It was the first time I was using the Chromebook without an Internet connection of any kind.

Before I bought the little magic maker, I’d heard it was only good if you were online.

But as I type here in the dark, I give thanks for my touch typing skills while also silently expressing a debt of gratitude for being able to use Google Docs (or Docs by Google?) without an active Internet connection.

So you ask why bother typing on a Chromebook without a Wi-Fi connection?

The action is a result of a power outage that’s left me sitting in the dark with nothing better to do.

When I started typing this, the battery indicator pronounced 11+ hours remaining before the charge would hold no longer. I think I can finish this before then.

What’s cool about blogging during power outages and especially during outages that last through the evening is that you have to be resourceful. If you don’t have a backlight on your keyboard for example, and are a hunt and pecker (is that a beast of some kind?), you will probably be hard pressed to get much typing accomplished.

But as I stated above, I’m a touch typer and can manage enough words even on this less than full-sized keyboard.

Secondly, not having access to the resources available via Google search forces one to use their recall when describing events. If mistakes are made when writing they are called errors in fact (or at least that’s how I’ve always referred to them).

I was trying to think of the last time I sat in the dark during an outage and I want to say it was during the blackout that occurred on the East coast during 1965…or was it 1964? I can’t recall, naturally enough, nor am I inclined to research it traditionally as I can’t see anything. Remember? And I don’t have encyclopedias–which was how we researched things back then. Additionally, I was but a small tyke who enjoyed being able to stay up late and witness the glow of candles burning on an evening other than Halloween.

The dogs were restless at the onset of this piece. One was barking on patrol and the other was padding nervously. They’ve settled down since. Just like me at the keyboard here.

Being alone is conducive to writing. So is being alone with a couple of dogs.

It was snowing outside earlier and now it’s just cold.

We could have stayed at a hotel room, but I doubt I would have been able to write anything as the dogs would have been going wild–dogs gone wild–available on DVD for $19.99.

But the dogs are not going wild now. They’re relaxed. I’m relaxed. And this thing is flowing like a river without an Internet connection.

I don’t know what that means and assume you don’t either.

The environment I find myself in lends itself to absolutely no structure at all. Why should it? There are times when a woman has to say what’s on her mind even though it’s gonna hurt. And there are times a blogger has to write what comes from their fingertips, even though it’s gonna blurt.

I know, I know. But they can’t all be home runs. We appreciate the singles hitters.

What I will leave you with is this…there are times when you are completely out of your normal flow. You’ve been broken from whatever routine it is you think you have. And you feel off, a bit unsettled perhaps, but no more so than what a typical day’s transpirings can have you processing.

So just go with it. Blow air kisses to imaginary goddesses.

And watch how effortlessly a few remaining snow flurries can drift gently through the dark, silent night.