This is a starting to feel a little too third-world

It is less than 48 hours before my last final and my power has come back on after having died for the second time in the last 18 hours, and for what is probably the thirtieth time since January (really). After calling Entergy (our local monopoly, whose number I have now memorized), I was snippily informed that it might be another 8 hours before it was turned back on, and that no, customer service agents are not able to tell me why it is out (even though, last I checked, the sole job requirement for a customer service rep is to provide customer service). I am pleased to report that it did not, in fact, take a full 8 hours, and thus I am spared the happy task of replacing all of the food in my refrigerator, as it seems I must do every two weeks or so. I'm now convinced that the higher-ups at Entergy have decided that it should be my lot in life to make endless trips to the grocery store to replace spoiled food with the money from my apparently never-shrinking bank account.

I'm fully aware that I'm whining right now, and that it might seem a little obnoxious seeing that there are still areas of the city with no power at all. However, it seems to me that after upping their rates over 100%, my idiotic power company should be able to supply me with some actual power. Other neighborhoods don't seem to have this problem (the ones with electricity restored), and while I realize that mine isn't very high on the tourist-trade list, this is getting slightly ridiculous. In fact, I'm pretty sure that the only reason that my electric clicked back on after only a few hours this time is because parts of the Quarter were out too, making it much more of a priority than usual.

On the plus side though, I do seem to have developed some odd sort of electricity-related ESP, since I just bought candles this morning, sensing that last night's power outage was soon to be followed by another. This may not be a really marketable skill, but in a city like New Orleans, where things like clean, running water and working lights are not to be taken for granted, it might actually come in handy.