On the 9th day, there was light

It's been three days now since we power has resumed at home. THANK GOD!

I've been lapping up the experience of sleeping in a warm, fluffy bed without sweating or swatting some imaginary mosquito. I've been logging in 10 hours of sleep per day during the weekend - the longest I've had in a long time. Warm showers are back. The comfort of white noise - whirring fans, the drone of the TV report - has returned. Everything is back to normal. *sigh*

When Typhoon Milenyo landed in Manila, I was heading home from Pampanga. I arrived to see Manila turned into a warzone - plunged in darkness and debris everywhere. It was eerie. Only a week before, everything was sunny and bustling. Now, it was dark and confusing.

DAY 1
I arrived in Manila, Thursday night. Only a few bright beacons of light shone from small gas stations and convenience stores. Even the malls' lights were strangely muted. Almost the entire city was black, and I went home praying that it was spared from the blackout. Apparently, divine intervention does not extend to my home. It was out of light and running on candle power. I went to sleep thinking that maybe going to office will give me a reprieve from the heat and darkness.

DAY 2
All classes and work are suspended for the day. WTF?!? Normally, I'd leap for joy and spend the whole day with the PC, but no power still and no fun to be had. I had to get out of the house, or I'd go crazy of the boredom. Went to Greenhills to meet Crissa and Jayca. (I am amazed that Promenade Mall is still freezing cold despite being run on generators.) Later, went from mall to mall. Didnt care where I was going, as long as it isn't my DARK, POWER-LESS home.

DAY 3
It was Saturday. First place I went to was the office - just to get my phone charged. (The wonderful thing with my W800 phone is its long battery life! And during these emergency sitches, it's greatly appreciated. I had it fully charged on Thursday, and it was still hanging on to dear life on Saturday. Oh, how I love my phone!) Riza wanted to get her eyebrows threaded... a well-deserved pampering oh her part. I got one too, thinking I needed the pampering after all the stress of having no power. Anyway, spent the rest of the day in the Podium, just to enjoy the cold air and a little shopping (good thing Podium stores are on sale mode, eh?). Returned home at 11pm. Power was restored to neighbouring streets, wont be long before ours comes back. Went to sleep feeling somewhat optimistic.

DAY 4
Sunday. The worst day of this weeklong tragedy. What's worse than having no power and nothing to do? It's having no power, nothing to do, AND no car to get you outta there! Our car had the supreme good timing of conking out on us, because its alternator gave way (or at least that is what the mechanic told us). This is nuts. Is this bad karma? What did we do to deserve this? I was sure I was nice to everyone in the past few weeks.

Wait, I just remembered... this gets worse. This day absolutely sucks because we have no power, we have nothing to do, we have no car to get us outta there, AND you get invaded by giant ants... AT NIGHT, WHEN THERE IS NO LIGHT! ARGGGHHHH!!! That was a nightmarish night. We came home from picking up dinner from a nearby resto (Jade Palace - Chinese place along Shaw Blvd. with decent dimsum). I placed the food in the kitchen, when I felt this crawling sensation on my leg. I stomped hard to kinda flick it off. Then, I got this paranoid feeling that I wasn't alone in the kitchen. I pointed my flashlight to the floor. It was like looking at a ant-y wallpaper, AND THEY WERE EVERYWHERE - the kitchen, the front area, the living room, the dining room. These aren't your ordinay household ants; these were 1/2 inch long wood ants! I don't know what it was like to be bitten by them, nor do I want to know. Spent the next 3 or more hours stomping and burning ants. DIE ANTS DIE!!! Needless to say, sleep that night was unpleasant. Often drifted in and out of sleep, just to flash a light and check if any of them ants had invaded my bed.

DAY 5
Monday. I've never been gladder for a Monday than this. Got to feel the cold air of the AC on my face, light on my head, whirring sounds everywhere, AND NO ANTS! WOOT! Proof that life still goes on. Spent the whole day ranting to my officemates of my miserable Sunday night. Went home 10pm. Light still hasn't reached my side of the barangay. WTH is taking Meralco so long? All they need to do is fix the frikking post and re-connect the frickking wires! I mean, the neighbours had already removed the fallen trees from the area. Half the job was already done for the Meralco people! Rant, rant, rant...

Still saw a few wood ants and killed them, but at least they weren't the horde I saw yesterday.

DAY 6
Feeling a whole lot better after the rant. Actually felt damn cheerful today, but I can't tell if all the giggling came from being happy or being miserable. Lost hope that Meralco will ever come within the week. They're slow and overworked. And they are taking their frickking sweet time getting HERE! Grr... and the rant goes on.

DAY 7
I am beginning to accept my situation, and react to it more cheerfully. I must be going crazy, but hey, I will ride this wave of liveliness as long as it runs. Candles, batteries, and rechargeable lamps are all selling like hotcakes. If we managed to get any of the three, we were certainly lucky (or stupid to buy it at such a high price, urk!).

DAY 8
Still no light... it must be at the end of the tunnel. And as if to seal our neanderthal-like state, my mom bought a charcoal-powered (seems oxymoronic to me) clothes iron/ press. LOL! Incidentally, this is also the 8th day in a row we've had fast food dinners. INC, super-sized me. Oh no!

DAY 9
Woke up this Friday morning and still no light, still no fan. Meralco finally made its presence felt in our neighbourhood, and by night time, we finally had power. By this time, I ran out of steam, and I actually felt grateful more than angry that the power has finally been restored. TGIF! I will have no problem enjoying the weekend.

I'm glad this whole Milenyo ordeal is over. Never do I want to go through the whole thing again... or if it does, hopefully there won't be any ants in it. Brrr!


And back to our previous program...