So the electricity goes out last night arond 6 pm just as I was trying to decide what to watch on TV.

I have a coleman camping lantern in the living room but the switch is kind of spotty, so of course it doesn't go on when I tried to use it. I head to the bedroom and turn on the camping lantern sitting on my bedside table.

I lit the candles on my bedside table, the one in the living room and the one in the bathroom, changed the batteries in my emergency radio, and turned on the news.

There's a fire in some substation in the Mission, and I figure it's going to be awhile before I get any electricity. My sony stereo boombox has batteries in it, so I put on Christmas cds so I can listen at least listen to music in the dark and I light more candles, and think about how I wish I had bought that handheld portable TV that I keep thinking I should own for emergencies like this.

I look for the spare non-electric telephone so I can plug it in, in case I need or get emergency phone calls. I get my cellphone and the battery is low, and I make a mental note to remember to always keep the battery charged.

I decide my emergency flashlights are in the wrong places, so I hunt them down in the dark and put them where they're more accessible.

I spend the rest of the evening putting things away in my bedroom and cleaning up by candlelight, so I can conserve the batteries in my lantern in case the blackout goes on all night.

At 8:50 pm, the electricity come back on. I blow out all the candles, forget to juice up the cell phone and go back to watching TV like nothing happened.

Around 9:50 pm, the electricity goes out again. I relight the candles on my nightstand, light one extra candle at my desk, turn on the radio, and get in bed wondering if I should read by candlelight.

The thought of sleep becomes too overpowering, so I blow out the candle at my desk and lie and drift in and out of sleep listening to the news on the radio.

At around 2 am I hear my computer turn on and when I open my eyes, the christmas lights are back on. I get up, unplug the lights, turn off my computer, turn off the radio and go back to sleep.