There are times when I wish I didn’t have to wake up from a nightmare. I’d rather die in my sleep than wake up, for instance, to a thousand cockroaches competing for a spot on my cheek. The past few days have felt worse than cockroach infestations. The power crisis in Mindanao is in full swing with Agus dam’s water level below critical level. It might fall below a second critical level and then a third and a fourth until I imagine there’d only be rock bottom. The experts have pictures to prove that they aren’t lying for the sake of some lucrative political ploy, April fool’s day or just for kicks.
The problem is real and has been compounded by the fact that we just happen to be a location that El Nino loves to develop into a playground that he can trample on with pronounced impunity. If he doesn’t stop, the power curtailments could drag until June or July.
Why am I in a state of horror?
It’s not just because I feel like a turkey on slow roast. I am one of those who thrive on milking the internet. Those of my kind throng like parasites on the dark alleys of the online world and the internet welcomes us into her loving arms like a mother would her children except when there’s no electricity. I’d imagine our mother blabbering in JavaScript and HTML, “You’d better not come home without your kilowatts per hour.”
If there was a 25th hour, I’d probably still be up by then trying to catch the last train to my virtual haunts. Unfortunately, no caffeinated treat can keep my mental cogs in perpetual motion. I can’t imagine not sleeping for more than three months, but it’s either that or someone goes hungry.
In the meantime, accusing fingers are pointing to the current administration for failing to do anything about this foreseeable crisis in the last nine years it has been in authority. While the debate rages on whether Arroyo needs special powers or not to resolve the issue, the nightmare for us in Mindanao continues. As if we didn’t have enough bad dreams already.
ma'am g,
even here in manila, we get unannounced blackouts. the internet's weird as well.
i'm not so sure about the root cause of the blackouts in manila but here in mindanao it's because the hydroelectric plants cannot provide sufficient power. they've known of the deficiency all along but have not acted on a solution. now the problem has been made worse by the el nino which is pushing the water levels lower. i hope the nightmare ends soon for all of us
do what the native Americans do – RAIN DANCE!!!