BLACK HAWK DOWN et al
The Luzon-wide blackout yesterday was very costly. The impact to our operations is one that I cannot blog about openly, but the impact to the rest of Luzon, I can surely talk about! Among the biggest, I guess, was that the Napocor head lost his job (this was not the first time. Who could forget about the jellyfish?). Traffic was unusually bad at 4PM in EDSA. I consumed all my laptop battery power, so I couldn't even modify my school assignment anymore. But thank goodness I didn’t get stuck in any elevator. Our school only had the generator supplying the power, so they shut it down temporarily.

I took the afternoon off this PM to watch a movie with my MBA friend, Daisy. We watched Black Hawk Down, from among the other movies playing (Behind Enemy Lines, LOTR, American Adobo à the last two was ruled out bec. I’m sked to watch with other friends ;)). No, I am not at all a war movie fan. In fact, I totally hate gore! But, who could resist watching Josh Hartnett on the big screen? Such a hunk! :P I know, it’s a very mababaw reason to watch a movie, and mind you, I had to cover my eyes a lot of times during the gory scenes involving cut fingers, exposed intestines, etc.. I admit, I didn’t know much about this movie before I watched it. It's actually based on a true story of the Battle of Mogadishu, the longest sustained ground battle involving American soldiers since the Vietnam War. Their purpose was to abduct two of Somalian warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid's lieutenants. Before the raid, the soldiers hardly prepared any night gears, as they expected it to last for only one hour. They were even making fun of one of the soldiers who was pulled out from his desk job (character played by Ewan McGregor) for being too paranoid and precautious. Instead, their operation lasted for 15 hours, resulting in the deaths of 18 Americans, 73 wounded, and about a thousand Somalians dead. Two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters were also shot down. This is apparently one of America’s biggest military blunders. War movies really leave me feeling sad and depressed. It makes me angry that battles like this are fought. One of the Somalian militia leader said, for them, killing is negotiation. And I quote the rest of the paragraph from the online book version. Every battle is a drama played out apart from broader political issues. Soldiers cannot concern themselves with the decisions that bring them to a fight. They trust their leaders not to risk their lives for too little. Once the battle is joined, they fight to survive, to kill before they are killed. The story of a battle is timeless. It is about the same things whether in Troy or Gettysburg, Normandy or the Ia Drang. It is about soldiers, most of them young, trapped in a fight to the death. The extreme and terrible nature of war touches something essential about being human, and soldiers do not always like what they learn. For those who survive, the battle lives on in their memories and nightmares and in the dull ache of old wounds long after the reasons for it have been forgotten. :-(

Anyway, after I brought Daisy home, I encountered a car accident. One of those gago tricycle drivers overtook my car while I was turning left and hit me! My rim got hideously scratched (just recently replaced… huhuhu…) and my bumper also got it’s share of scratches and slightly dislodged! Darn. Panget na ang kotse ko. :) The worst part was not over. After overcoming my shock, I stopped in the corner to check the damages (of course the driver sped away) and expected the traffic aide who witnessed the accident to come to help me. But no, she went about directing traffic like it was normal to have accidents like that every darn day! I started calling my friends, and thankfully, Daisy went back to help me. Fortunately, the traffic aide has some use after all, as she was able to take note of the body number. But darn, I bet that freakin’ driver will just get away with this! We went to the police station to report the accident. We asked the police who was standing behind the desk marked “information” where we can report an accident. And he said, in a very sarcastic manner “Here. Can’t you see I’m writing a report now? Wait!” (that, in Tagalog, sounds even more worse. Believe me!). And after like waiting for 15 mins. It turned out there was a different person in charge for car accidents! Damn! So we went there and this guy was really not the most helpful of the lot, either. Since I was not from around the area, I had no idea what the streets were called and so I asked him and he retorted, “Why don’t you know?”… Anyway, good thing Daisy was there. Such an angel! Without her, I would just have collapsed there in frustration! And get this, I can’t even get the report until Thursday pa! Why, why, why??? Anyway, I apologize for being so hysterical. Still not quite over the stress of the whole experience yet. But one thing I’m glad about is to know I have such dependable friends! :)