Lights Out! Time to Wake Up!

It’s 4:30 AM and I am at the Kansas City Airport. Some brainiac (me) scheduled a 6:00 AM flight out of KC back home to RDU. This weekend I was in Overland Park Kansas to be a part of the ABC USA 2013 Biennial where my dad was voted in as the first Asian American President of the American Baptist denomination. It was a great time being here with my parents, sister, and niece and I was glad to witness this great event.

But back to my early flight. With the distance of Overland Park to the Kansas City Airport and the fact that I am incredibly set in my ways with my travel routine (stubborn and paranoid) I had to schedule a 3:45 pickup from the hotel to make it here to the airport with a comfortable time to get through security, eat breakfast, etc. This meant a horrifying 3:00 AM wake up call.

Now, 3:00 AM is not as horrible physically as it is mentally. It’s right smack in the middle between “up too late” and “awoken unexpectedly too early.” It’s a black hole of a timeframe that is typically only reserved for early AM news anchors and Dunkin’ Donuts bakers. And it’s early enough where your mouth still tastes like toothpaste.

I took all the necessary steps to ensure that I would not only wake up as scheduled but that I would not make too much noise as I was sharing a suite with my parents.

These steps included:
1. Setting two alarms: one on my phone and another on my watch set for 5 minutes later.
2. Doing a thorough was oh my face and neck and “T-Zone” before going to bed in the off-chance I didn’t have time for a shower
3. Shaving last night so I wouldn’t have to make too much noise or keep the bathroom light on too long. The sink was in an open space that opened up into the bedroom my parents were sleeping in.
4. Pre-packing so my sleep clothes could be packed in the outside pocket of my carry-on.

I was ready. I was mentally psyched up. I went to bed relatively early (10:30PM).

At 2:48 AM, I was awoken by 2 emergency tones followed by an emergency message on the loudspeaker: “The hotel and surrounding areas have lost power. We are currently running on emergency generators.”

In this Post-9/11 world there is nothing scarier to me than emergency messages in the middle of the night. A few months after 9/11 my wife and daughter and I were on the 10th floor of a hotel in Honolulu when the fire alarm went off at 2 in the morning. I’m not sure if this was the time of day or my current mental state but this alert initially felt like that.

I jumped out of bed and was coherent enough to hear the repeat of the message a second time. I looked at my watch. 2:50 AM. Close enough to my alarm time that it was time to get up. I turned off my phone alarm and inspected out the window. Eerily quiet and completely dark save a tiny emergency light by the exit doors.

I had a task and that was to get ready. But now I was facing a challenge greater than just being tired. It was pitch black.

I used my phone screen as a flashlight to talk to my dad. Fortunately he had an LED keychain flashlight that I used to find my way to the bathroom and then to take a shower. Have you ever taken a shower in the dark? Not too easy.

This was how much light I had:

I showered and packed up quickly. Kissed my parents goodbye and left the room. The hallways were well-lit. Fortunately I was on the 4th floor. This was good because I needed to take the stairs.The generators were still powering the elevators but I was not going to take a chance. I also found out that the water pumps were not functioning well so the upper floors had no running water.

I walked down 3 flights and then was confronted with this sign.

I walked 2 flights back up, headed down to the other side of the hallway and back down the stairs to the lobby level.

Downstairs was eerily quiet (even for the time of day). While the lobby was well-lit, the outside was not. They lit glowsticks on the ground was something I had never seen before so of course, I had to take a picture of it!

So that was my little bit of excitement this morning!

Gregory Ng

GOAL: Visit 100 National Parks as a family by 2020. Favorite Parks: Zion National Park, Mt Rainier National Park, Valley Forge National Historical Park

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