I thought. “my rain coat is in the car.” I managed to borrow a coat and wasn’t soaked as I packed up. The drive back was fantastic, my little car easily getting up to the speed limit.
In fact, my car was probably the best part of the weekend. I could live out of my boot, not my bag. (No no, not footwear, the storage part of the car!) It was so nice to be independently mobile. And travelling along the freeway at high (but legal) speeds is just fun.
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reading list!
I’m of the opinion that university courses should be mostly fun. I’m supposed to be learning stuff that I will use later, some how. I want my life to be fun, so I’m taking fun courses. 
A really good example is my reading list for ENH1990- English Literature Fantasy Narratives.
- L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
- Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
- Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
- Cornelia Funke, The Thief Lord
- Neil Gaiman, Anansi Boys
- William Goldman, The Princess Bride
- Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time
- C. S. Lewis, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
- Philip Pullman, Northern Lights
- Jonathan Stroud, The Amulet of Samarkand
- J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
I’m surprised Harry Potter 1 isn’t on there, but oh well. I guess they must rotate the texts so the teachers don’t get bored.
After exams are over, I get to read! Yay for fun reading!
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third visit to the vampires
What can you do with 9 friends, free food and pointy objects, that saves lives? The answer is, of course, giving blood. Yesterday evening a group of ten young people arrived at the Ringwood blood donor centre, bared their arms and gave blood. A huge shout out to Pam, for coming even though she really hates needles, and for giving what she could, even though her blood really wanted to stay in her arm. We found out that the machine will only take for 20 minutes and stops, even if you aren’t up to quota. Next time will be better, eh, Pam?
I was near the end of the pack with a time of 11.10 (my slowest so far) but I wasn’t rushing it after the light headedness of last time. I stayed in the chair a little bit, but felt much better and recovered well. My other stats were a blood pressure of 129/64 and haemoglobin of 14.4- up from last time (14.1) but still down from my first go (15.4) – time to get out the spinach!
I went for my left arm this time, after a slightly negative experience with my right arm, but something has changed since I last gave blood: I’m driving! So my arm is a little sore today after having to use it to shift gears!
Even with the slight negatives, I love giving blood, and what makes the experience really fun is going with a group of friends. Not only is the moral support great, but we know that our blood is used to save many lives.
I’m up to a 1410 mL total so far, here’s looking to August!
Links: my first and second visits, the red cross’ donateblood.com.au
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FIFA bans high altitude football
FIFA has banned international soccer matches at altitudes of more than 8,000 feet. Personally, I feel that playing at tough stadiums is part of Latin American soccer. This ban will be interesting for Bolivia, as its major stadium is way above the altitude limit, there is only one other major stadium in Bolivia that is below the ban.
You can read the basic news article, a columnist’s opinion, about the Bolivian protest and the public’s comments. An interesting contrast is this article on the world’s highest football match.