Cellar Dwellers

DARK AGE Garnett (Boston Celtics) after a loss

I WAS MONITORING THE GAME online between the Charlotte Bobcats and the Boston Celtics, with the Bobcats leading by double digits midway through the 3^rd quarter, when all of a sudden the electricity went out. Not only was I harbouring a grudge that the Celtics decided to rest their leading scorer against the lowly Cats that the latter was able to capitalize (Gerald Henderson’s 21-point barrage in the first half being one of them), but that this power outage has been bugging me for almost a week now. And being a fan of the Celtics, the thought of suffering a brownout with your team trailing behind can actually cause a lot of stress more than the loss of their star player (Rajon Rondo) to a season-ending injury.

Maybe I was just reacting too much. Not that I’m obsessed about anything Celtics, but that it makes the blood boil not to be able to see or even read online about the possibility of a comeback after being behind by double digits or the reason behind the ineffectual rebounding of the Celtics even with some recent acquisitions on the team. True enough, my blood did boil when the Celtics were down 11 in the 3^rd Q just as the electricity went out. I was even trying to make my case on Twitter that resting Pierce is probably not a good idea now that the team can actually climb at the standings with a win over the Bobcats, since the Atlanta-Miami game is already in the books with Miami as an overriding favorite. Needless to say, my frustration over their (Celtics) inconsistencies was intensified with this power outage, that it was more or less the type of season they now have, and probably a sign of things to come.  

That’s just one of the many things a brownout can do to your psyche. Somehow it frustrates you to a fault you feel utterly immobilized for the rest of the day. In my case, I couldn’t stop thinking about what might have been if I had a glimpse of that game (a fanatic, regardless), even by just monitoring the score online. You will probably feel uncomfortable, at a loss, fooled even, that the brownout somehow took everything away from you. Like that inconsistencies the Celtics have suffered this season, brownouts in this side of the country has had its own share of irregularities, leaving the rest to assume that it will remain irregular for the remainder of the year, a stressful situation for someone who relies solely on the internet to earn money, someone like myself.

But brownouts in Agusan del Sur are a regular phenomenon. In fact, it has its own regular schedule in San Francisco to attend to. From 1 pm to 5 pm (sometimes longer than that), you could do nothing but pick your nose. And, as if it doesn’t get much worse than it already is, some, if not most, of its residents seemed to connive with that same old nonchalant Caraga-style fatalism, bahala na, as always. Once when I decided to cool myself a little bit and thought about ordering a parfait (halo-halo), just to calm my nerves and to cool my head, a crew of that restaurant (somewhere in Center Island) nonchalantly said that they were out of ice. Not that I protested that they don’t have it because, well, it’s brownout, but they should have at least made the effort to secure it on times when there’s no power outage, so when brownout comes, their halo-halo, along with that ice, will probably sell like hotcakes, since it’s boiling hot every afternoon in San Francisco. But what a bad way to do business, and all because of that brownout, invariably giving these lousy employees a chance not to do anything at all by using this power outage as an easy excuse.

I was restless even after the lights went on. And by the time I checked the internet for that final score the Celtics had been decimated by the Bobcats, 100-74, an unlikely beating from one of the worst teams in the league. It would have been less disappointing on my part had I known the consequences of their (Celtics) loss if I had at least seen and read the game as it progresses. But since the brownout took it away from me, I was cut right through in the middle of it, wondering what had happened and what might have been, and almost to a point of blaming myself for staying too long in San Francisco, now that this power outage is on a regular basis. Somehow it’s picking me apart.

Though as much as I want the final score, the game itself to me is as interesting as its culmination. In the same way as with my Calculus professor in college, when he told us that as much as he wanted the right answer for a given problem, he was much more interested in our computation than in our oftentimes diverse summation. How we arrived at that answer is as indispensable as the answer itself. That's probably the reason why I am so baffled, out of that fitting analogy, at the employees of the Agusan del Sur Electric Cooperative (ASELCO), the office who is supposed to handle these recurring brownouts, as if they themselves are not consumers of that same electricity, as if they are not privy to the stress and the setback brought about by their perennial offering: brownout. We wonder then how they were dealing with it, in as much as finding an answer to their fluctuating merchandise.

I missed the game online, since it was not live on cable TV. I was gnashing my teeth and cursing the devil in all forms and expression in the same way as with a film enthusiast missing the last full show. I could have sued the cooperative for breaching that peace I could possibly have by simply monitoring the game online, even if it means a loss in the end. My anguish was then intensified when I found out later that the cooperative can actually turn the lights on if the price is right (P300, as some would say), so you can have your own precious lights, uninterrupted and quite possibly, unlimited. A sorry indication that the cooperative allegedly is not only short circuiting our electricity, but also short stopping us of any comfort that their electricity could easily provide.

Now I have to pay the bill regardless if I have not seen the game on TV or monitored the game online. And that to me is not a fair deal. I know the Celtics are struggling right now, and at times I hate to watch them play because of their inconsistencies, or their turnovers, or Pierce and Garnett are old, or some coaching miscalculations such as sitting their star player on crucial games, but that doesn’t mean I don’t watch them at all. Being a fan in my own right, I deserve more than just a scheduled brownout. I want my money’s worth, even for a mere Gamecast at times. Brownouts are a cellar thing, like the Charlotte Bobcats, who is actually sitting at the bottom of the standings.