Aftermath

I got scared around 1 in the afternoon when the corrugated metal roof of the girls' dorm got torn off and went careening toward my glass window. The only thing that stopped it is the web of telephone lines and the water tower. I kept on looking outside and woohoo, it was fun. I actually enjoyed it in some way.

I called my parents and told them about it, but I made sure to laugh so they wouldn't be too worried. My father laughed with me. My mother was a bit worried.

I thought about the possibility of the roof smashing my window and the storm wrecking my room, so I moved things I wanted to save into the bathroom. I realized what I really valued in my room. Mainly, they were: my comics, my medical books, my stethoscope, the wireless keyboard and mouse that's supposed to be given to my brother, the hand-outs for my upcoming exam, my old sketch notebooks, and my sphygmomanometer.

Where's a camera when you need one?

After that, I thought of spending the rest of the storm downstairs, where there weren't and gigantic pieces of roof about to crash into me. I opened the door and peeked outside and there were tiny things zipping around. Mostly leaves and twigs, but there were also a few screws, nails, and tiny pieces of metal. Okay, I'll stay in my room. Fine, I'll wait out the storm.

Good thing I stocked up on candles and tuna. I can survive the next few hourse on candles and tuna. The winds stopped around 4 and the rain stopped around 6. Turns out, I didn't need to put the things in the bathroom.

Post-apocalyptic Manila
I have now idea why they call it the aftermath. Does it have something to do with mathematics? You know, like after a math exam, it's like "the aftermath" or something like that.

So I went out for a stroll around 7 in the evening and it was like a zombie movie or a cyber-punk anime or a scene from Left Behind. Streets empty. The only thing open was 7-11 and Tapa King. And there were lines just so you could get inside them. A line to go inside a 7-11!

And the darkness, that was really unnerving. But it wasn't scary. There was just total darkness. Not the faint darkness of a clear night, but the total darkness of a moonless, starless sky. A blind darkness.

I spent the night trying to call people from a payphone that only accepted 1-peso coins. That was annoying. It's a good thing I have a mug full of coins. I actually used up every 1-peso coin in that mug.

My mother said I should call my tita and have myself fetched. Um, no. I'd rather spend the night in the comfortable darkness of my room than in that spine-tingling glass onion. My hair stands on end when I sleep in my aunt's house. I won't spend the blacked-out night there.

I got a break from med school.
I finished reading Lords and Ladies by candlelight.
I studied some, too.

I sort of enjoyed the whole thing.