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 Back to home page  Candle Light Experience DATE: January 30th, 2010



My first thought about this project was:SERIOUSLY? How in the world would I survive w/o any light and electricity? That means no laptop, cell phone, tv, and clock! I knew that it would be almost impossible for me, but I gave it a try. There was nothing for me to lose. On Wednesday, I actually had work until 8pm so I cheated a little bit because I was still using electricity when the sun was down. I got home at about 8:35pm, and by that time I was pretty pooped. I work with children all day and they really drain my energy. I had a couple of candles in my room so I lit then up once I got home. I didn't do much, but lay there because I was too tired to do anything anyways. My aunt came into my room and thought that I was meditating/praying. It made me laugh. I didn't want to explain to her what I was doing so I just let her think that I was actually meditating/praying. Haha

After laying there for some time, I got really bored. I wanted to read, but it was too dim and I couldn't see. Good thing I didn't have any homework, or else I'd had a really hard time trying to do it. I tried to think of things to do, but I couldn't find anything occupy myself with. Somehow, I had accidentally fallen asleep until my alarm rang for school the next morning. I honestly didn't even know what time I went to bed at because I never looked at the clock.

This experience was really hard for me because I am so dependent on electricity. Every aspect of my life includes some sort of electricity. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't use my cell phone and laptop. I really wanted to bend the rules and check my phone, but I actually had some restraint and didn't do it. Leaving all of my electronics for one night isn't too bad, but I can't imagine living w/o any. Life back then must've been harder for them because they don't have what we do now. Communication probably took a lot longer than it does now. I could email someone who lives in New York and it would take about 30 seconds for them to receive it. As compared to many years ago, when there wasn't any electricity, it would take the person in New York weeks to receive mail from California. All in all, I've learned that living by candle light gave me time to catch up on my sleep and that my day seems to be cut short because once the sun came down, I basically wanted to go to bed.