Up Nepa: My typical day without power supply during COVID-19 Lockdown
Stay at home they say. Keep everyone safe by sitting your ass at home. After staying home for over 40 days, here is a breakdown of my typical day without power supply. As a background check, I will like to inform you that I currently stay in Lagos on the Island, so the power situation here is not too bad. However, on days when my people(as my family members will say: I happen to be one of those oversabi Electrical and Electronics Engineering students at a federal university in Nigeria.) decide to show us pepper, here is how I cope to stay sane.
As a night owl, I am almost always awake when it clocks 12 AM. This is the period I get important things done such as working on a pet project or tasks on @dataquest.io or creating contents. I love coding at night because of the absolute silence and the fact that I can show off my dancing skills without anyone giving me a side-eye. We have a standby generator that runs from 7 pm to 7 am the next day. That’s 12 hours of constant power supply, so I try to make the best use of this period.
Don’t forget. I need to remind you not to expect power supply from my people today. They are on lockdown too. So when I start my chores by 8 AM, I need to put into consideration that my nephew will be awake and he loves to play with his aunty when there’s no other means of distraction, Sophia on Disney Junior in this case. We wash plates together, I do the work, he does the talking, asking me random questions like “Aunty, what you doing?” or “Why you laughing?”. He speaks too much phonetics for a three-year-old pikin by the way :(
I start working by 9 AM. When I say work, I mean checking up on groups I lead for updates and meeting notifications. After which I log off to draft a schedule for the day. It’s Ramadan, I also try to check off some goals I set for the day (thanks to Jaleesah babes, an inner circle of 8 Muslim ladies, who send me reminders to keep me on track).
By now it’s afternoon and there’s always a Zoom meeting or webinar to attend. This is the most frustrating part of my day. My phone battery is low and I try to come up with creative ways to safe my face. This is where I steal my sister’s power bank and try to locate a good spot in the house where she can’t see me or the power bank. If I’m lucky enough, I will make it downstairs without her noticing me. However, most days, that’s not the case. That girl is probably a one-eyed witch because somehow, she knows. At this point, I am begging for her mercy, coming up with over five reasons why she should give me the power bank. Then we strike a deal and most times I always end up with the cute power bank and a USB cord to charge my phone.
Around 5 pm, when the sun is down and the weather is homey, I try to log off to create content and read. This is the time I have to reconnect with myself. I try to sleep and also spend quality time with my nephew and his cousin.
Whoooollla! It’s 7 pm. Up Nepa!
Don’t forget, you are not to expect power supply today.
