Kaitlin and I woke up at 8, happily with power, and, having not heard any loud obnoxious phone announcement that school was canceled, got begrudgingly out of bed and began to get ready for school, only to find that we must be deaf, because indeed the phone announcement did occur, and indeed classes were canceled. As it was Jeska's birthday, Jennifer planned to make cinnamon rolls for her house for breakfast, but since it was powerless, baking was a no-go. As much as I consoled them and assured them that their power would be back soon when they came to Powell to make the delicious cinnamon-y happiness, I was not so secretly pumped about the prospect of having them all back in Powell. While the rolls rose splendidly in the oven, the Weinbach house, Kaitlin, and I had an impromptu dance party to Beyonce's hit new single (ha ha ha), "Single Ladies."
After eating, we ventured to the Basement Lounge, which is called with a little affection the BFL, rebuilt the boat from the green couch and the red couch, and got in it. Preston and Guy joined the party and it wasn't long before it was time to go play in the snow. All bedecked in our boots and our coats and gloves, we descended upon the terrain to find the snow loose and dry and hard to pack into weaponry. But we did our best; Kelly and I fenced with icicles and they all buried me in the powder everywhere. Some of my friends ate lunch at Brutus: pancakes and casserole and things, but the rest of us (the House and the Galexy as it were) settled for the Ridg, where we played situations and wrote secret notes to each other on napkins.
Back in the BFL after eating, Maria, Kelly, Jeska, Katie, and I lolled about doing what might be considered homework. Maria and I made sugar cookies and brought them from the kitchen in a big pot. We listened to "Single Ladies" some more, all very aware how silly it was. By dinner time, Jen and Guy had returned, and we all spent a good bit of time trying to figure something out. We decided to order pizza but wait until Maria came back from somewhere she had gone off to. By the time we discovered that Papa John's was carry-out only, it was 7 and the Ridg had closed.
Having thought of no better alternative, Maria Jennifer Kelly Guy and I decided to walk to Wesselman's and pick up some grocery type things, and on the way we could see if Turoni's was open and go there if it was. Excellent plan. We set out once again in our boots and our coats and hats and hoods and gloves, and made the not that long but very intense treck to Wesselman's. On the way we found Turoni's not open, and upon our arrival at 813, we found Wesselman's to have closed at 8. Suck. Naturally, we were not to be discouraged, and thought to ourselves, we're halfway to Papa John's already, why don't we just go get some carry-out? On this part of our adventure, we passed Planned Parenthood, which had the most intense icicles I have yet encountered in my life. Guy and I had a battle with them, but I won because I had the width. Also, I am a beast.
As often happens in tragedies and adventures, we came upon yet another complication, as Papa John's, which the internet told us was carry-out only, was in fact nothing only, also known as closed. In a final act of desperation, we called Maria's mom, and we piled unceremoniously into her car, Maria and I sharing the front seat, and voyaged over icy streets to McDonald's, on whose door was posted a sign saying NO DEBIT CARDS. What they actually meant, however, was NO CARDS OF ANY KIND, so Heidi, as the only one of us who was not an impoverished college student with no cash, had to pay for all of us. She is quite gracious.
We were all dropped off at the House to collect supplies in the dark— blankets, mugs, movies, toothbrushes, pillows—and carried them with our dinner back to Powell over fallen tree limbs and downed power lines and vast expanses of still gorgeous dry clean snow. Finally, after 9, we arrived in the BFL and ate our dinner with Jeska and Morgy there too. Over various McProcessedMeats we watched the William McDonough TED Talk, which is fabulous, and then showed those who hadn't seen it the BigDog Robot before it was movie time. I watched Fargo in a cornered room in Powell with the whole Weinbach House, Brutus except Preston, the Quadfecta except Kaitlin, After, and Jamie and Allyson, and it was glorious. [Translation: Jennifer, Maria, Kelly, Jeska, Katie; Guy, Alex, Matt; Chelsea, Bernard, myself; Dan, John; Jamie, Allyson.] With about half an hour left in the movie (and before the woodchipper), I put Maria to bed in my room and told her a bedtime story about RDJ before jumping the rail to the basement for a lovely slumber party and some lovely slumber. In the morning I sat with Jennifer in the little boat for a while and didn't have bio lab.
Brutus never lost power. After still doesn't have it. The House got it back this morning. Until now, Maria, Kelly, and Jeska have been in Schroeder, Katie has been all over the place, and Jennifer has been in my room then the medical room down the hall. I wish I wish I wish I could live with her next year. The hours we spent talking in the dark in the past week have only served to confirm that, as if the thirty seconds of silence followed by both of us saying simultaneously "I want to live with you" weren't enough. I suppose it just wasn't meant to be. Or it was and injustice prevails. But either way it was a dream come true to have everyone gather together on the old familiar couches again, just like old times.
