The Circus

"Just Once" Days

As expected, the days following my return from my trip would be one hell of a circus. Deadlines are up and about, some are due one after the other, and others falling due at the same time. I am tired. But the deadlines do not wait, and so I must render overtime. In fairness, the latest I've been this year is 1.30 am, compared to last year, when we got as late as 3.00 am just to finish and fine-tune our work.

On top of the annual reporting we are doing is the looming monthly (and quarterly) reporting we still have to perform, and haven't yet touched. I thank the heavens that at this point, I'm not yet dreaming about work -- something I am prone to having when I know I am late in submitting the reports.

I can't wait till all of this is finished and done with.


Eviction

Imagine going home after your trip to find all your things lying helter-skelter all over the place, some unceremoniously packed up in plastic and paper bags, the others, just piled one on top of another. Imagine further that the door that once blocked your room from the rest of the world has been dismantled. You're tired from your trip and dreaming of your bed only to find out that your bed is packed full of your things, and thus, incapable of accomodating your sleep-deprived shell. Imagine looking forward to having an alone time with your room and finding out that you no longer have a room -- you've been evicted.

Well, not really. My mom decided not to wait for holy week for the planned rearranging and repainting of the house. My old room has been dismantled to make way for a larger office space, and my things transfered to the adjacent room, which used to be the office. But the painting and other minor repairs have not yet been completed, and so, I am left with the feeling of having been evicted, with no place to stay and to rest.


Darkness Falls

I come home late from the office Thursday night and is greeted by an unsual buzzing within the walls. There is electricity in the air, and all the lights are flickering. I can sense the presense of an inexplicable wrongness all over the place and, tired as I am, I can't help but wonder what is causing this disturbance.

All of a sudden, all the lights went out. The power in my room is gone, and the same is true with the other adjacent rooms. The weirdness of the thing intensifies, for the lights on the floor above is okay, and both floors share the same electric meter. Along with the loss of power was the disappearance of that buzzing sound around the walls. Being late as it is, a deathly silence has fallen all over the place.

The circuit breaker at my floor has failed, and I am forced to sleep with no power, and no fan. On top of having lost a proper bed. Another victory for the mosquito population.

The Earth Hour was celebrated last Saturday, with most lights switched off from 8.30 to 9.30 pm. I have one up on them, as I was forced to celebrate the loss of light and power from Thursday night and all throughout the weekend. I tried to tinker with the fuse box last Sunday, but it just wont budge for me, and I had to contend playing host to EyviCat's birthday lunch without power. It was warm and humid, but at least we had enough ambient light to see what we were eating.


The Flying Bus

We had a post-climb dinner last Saturday night to discuss our last trip and to exchange photos. I was able to bring my flash disk this time, and was able to grab pictures taken by the rest of the group. They also discussed plans for the next climb, which I had to beg off from joining for "Just Once" reasons.

The meeting was held in FAiRview, which is a different world altogether from the one I am used to here in Makati. Good thing I was able to bum a ride with a mate going there. The returning is a different thing though, for my ride left early, and I had to commute going home.

Sagi warned me that the bus I would be riding was notorious for being fast. I stored the info on my thinking cap and left it at that. Late (or rather, early, it being 4.00 am) as it is, I slept in the bus as we were driving along Commonwealth. I woke up just in time to alight at Magallanes, quite a few kilometers past my intended stop of Guadalupe. Fast bus, indeed.