When the power came back on Thursday night, it ended up blowing one of the electrical outlets in my house. Naturally, it supplied juice to the two most important things in there - the a/c unit and my entertainment center, but since I was leaving for the weekend anyway, I wasn't too concerned with it at the time. Actually.... truth be told, the real reason I didn't mess with it then was because it would require going down into The Basement.

Now, you just don't have any basements in Memphis. So, I have never been around them, never explored them - even at any friends' houses. This is the first basement I've ever been in.

And I'm terrified of it.

My house would probably have a lot less clutter in it if I would just store some things down there, but I'm afraid of all the creepy crawly things that will find their way into the boxes, and therefore end up in my hair as soon as I go looking for something.

Last night, however.... my house was too freaking hot not to do something about it. Plus, I couldn't watch any tv, and that was just simply unacceptable. I searched everywhere for the fuse box, and the only place left to look was in The Basement.

Oh man, that place squigs me out.

To get to it, you have to lift the floor in my laundry room, prop the floor-door up with a baseball glove (helpfully supplied by my landlord) and squeeze down these teeeeny tiny stairs that have deep, open cave-like spaces on either side of them. (Not that I was AT ALL worried about what might be lurking in there.)

Then you have to maneuver yourself around the century-old machinery that has just been dumped in there, and is probably the nesting ground for God Knows What.

Once I hit the bottom of the stairs, I made it about ten feet into the room before I started whimpering - then squealing - uncontrollably. There were spider webs just everywhere. In my face, in my hair, attaching themselves to my ankles.... thank God I didn't actually encounter any spiders (that I could see, anyway). But as I stumbled my way back up the stairs, I felt like they were climbing up my pants leg.

And honestly, I'm not even afraid of spiders. Just webs. They freak my shit out.

Anyway, since I wasn't about to go back down there, I swallowed my pride and asked Mark (my landlord) to come over and flip the fuse for me. This was definately one of those times when it would've been nice to have a man around. He made it in and out of there in about 45 seconds, and probably wondered what the hell my problem was.

I know, I know, I'm not proud of it.... but I'm afraid of The Basement. Definately not one of my more shining moments, but at least I have my television back.

feeling... like I have webs all over me
listening to... green eyes --coldplay
reading... atonement --ian mcewan miss something?
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a quest for clarity - part 1 - 2004-08-30
no plan for a sequel - 2004-08-27
slacker of the month - 2004-08-26