Donnie's Pensieve

I would say my aircon reliance significantly increased.  I know of some people who have been living and working in airconditioned rooms and I'm sure they will not survive today at my workplace-- blackout.

It happens every now and then: call centers experiencing power outages and imagine the joy that arises from reps when these disasters happen.  Something inside me also leaps out of joy when the room turns black and all the emergency lights turn on.  These are the days where you realize there are emergency lights on the wall after all, after not seeing it your entire working life in your office.

Of course, calls usually continue and anyone who's PC shuts down together with the lights is a golden child (or maybe someone who intentionally kicked the power cord).  But when calls start to die themselves-- crazy.

IT team was utmost worked out today for hours until they figured out why the generator is not giving power to one floor of the office.  While the rest, well, busy fanning themselves and chatting and getting to know each other in a new light.

It's warm the whole day, the aircon being shut down so it won't add up to the power consumption to the site.  You'll realize that aircon reliance is directly proportional to the number of words uttered out of complain due to the heat.  I say mine was like every twenty minutes-- at least I cooled down when my own PC shut down itself and I'm virtually free to roam around and make an excuse for petix moments.  Unfortunately, my files got deleted and the recovery is not that good. 

Did I mention the elevator is also not working so we had to climb six floors just to reach the pantry?  Oh well, just another day in the office.

A day in the hospital can bring you thinking about the different phases of life people are facing somewhere.  My  sister was recently diagnosed with dengue and fortunately did not get worse and she was only confined for three days.  I had 1 visit during that time since I'm in Laguna during weekdays and I cannot go to East Avenue just yet.

The confined person right beside us (we are in a shared room) drank 10 BioFlu, 10 Decolgen, and 10 something else, basically 1 banig of each and he collapsed.  He said he usually had fights with his father and that brought him to attempt suicide-- failed though.  He was interviewed by some students and he said he had no regrets with what happened.  Well, for me he was plain idiot.  A coward.  If you want to commit suicide, make it painful.  Bloody.  Splat.  So you are sure dead.  There's nothing worse than failing to commit suicide.  He chose the painless way of dying.  For that he was a coward.  For deciding to die facing problems, that's double coward.  Nurses actually hated him.  Why would you waste time on somebody who wants to die?  Somebody who did not care for his life?

The person on the opposite side also had dengue.  With dengue, you are actually required to buy syringes everytime they need to get blood from you for blood test.  A syringe cost 2.25 in that hospital.  And the parent of that boy cannot buy one.  Php 2.25.

Those who cannot pay for the hospital bill are sent to the basement where you'll smell damp soil.  It has poor ventilation and there are a lot of you sharing rooms.  You'll actually get more sick staying there for a day.  Even with Social Welfare discounts, they still cannot afford to pay the bill, therefore, increasing the bill everyday.

One night, my mother was watching over my sister when a lady, who she met in the observation ward, was walking on the floor.  My mother called her asking how she was doing.  She said that she was just walking around after realizing that the Social Welfare was closed and she cannot buy her daughter an 80-pesos worth of dextrose.  Her husband is back in Payatas working hard on the garbage just to cure their daughter's low potassium level.  My mother had to lend her the money (Php100, then the lady returned for the change and promised to pay back), though my mother decided not to expect.

With these situations, one can imagine how lucky you are being able to read this in the first place (I mean, you can afford internet) while there are those who are plainly miserable.  Sometimes we think that life is treating us so bad.  But actually, some child is suffering worse.  We should just be happy with what we have.  Don't surrender on your problems or try to make your life complicated as there are those who are simply ground zero.

I was crying in the hidden stairs of the hospital, thinking about my sister.  Then, I realized there is hope.  Something you should never lose.  If some people can survive their miseries, then, so are you!