Blacked Out
I’m writing this in the middle of darkness.
The weather stations had announced a signal number three typhoon, which meant school and some offices were called off. As if that mattered to me. I didn’t have classes scheduled for the day and I do my freelance work mostly from home; that I’m my own exceptionally cranky boss means I can’t get away with calling in sick.
By noon, the winds have moved from whistling to howling, and the umbrella death toll ran in the dozens. From my window I saw a tree fall down, and a helpless kitty cat being dragged by the winds to heaven-knows-where. Maybe kitty heaven.
By noon, the condominium lobby provided no safe haven from the rain. The wind and water were coming in so hard, so fast that the maintenance people began scooping up the water with dustpans, filling up bucket after bucket, in their best modern-day interpretation of Sisyphus.
By noon, I had already been lulled by the cold temperature into a siesta. It was perfect cuddleweather, if only I had someone I could cuddle.
That was when the electricity went out. The phone went out of commission shortly after that.
These are thoughts I thought of when I found out:
Crapshoot, how am I supposed to get any work done today?
Maybe I should just get back to sleep.
But wait, is that water coming in my room through the (closed) windows? Wtf?!
I don’t have candles or flashlights stocked up. I never thought I’d need it. Gah.
How am I supposed to cook my dinner if I only have an electric stove? Double gah.
So I waited for the rain and winds to subside before venturing out to buy flashlights and (might as well) dinner, and was thankful we had building generators that powered lights in the common areas and kept the elevators working. Not that I’d mind walking up and down from the seventh floor where I stay; it’s the stink of the stairwell, caused by the smokers sneaking their nicotine fix in and the smell wafting in from the garbage chute, that irritates me and my sinuses.
Only to find that due to the power outage and/or inclement weather all the restaurants along Katipunan were closed. Except for Jollibee which, for precisely that reason, looked like a Red Cross camp giving out relief goods. There were just that many people. The word, in fact, to use is “horde.”
The 7-11, on the other hand, has already run out of candles and flashlights. They have, in fact, sold most everything out, drinks and food especially. People bought their softdrinks and chips en masse, as if stocking up for some junk food bomb shelter.
Anyway, after falling in line at the Jollibee for thirty minutes - as if I had much of a choice - and wolfing down my Chickenjoy dinner, I found out from the lobby guards that the generators also provided limited electricity not just in the common areas but also in the units as well. Of course, by limited they really only meant one working power outlet per unit, but beggars can’t be choosers, at least I had kitchen lights. I said a silent prayer to the little god of fluorescent bulbs that I won’t have to hobble around in the pitch dark, scaredy cat that I am.
The weather stations had announced a signal number three typhoon, which meant school and some offices were called off. As if that mattered to me. I didn’t have classes scheduled for the day and I do my freelance work mostly from home; that I’m my own exceptionally cranky boss means I can’t get away with calling in sick.
By noon, the winds have moved from whistling to howling, and the umbrella death toll ran in the dozens. From my window I saw a tree fall down, and a helpless kitty cat being dragged by the winds to heaven-knows-where. Maybe kitty heaven.
By noon, the condominium lobby provided no safe haven from the rain. The wind and water were coming in so hard, so fast that the maintenance people began scooping up the water with dustpans, filling up bucket after bucket, in their best modern-day interpretation of Sisyphus.
By noon, I had already been lulled by the cold temperature into a siesta. It was perfect cuddleweather, if only I had someone I could cuddle.
That was when the electricity went out. The phone went out of commission shortly after that.
These are thoughts I thought of when I found out:
Crapshoot, how am I supposed to get any work done today?
Maybe I should just get back to sleep.
But wait, is that water coming in my room through the (closed) windows? Wtf?!
I don’t have candles or flashlights stocked up. I never thought I’d need it. Gah.
How am I supposed to cook my dinner if I only have an electric stove? Double gah.
So I waited for the rain and winds to subside before venturing out to buy flashlights and (might as well) dinner, and was thankful we had building generators that powered lights in the common areas and kept the elevators working. Not that I’d mind walking up and down from the seventh floor where I stay; it’s the stink of the stairwell, caused by the smokers sneaking their nicotine fix in and the smell wafting in from the garbage chute, that irritates me and my sinuses.
Only to find that due to the power outage and/or inclement weather all the restaurants along Katipunan were closed. Except for Jollibee which, for precisely that reason, looked like a Red Cross camp giving out relief goods. There were just that many people. The word, in fact, to use is “horde.”
The 7-11, on the other hand, has already run out of candles and flashlights. They have, in fact, sold most everything out, drinks and food especially. People bought their softdrinks and chips en masse, as if stocking up for some junk food bomb shelter.
Anyway, after falling in line at the Jollibee for thirty minutes - as if I had much of a choice - and wolfing down my Chickenjoy dinner, I found out from the lobby guards that the generators also provided limited electricity not just in the common areas but also in the units as well. Of course, by limited they really only meant one working power outlet per unit, but beggars can’t be choosers, at least I had kitchen lights. I said a silent prayer to the little god of fluorescent bulbs that I won’t have to hobble around in the pitch dark, scaredy cat that I am.