What To Do When the Electricity Goes Out

JimSauce, we can't wait to put your ideas to use next time there's a massive power outage in New York city! —Sparkitors

Imagine this scenario: It's Saturday, the skies are clear, and in ten minutes you're going to play horseball at the park with friends. You take one step out the door and...
BAM!
What was that? you think. It sounded like thunder, but you disregard the foreign noise and continue walking. By the time you get to the end of your driveway, dark clouds have formed and you swear you felt a raindrop hit your nose. Eh, maybe a bird peed on me, you think optimistically. Three seconds later you feel more drops on your head. Soon, bird pee (you begin to suspect it might be rain) is falling everywhere, and the streets start to flood. You sprint back inside before you get washed into the neighbor's lawn (he has a lot of dangerously sharp gnome statues scattered about). You are now trapped indoors, your session of extreme horseball is canceled, and you can't waste your day on the internet because the flash rain also knocked out your electricity. What to do?

Sleep. This is the perfect opportunity to catch some Zs. Rain + a cold house + a warm blanket + a cup of hot cocoa (optional) = the best sleep you've ever had. If you can't fall asleep, try counting the popcorn on your ceiling or doing algebra in your head. If there isn't any popcorn on your ceiling, quit being so lazy and glue some up there.

Have a bowling tournament. Gather up all of the Febreeze cans, bottles of shampoo, and salt shakers in your house, get any random ball, and throw your own bowling session! It sure beats Wii Sports (seriously, has anyone ever gotten a strike on that? You have? Okay, well then you're a cheater.)

Rearrange your room furniture. Dying to see what it would be like to sleep suspended from the ceiling? Now's your chance to find out! (Try not to hurt yourself. Also, broadcast all of your attempts to YouTube, for posterity's sake.)

Study/finish your homework. Now is the best time to start reading Hamlet. The test was two days ago, but better late than never, right?

Build a tower out of all the books in your house, and then knock it down with gleeful delight. Put your Calculus textbook on top so it suffers the most damage.

If you have an iPod, plug up your headphones and dance like a maniac to your favorite songs. Keep your fingers crossed that an innocent passerby sees your moves through the window; you'll either become an instant sensation or scar someone for life.

Start your autobiography. Find a quiet place to do some intense self-reflection and soul searching, and then start documenting your awesomely mundane teenage life. Make sure to include how you defied the laws of physics by gluing popcorn to your ceiling.

If you have a wood floor and a spacious house, put on a pair of socks and develop your own figure-skating routine. I hear that as a teenager, Nicole Bobek channeled her passion for figure skating by sliding into jumps off her living room couch.

Make plans for next weekend. Call up friends and choose an activity for next Saturday (while secretly praying for rain again because today was such a blast). Perhaps you can choose a calm indoor activity, like seeing Easy A, or playing laser tag with homemade lasers.

Go on with today's plans, despite the natural disaster. Sure, there's a chance you'll get struck by lightning or carried into highway traffic by floodwaters, but everyone knows that horseball is even funner in a Category 5 hurricane!

What do you do for fun when the weather is awful and the electricity is out? And please, don't say horseball.

Related post: 10 Things To Do When The Power Is Out