[Isis]

My home's power has been on and off due to storms and slides... just wondering how you guys spend your time when the power's out. Board games? Listen to the radio? Just give up and go to sleep? Or have you been lucky and never had the power go out?

I've been playing a bunch of card games, but it wasn't easy to read cards by flashlight.

[Coda]

I used to have a flashlight that could turn into a lantern by pulling on the end of it. Was useful for such situations, just put it on the table and instead of shining in a beam it shines all around -- less bright but still useful.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

Mostly give up and go to sleep once it's dark enough. Otherwise, keep the fire going, use candles for some stuff until it's too annoying on the eyes, and find ways to cook things.

Of course, no power here means no heat and no running water so that becomes a priority. In front of the fire is a good place to think and philosophize, if you're into that.

[Yokuutsu]

I make an ungodly noise cause my house is haunted and the power always goes out at night. I fumble until I find a light source....leave said light source on all night, even after I've fallen asleep.

Sometimes I read depending though....or play on my 3DS...

[Starry Night]

Probably freak out because I'm scared of the dark. Once I calm down, I just go on my phone until the battery dies or try to sleep and hope that the power's back on when I wake up.

[Den]

Depends on what time of day it is when the power goes out. If it happens, it's more of a minor annoyance for me, because I have lived off the grid before, without electricity and running water, so I know how to cope, mostly.

Normally, I'm asleep during what most people consider "normal" hours (AKA when the sun's up). so if the power goes out then, I'm asleep, so it really doesn't affect me too much. If I get cold, I can always pile on more blankets on my blanket nest, or put on my onesie and crawl back into the nest. If I get hot, I can open a window, take blankets/sheets off, or relocate to the basement, where it's cooler.

If it happens mid-afternoon, when I'm getting up, I'll check in with the folks, and see if it's town-wide, or kinda localized, and let them know what's up. Then I'll grab my sketchpad, or whatever non-computer-related project I'm working on at the time, and work on that until I run out of light, or the power comes back on. I also light candles and set out flashlights with working batteries so my parents can navigate easily. Force of habit, despite knowing my parents and I all have cell phones. I'm old enough that I predate commonplace usage of cellphones.

If the outage happens at night, when everyone else is asleep, I'll use my cell phone to be able to see so I can light candles, and then I'll do like I do if it's mid-afternoon. Or if it's early morning, I'll head to bed.

[Miss Sandman]

I would light up some candles an read a book! Iam a big fan of horror stories so I would scare myself to death xD

[Potironette]

I don't think I've ever been in a power outage.. I remember one instance where my mom was really stressed out and preparing for one, but I don't think it ever happened.

We didn't have flashlights, but a lot of candles were taken out that day--candles which were never lit xD

[NCS3RR4N]

we light a few candles and perform a seance

It's been a long time since we had a power outage. I remember they used to be frequent, especially in the Philippines. We call those times 'brown outs' (I still don't know why), and they only happen at night. I just remember having snacks with the family while the adults chat at the table. Kids were usually put to bed early.

[Gallagher]

brownouts are their own thing and not exactly the same as blackouts. generally, brownouts are when the energy getting supplied to like... a region or city or something is reduced, like to prevent a full blown blackout. some areas have scheduled brownouts, so if they were common and fairly predictable, they were probably intentional ones.

i think i read that they're called brownouts because some types of lights and things would dim but still work when the power in an area was reduced rather than cut off. weird low yellowy lighting = brownout? i'm guessing??

[Coda]

Yes, that's exactly why it's called a brownout. They're actually more damaging to many kinds of devices than a full blackout, which is why rolling blackouts are a measure implemented to PREVENT brownouts.