Writing by candlelight

... Actually, that's a lie. I'm eating sushi in Okuma and taking advantage of the fact that they paid both their electricity and their internet bill this month.

I did not. Or, rather, I wasn't aware there was a bill TO pay. Because electricity bills only arrive once every 3 months instead of every month, it's easy to lose track of when you're supposed to pay and how MUCH you're supposed to pay. To counteract this problem, CFE (the government electricity) sends out receipts which you can take to any convenience store in order to pay.

When my roommate arrived home today, she encountered the CFE men turning off our electricity (they lock the meter after they disconnect you). She asked them why, and they responded that we were two months behind in payment. It turns out that if you don't receive a bill, you still have to go chase them down to pay it.

So we are without electricity, internet, or air of any kind (the box-fan kind, since we don't have central air conditioning). This would be bearable if I had any confidence that CFE would eventually return to flip the switch back on. I don't have anything of the sort; last time they cut us off, they didn't turn it back on for 3 weeks after we paid. 3 WEEKS.

I am going to die of boredom. Or melt. Or fall down the stairs in the dark and break my neck.