I just so hate PLDT right now. In the past week, our landline went dead several times. First time it happened, I was out most of the weekend so I didn't even know our phone line was dead. I only found out about it Monday afternoon. I was trying to connect to the net but kept getting a "Please check if the modem or phone line is properly connected." I thought it was a modem problem, then was utterly surprised when I picked up the phone and, surprise, no dial tone. I was forced to go to a net cafe on the night before I had to go out of town just to get important email. The folks at home took charge of reporting it to the phone company, who only sent their people the following day, a Tuesday.

It was working fine when I came back Thursday. Worked fine at the start of the weekend. By Sunday, the line was raspy and very sick. You could hear it cough and sneeze its way, with lots of static in between. Yesterday it dropped dead. Then my headwriter called asking me to download and read some stuff for today's meeting. Which I couldn't do last night because the phone was dead, it was raining hard with winds at 157kph, making it a bit impossible to trek out and find myself an internet cafe.

I know some of you would probably be raising a huge stick over my head for being such a brat and whining at the loss of my precious middle class luxury. Yes, I know we are experiencing a typhoon -- no, make that 2 weather disturbances. I know people have lost their homes, their livelihoods, their loved ones.

But when selfishness strikes, all you care about is how things are not going your way. Now I wouldn't have minded it much if a phone line wasn't an absolute necessity in my line of work. I wouldn't have minded it much if the weather was fine and this happened. I would just blame the phone company's inefficiency. I wouldn't have minded it much if I hadn't spent the last 6 days at home. But the phone dropping dead twice in a week in the space of several days, at such a crucial time is not just an inconvenience. I was at absolute mercy of the weather, the phone company, my deadline, my boredom. And I couldn't do anything. The futility of it all just bugs me.