{"id":1055,"date":"2011-01-30T23:44:56","date_gmt":"2011-01-31T03:44:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/?p=1055"},"modified":"2011-01-30T23:44:56","modified_gmt":"2011-01-31T03:44:56","slug":"between-ordinary-and-mordinary-is-extraordinary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/?p=1055","title":{"rendered":"Between Ordinary and Mordinary, is Extraordinary"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cOye, que paso? Blackout! \u00a0Blackout!\u201d\u00a0 This is the start of the song Blackout<\/span><\/a>\u00a0from the Tony-winning Broadway show \u201cIn The Heights<\/a>,\u201d which went through our heads for about 20 hours last week while the electricity was out during the recent snowstorm.\u00a0 \u201cWe are powerless, we are powerless\u201d is a recurring theme in the song and the show, and it provided an interesting backdrop to the kids\u2019 reactions to our blackout.\u00a0 You can tell that this is a complete novelty to them:<\/p>\n

Kid:<\/strong>\u00a0 \u201cDaddy, what will we do with the food in the fridge if the power stays off?\u00a0 It\u2019s getting warm in here!\u201d
\nBUMD:\u00a0 <\/strong>\u201cFirst, quit opening the fridge to check.\u00a0 Second, if it stays off for a while, we\u2019ll put the food in the other fridge.\u201d
\nKid:\u00a0 <\/strong>\u201cDaaaaaddy,\u201d the hands on the hips, \u201cthe power is out for the whole house.\u00a0 The other fridge doesn\u2019t work either!\u201d
\nBUMD:\u00a0 <\/strong>\u201cOK, we\u2019ll put it in the other<\/span><\/em> other fridge.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea that you could put your food outside, where it\u2019s 35 degrees, floored them.\u00a0 You could see the lightbulb go on \u2013 the problem is not \u201cfood in fridge\u201d, the problem is \u201cfood cold.\u201d\u00a0 Getting used to the idea that they couldn\u2019t watch TV, or play on the computer, or play Wii, all at once \u2013 not so much.\u00a0 Once we got past dinner \u2013 and \u201chow to light the gas stove with a match\u201d was another teachable moment for the oldest \u2013 the question of \u201cwell, now what to do we do\u201d became paramount.\u00a0 We have enough candles that a good round of Yatzee was possible, but that involves enough dimly-lit math that one round was all we could take.\u00a0 \u201cNow what do we do?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

As darkness falls, we are powerless, as were our ancestors before us.\u00a0 Bed was the answer, and to bed they went, bundled against the early dark, the cold, and the thoughts of how people used to live before we had electricity, and how long we\u2019d have to emulate them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

By we<\/strong>, of course, I mean the kids.\u00a0 SOBUMD was cheerful about her iPhone connection to the outside world, and I woke up and plugged the coffee grinder into the UPS.\u00a0 We have standards, you know.<\/p>\n

The power was back the next afternoon, and the kids rushed to their iStuff like hobos to the next drink.\u00a0 One of these days I\u2019ll take them all off the grid for a few days \u2013 but not until I have my coffee beans all ground and ready.<\/p>\n

Two days after the power came back, we packed and powered up the car and headed north to Pennsylvania, wheels up at Oh-Dark-Thirty, which is \u201canytime before 8am\u201d during the winter months around here.\u00a0 \u00a0While SOBUMD steered us north, I noted that our waking walking life, it sometimes seems, has but two paths: \u00a0the ordinary, and the more ordinary.\u00a0 And, while betimes betwixt the morning\u2019s light and noonday sun the mordinary<\/em> seems the only choice, at sunrise, and again as sunset cedes its hours to the moon, our lives\u00a0can be…\u00a0 Extraordinary! \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

From the road, as the sunrise turned the sky a pink that even a bleary-eyed Reigning Queen of Pink couldn\u2019t argue with, just outside Baltimore I spied an epic billboard fail.\u00a0 Advertising depends on several factors.\u00a0 This was a Public Health \/ Public Service type ad, probably trying to convince people not to engage in promiscuous Hey Hey, featuring a woman trying to look both serious and sexy, with a caption that says:\u00a0 “I don’t give it up. \u00a0And I won’t give in.” \u00a0OK, kudos for the sentiment and the message and the empowerment.\u00a0 The trouble here is that this young lady probably doesn’t get asked<\/strong> about it too often, either.\u00a0 That sentiment would be more effective with someone who looks like Halle Berry saying it.<\/p>\n

Another great sign from the road:\u00a0 \u201cOrange Cones, No Phones!\u201d\u00a0 Do they realize that\u00a0this makes most of the damn I-95 corridor a cell-free zone?\u00a0\u00a0Plus, the construction around Tyson\u2019s Corner on the US Capitol Beltway makes the traffic pattern look like a bunch of overweight automobiles trying to work out a Twyla Tharp dance routine while listening to a Tae Bo workout tape. \u00a0(\u201cAnd left<\/strong>, and over, and right<\/strong>, and over, and stretch!<\/strong>\u00a0 And over, and STOP\u2026\u201d)<\/p>\n

And lo, in those days after a few hours we came upon the town of Bethlehem, or Nazareth, or one of those biblical knock-offs in PA, and we arrived to stay with wonderful family, and beer. \u00a0The cousins bonded, and the siblings bonded, and there was An Extended Family Gathering that couldn\u2019t be beat.\u00a0 There was wonderful food, excellent conversation, and much discussion of what it means to be powerless.\u00a0 We agreed on the extraordinary\u00a0observation that our technology is sometimes actually better than real life \u2013 on this blog, for example, I can hold comments for public viewing pending administrative moderation \u2013 i.e., once I review them and decide if they should be posted to an unsuspecting audience.\u00a0 Sometimes people need a conversational 5-second delay, and a censor behind them bleeping over the rough edges.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Family is wonderful, and a great time was had by all.\u00a0 Saying our brief though fond farewells, we once again turned to the open road, succumbing to the siren song of the highway.\u00a0 Hearing a bit on the radio, I wondered about people who say they’ll \u201clove you until they the day they die.\u201d \u00a0You know, I’ll love you unti the day I die, as though to say \u201cand not a minute longer! \u00a0Believe me, I said \u2018death do us part\u2019 and that is ALL I signed up for, buster!\u00a0 Once I shuffle off this mortal coil, it’s AMF, baby \u2013 told you I loved you, BTDT, I’m outta here.\u201d\u00a0 Just makes me wonder, is all.<\/p>\n

As SOBUMD drove\u00a0 into the sinking pink sunset down the curving highways that took us home, the wavy jet contrails above looked like\u00a0sperm swimming frantically to inseminate some unseen egg in the sky behind us. \u00a0We got past the construction\u00a0\u00a0(\u201cAnd over, and right<\/strong>, and\u00a0stretch!<\/strong>\u00a0 And over, and stop<\/strong>\u2026\u201d) by dint of some fried chicken and a host of Broadway show tunes, which made the drive go faster while reminding me that I’m not going to win the Tony before I finish the play.<\/p>\n

Now home, we unpack and I turn to face February, powerless as I face the choice between ordinary and mordinary.\u00a0 And\u00a0then I remember.\u00a0 Extraordinary!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our waking walking life, it sometimes seems, has but two paths: the ordinary, and the more ordinary. And, while betimes betwixt the morning\u2019s light and noonday sun the mordinary seems the only choice, at sunrise, and again as sunset cedes its hours to the moon, our lives can be… Extraordinary! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[61,21,40,32,48,4,44],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1055"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1057,"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055\/revisions\/1057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}