Earth Hour

Earth Hour... I received a call from my mom while I was at the ortho telling me to buy candles. After my appointment, I bought a pack of 5 pieces, medium-sized, white candles at the 7-Eleven near my ortho's clinic. To my surprise, mom told me to buy more when I arrived home and she saw the candles I bought. "What for?" I asked. I almost laughed when she told me about the brown-out that our neighbors told her about. They thought there would be a brown-out at exactly 8:30 pm. Had there been a brown-out, though, the 5 medium-sized candles wouldn't be enough to light our house unless we all stay in one area and light one candle at a time. I showed my mom Earth Hour's website. She was happy with the idea and almost counted the minutes to 8:30 pm. As per her instructions, we turned off all the lights (including the television sets) by 8:15 pm and stayed by the gate to witness the dark. Our neighbors turned off their lights, anyway. At first I thought they would wait for the brown-out to turn their lights off, but I guess they understood the event earlier before that. The street lights were also turned off. And people on our street were either just inside their gates or outside taking the opportunity to mingle with other neighbors. So I guess, we didn't just save the earth tonight. It also gave some of us the opportunity to "reconnect" with missed neighbors. But then one hour felt so long for people who have lots to do. Well, even my mom fell asleep in her recliner as early as 9:10.