Eyes Wide Open | Hibernation

"I have to tell you something," He said.

"Anu yun dude?" I asked him, with a half guess forming in my head.

"Wag na lang..." was his reply. Apparently, he was having second thoughts of spilling out the beans.

Then everything became quiet.

"Ano nga yun,"

I insisted a couple of times more. But he was really hesitant to say what he wanted to convey to me. so there was silence between us. Suddenly, without any warning, he held my hand and put it firmly and forcefully between his legs. I felt a massive bulge.

"Would this mean anything to you?" He asked.

At that moment, I was virtually powerless to make any reactions. Never did I guess that I would eventually reach the point, where I tried to consciously and persistently avoid this past few months.

- Eyes Wide Shut, March 5, 2007

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We were buddies long before it happened. He is this quiet guy who doesn't talk a lot on the floor. My other colleagues found him too aloof and detached to invite in small gatherings. He kept himself shrouded in mystery and that image he projected to everyone stirred my curiosity. Since he has a connection to Mami Athena, it was never difficult to establish ties and friendship with him. I remember Mami telling me that we had a shared past - especially on the part where our families had both suffered financial hardships that we have never faced before. No wonder, it wasn't difficult to get along with him the moment we were first introduced.

And we clicked despite the fact that we never talk a lot.

After that fateful night-stand, things began to change between us. I became closer and the lines of friendship that we had nurtured suddenly became blurred. Mami Athena cautioned me not to assume anything. In fact her theory was, I might just have been an object of his libog. That I was nothing more but just a mere sexual object to be preyed upon.

However, his text messages revealed a different story.

We became uwian buddies overnight. He began to rely on me for support, which I gave freely the moment he needed it. We went out for a hang-out, I let him see my place and discover the secrets I kept within and in return, he became more open to me about his life. I gave him my full attention, which unfortunately my other colleagues had never failed to notice. We became an item but I didn't take their impressions seriously.

After all, I knew where I stood and what I felt for him was a friendship set in a different plane of existence.

However, he began to feel awkward at our situation. He tried to cool things down by asking me to keep some distance at first, but as the weeks passed, I began to feel that we were drifting apart. Then one morning, he accused me of spreading a nasty rumor which even in my grandest delusions I would never ferment.

"cnungaking ka!!! kinuwento mo sa lahat na may nangyari satin.. .. pero ang masagwa di mu pako kilala masyado... at bakit mu ipinagkakalat na may relasyon tayo??? bakla ka nga.. tsismoso/tsismosa.. wala kang isang salita.. at tsaka bakit mu ba na mis interpret ako??? di ako kasing katulad ng iniisip mo... ang totoong ako e sinabi ko sayo na NAG-E-EXPLORE plang ako sa buhay ko.. and that way im still a man and its just that i am BI.. wag mo ko tratuhin na parang tayo.."

It was the most hurtful accusations I have received in my entire PLU existence. For one, never in my past did I assume of a relationship. I simply have too much pride to stoop down and pretend of something that I am capable of getting officially. Second, why would I assume of something that I already have? In those days, my life has already been full of complexities to accommodate another one. In retaliation to his accusations, I immediately cut off my ties with everyone, except Mami. I erected a wall to keep my distance from everyone. For a month and a half, I sorted out where I failed in our friendship while healing the wounds he inflicted on me.

We found closure six months after the "big hit" happened. However, things had drastically changed when we got to talk again. I understood where he was coming from, and he understood what my nature had always been. Nevertheless, we stopped talking altogether. I simply cannot find anything interesting to share with him. Besides, he had become so aloof, that I found it difficult to reach out.

Months passed after the closure. Our ties had warmed a little more, but the bond we had before the "Eyes Wide Shut" episode happened had never been achieved again. His activities remained one of my concerns but I already learned to keep a perpetual distance away from him. We simply exist in different realities where one could not see the other anymore. Princess would tell me some of his recent blunders and I would just scratch my head in dismay. He might still be the tough, no-care-in-the-world guy that I knew, but he can never attempt to do an eyes-wide-shut episode again.

Looking back, I owe my survival to Mami, who had been there during the most difficult struggles to free myself after the "big hit." In times when he would test my resolve to get over by texting sweet messages that were intended for other people, I would run to Mami to reclaim my sanity. The yosi breaks proved to be my lifeline, and I still keep so many memories of that small bathroom where we used to smoke in the afternoon while showing her his latest text barrage on me.

Princess also proves to be a valuable ally in my attempts to get over him in the months after our closure. He not only helped me in getting the much-needed understanding I was seeking among those who got caught of our little story, he was extremely effective in unmasking the guy I used to look up and admire.

One year after it all happened, I suddenly realized that I don't feel anything for P-Man anymore. What we have is a history, that in all honestly, I wish had never happened at all. Now that everything is over, I can finally move on, without his shadow haunting my life's present course.

Life Without Us | Hibernation

Joms enters geek mode.

Now that I'm done with my job (which consist of a 100 - text reply quota in one account) three hours before my shift ends, I'm forced to look for ways to distract myself from the seemingly perpetual isolation from everyone in the floor. Since I have no one to talk to, one pastime that keeps me away from total boredom is to bombard myself with information I get from Wikipedia.

In the old days, I used the same trick to keep me entertained and informed when I don't have any friends around. I would stay in the library for hours reading books about history, science and even astronomy. I hoarded books for factual information so I may be able to use it later for some practical applications. The only difference now is that the information I hoard comes from one source and that is in the internet.

Take for example the tidbits of information I found sometime ago. It was a special feature aired on the History Channel some months ago. Entitled Life After People, it is a scientific attempt to predict how the world would go on if humanity was suddenly taken out of the global picture. It tries to give the viewers an idea of how our absence would affect the animals, plants and civilization we would leave behind.

