Power Failure

Just got back from a business trip in Xiamen, China last week. While I could say that my first trip to the mainland followed by a one night lay-over in Hong Kong was memorable, I could also say that the scene that greeted me upon my return to the home country was memorable, in a "I wish I could skip this part of my life" kind of way.

I came back to the Philippines following the aftermath of the worst typhoon to hit the country in 11 years. 11 frickin' years, for chrissake! This typhoon could not have picked a better time to arrive and ravage the country than when I was set to return. I was excited to come back home, bringing with me Royce Nama chocolates and an assortment of DVDs I was looking forward to devouring. Upon touching down at the airport and stepping off onto the arrival area, my worst fears were realized...there was no electricity. I began to fear for my chocolates, felt sick at the prospect of not being able to watch my new DVDs, and yearning to get back on the plane and tell the pilot to jet me back to Hong Kong.

Despite the lack of electricity and the sweltering heat I expected to face when I got home, I kept my hopes up that everything will be back to normal in no time. I managed to even cheer myself up by keeping myself amused at the destruction the storm left in its wake and the thought that power will be back once I get home. Boy, was I wrong. 4 nights have passed since I came back from my trip, and we don't have electricity yet! 4 sleepless nights of utter darkness with nothing to do! I'm going crazy. The first night passed, and it was ok at the time. The 2nd night was still tolerable. The 3rd night came, and I was beginning to lose my sanity. The 4th night was just complete hell! I'm already beginning to develop fantasies of throwing Molotov bombs at the nearest power company office. What did I do to the chocolates and DVDs I brought back from my trip? I nearly made myself sick finishing off 2 boxes of chocolate in a day, and my DVDs have began to gather dust in my shelf - unappreciated and unwatched.

What did I ever do to deserve to be thrown back to an age where the light bulb didn't exist yet and the electric fan was stuff of science fiction? The romaticism of eating dinner by candlelight has already left me days ago. I'm already tired of going to bed at 8 PM. Will somebody just bring back the power?