There’d be days like this…

I went to the lab, thinking I could do a lot of work: tie up some loose ends about my research, write a paper, continue work on a website that is due next month, read a book, and of course, think about how to bring myself closer to the goals I’ve set for the year

… Then the power tripped. There was a loud bang before the lights went out to the chorus of dying UPS’s sprawled across the floor, on top of shelves, and under the melles-griot metal brick, with intricate networks of wires, cables and dust to complete the cliche’d picture of a lab.

… These power surges are more or less a feature of the Institute nowadays. Despite all the talks we’ve had with MERALCO, building administrators, electricians, campus personalities, and your joes-in-jeans-scientist-types, we’ve yet to see any resolution to our problem. That’s mostly because nobody is willing to shoulder any kind of blame for the sorry state the building’s transformer is in right now: a "veritable jungle" has already grown into it and interestingly enough, no small animal has ever died while making contact with its potent but rotting terminals.

I’m drifting farther off-topic again.

After doing the customary shutdown of every electronic device (including those annoying UPS’s), I surveyed the lab for tell-tale signs of busted lab equipment. There was none. Whew! In about a month, we’ve lost nearly half a million PhP worth of hardware, priceless man-hours. Thank SOMEBODY up there for minor consolations like this day. I don’t want another expensive charcoal to add to my collection. I pity the underlings who couldn’t proceed with their thesis work due to a bad case of overvoltage (at one point it was 350V — farewell UPS! it was a good life).

With the lights out and the internet connection about to go MIA, I sifted through my archives for something to pass the time and got that DVD which was reserved for films too haunting or serious to make the "chill out, watch a hollywood film" type of cut.

First there was Untergang and the other was Immortel Ad Vitam. The former was too serious for the moment and could further any form of frustration. I was already livid with rage and already sporting that "need to punch someone or something" look.

I chose the latter, a film by Enki Bilal. Released in 2004, it’s a reinterpretation of his own trilogy of graphic novels, (Carnival of The Immortals, The Woman Trap, Cold Equator). The film, according to some critics provide a more coherent picture than the books, but (ahem) but does not capture the spirit of the Novels, Enki’s vision of a weird future that soon will become the playground of the gods: a stage to demonstrate their pettiness (that is also comparable to humans) and awesome powers, and why that shadow of futility must always fall on any human effort to reason with cosmic intelligence (or monomaniacal bents).

… Just in case anybody is expecting a spoiler in this post, I’m afraid I’d disappoint you. I don’t have anything to give. While wondering why the odds stacked against "World Peace" are seemingly insurmountable, I just thought the comments of HORUS (the god of the heavens both in the film and in the novels) on human nature seemed to illuminate some issues.

So thus spake HORUS of HIERAKONOPOLIS (The character whose head in the picture below looks like an avian wreck):

"You see, Nikopol … Thanks to you, I have known many things of earth and the people upon it …
Eleven years is like the blink of an eye, but I will always remember the smells, sounds and sensations…

You humans are utterly inequipped to run this world. Everything you touch rots away… I wanted to make peace with humans, but they’re too small-minded … They will never be rid of their unchecked patriotism, their stubborn faith, their ineptitude for power and their chronological limitations … For your lifespan is your weakest point…. you don’t live long enough to retain or even realize the value of what’s really important.

… We, the GODS,  have made you badly. A terrible thing to admit, but admit it I must"

As for the other film, Die Untergang, which in english translates to "The Downfall", I had these comments in mind when I played it after Immortel Ad Vitam.

By the way, Die Untergang was about the final days of the Third Reich and its most famous son: Adolf Hilter.

Since the summer term began in UP, i’ve been getting summons to the  higher planes of existence. It’s usually a network/computer related problem except when I have to sign some forms or papers that are vital to our survival in the university. Oftentimes too, I get summoned by the ONE himself, the Head Honcho of the outfit, The Invisible Hand, Power Overwhelming, Power of (a) god on earth: The Director of the Insitute and my research advisor. As if to complicate matters, it usually involves a Mac and unfortunately my know-how is, (bragging aside) best demonstrated on a PC (even those hopelessly obsolete, dilapidated ones). Still, there are enough commonalities between the two architectures … and yes a Mac’s engineering is superior to the PC (stop getting all geeky and stuff!!!!!)

This day was different because, the ONE had to attend to some all too important event, the institute will-suffer if HE doesn’t go and HE’s the only ONE capable of accomplishing a task of such MAGNITUDE. So HE promply left HIS office.

A few seconds in isolation and … Wow this is what power is: On one corner of the room are numerous personal awards consisting of medals (some heavy, some ….) Pla—s (forgot the spelling) of appreciation, plates, and the whole enchilada… and then there’s the Mac. Where most lesser beings are accustomed to plying their trade on the PC, the ONE would have none of it. HE goes well with the Mac and only with the Mac. To put things in perspective, even 6 years ago, a Mac would cost about PhP 150 K, while a PC could go for as low as PhP 18K or as high as PhP 50 K (like my PC back at the lab, hehehe <— that is also power). If this doesn’t sound awesome enough, just think of all the bureacratic procedures you’d have to go through just to import a motherload of stuff in UP. If it was less than PhP 5K, you don’t need inches thick paperwork. Beyond that, it would be hell following the trail your inches thick paperwork leaves in its sorry journey.

There are stacks of Scientific Journals waiting to be read, there’s a space in the other desk for papers/classcards/petitions/appeals/applications that needed signing, You get a VoIP phone too.
A pocket dictionary and thesaurus lies next to the Mac and a small pile of notes from your staff in the other room.

At this level of existence most of the time you are alone. Powers such as those accorded to the ONE cannot be shared. The setting certainly gave justice to the phrase "slave to the whim of the gods". Whatever your mind was contemplating, good or evil, for the institute, and the fact that you have a dedicated staff under your command (plus numerous underlings to complete the power structure) is just plain awesome, albeit terrifying at times (<—i haven’t lost my humanity after all).

While fixing the Mac (which thankfully was only having minor problems), there were humorous episodes involving people barging into the office thinking Herr Direktor was there and would stop dumb in their tracks because I’m in the Throne and not HE. Then I’d do a mock gesture, a Power Thing, that would probably pale in comparision to the REAL THING.

After about an hour, I was wrapping up, finishing hardware tests. Then HE arrives, sees the job done and says: Thank You. Thus, another aspect of Greatness is Revealed: Humility. With a customary bow, I turned about and walked away, feeling a little bit smaller but nonetheless wiser.

“I mean from  henceforth to lead a life of extreme seclusion; you must not be surprised nor must you doubt my friendship, if my door is often shut even to you. You must suffer me to go my own dark way. I have brought on myself a punishment and a danger that I cannot name. If I am the chief of sinners, I am the chief of sufferers also. I could not think that this earth contained a place for sufferings and terrors so unmanning; and you can do but one thing, to lighten this destiny, and that is to respect my silence”

—- Dr. Henry Jekyll

The Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by RL Stevenson