The speculation was based upon documented results of the sudden removal of humans from an area that exist at present and the possible results which would occur should humanity discontinue its maintenance of buildings and urban infrastructure. This time however, the hypothesis applies to a global scale.

Imagine a world without humans. How would things run without our intervention?

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1 day after people

The special assumes that humanity disappears suddenly and immediately, but does not speculate what would cause such an event.

Fossil fuel fired power plants, which are largely automated, would remain running for a few hours until their fuel supplies are depleted. Within hours, lights begin going out all over the world as electrical systems start failing.

Subway systems like the New York City MTA require pumps to keep the groundwater at bay and without humans to turn them on, most subways will be flooded within 36 hours.

After 48 hours, nuclear power plants will enter a safe mode automatically due to reduced power consumption and will not meltdown. Wind turbines will cease operation once their lubrication fails.

Eventually, areas except those powered by hydroelectric dams lose all electricity.

10 days after people

Food would rot in grocery stores and in refrigerators. While meltwater from freezers or food on counter tops could provide temporary sustenance, pets would need to leave their owners' houses or die of starvation. Those which were not trapped would start to compete for food. Dogs and cats that were bred by humans for appearance now have no niche in this new competitive environment and will die first. For example, the short legs and small mouths of bulldogs or terriers will be handicaps for them.

6 months after people

Smaller forms of wildlife not normally seen in civilization like coyotes and bobcats begin to inhabit suburban areas. Deer begin grazing in neighborhoods as well. Rats and mice have consumed our edible supplies and are leaving urban areas to go back into the wild.


2 years after people

The Hoover Dam would stop generating power when mussels clog coolant pipes. Las Vegas, Nevada, one of the last areas with some artificial illumination, would then become completely dark. The Colorado River downstream from the dam would temporarily dry up as the flow of water through the dam stopped; when the level of Lake Mead reached the spillways around the dam, the normal flow would resume.

Humanity's final radio and television signals which have been traveling through outer space have now deteriorated into undetectable background radiation, according to scientists with the SETI project.

5 years after people

Plant life will have sprouted and covered many surfaces in urban areas with vines, grasses, and tree saplings.

20 years after people

The ruins of Prypiat, Ukraine, which was abandoned in 1986 due to the Chernobyl disaster documents the level of decay which could happen after twenty years of humanity's disappearance. Despite the radiation levels, many animal populations have grown significantly in areas humans have left. Plants have grown in many structures once used by humans.

25 years after people

Sea water floods into cities such as London and Amsterdam which are currently kept dry by human engineered projects. Windows in high rise buildings begin to crack and shatter due to the cycle of freezing and thawing and the decay of window sealants.

50 years after people

By this time, many wooden frame houses would have burned, rotted, or been largely consumed by termites. Trees and vines grow into remaining brick and masonry elements, which would also be weakened by salts. Compacted earth dams may begin to fail due to widening leaks.

75 years after people

Many of the roughly 600 million automobiles on earth would be reduced to only a pile of metal. Some automobiles in arid climates would not have suffered the effects of corrosion as severely and would still be recognizable. While the rubber tires of cars would have deflated years ago, they would not decompose for centuries.

100 years after people

Large bridges such as the Golden Gate Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge would collapse due to corrosion of support cables. Many human built structures would fail during the 100 to 300 year period.

150 years after people

Many streets in Manhattan collapse into the flooded tunnels below. Many large buildings are completely colonized by plants and animals and resemble a wild landscape.

200 years after people

Large structures such as the Empire State Building, Sears Tower, Space Needle, and Eiffel Tower would collapse due to corrosion, invasive plant life, and ground water destabilizing their foundations.

500 years after people

Items made with modern concrete would give way as the steel rebar reinforcing them expands to three times its original size as it rusts.

1,000 years after people

Most modern cities would be destroyed and/or covered in flora, with collapsed and fallen skyscrapers becoming new mounds and hills. Manhattan would appear much as it did before human settlement with old streams and bodies of waters returning. There would be little evidence that a human civilization existed on earth. Certain structures made out of thick rock or concrete, like the Egyptian Pyramids or medieval castles, might survive with minimal damage.

10,000 years after people

The Hoover Dam, one of the last remnants of advanced civilization, will fail due to erosion of its concrete and the cumulative effect of seismic activity.

By this point, any substantial evidence of humanity's former domination over nature would be all but gone. Only a few things would survive, such as large stone structures. The Pyramids at Giza remain, but would be mostly buried by the Sahara Desert's sands. Portions of the Great Wall of China may also remain intact. The faces at Mount Rushmore might also survive, and may remain so for hundreds of thousands of years to come.

Modern forms of information storage like hard drives, compact disks, DVDs, photographic film, and paper would have long since decayed.

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Fate of Domesticated Animals

Dogs

Domestic dogs which are not trapped in their owners' homes will survive at least temporarily in the wild. Smaller and specialized breeds such as the pug will likely be less able to compete successfully with medium sized dogs.

Small predators such as coyotes, foxes, and bobcats, which live on the periphery of civilization, may quickly become competitors to dogs. As urban areas revert to their natural states, larger predators such as bears and cougars will return. Wolves could increase in population very rapidly to become the new dominant predator species in North America as they were prior to European settlement. Some large domestic dogs may be accepted into wolf packs and breed with wolves. Eventually, dogs may completely revert into their wolf ancestors.

Domestic cats

As large buildings are colonized by plants, animals such as birds and mice will follow. Domestic cats may follow them as predators, and imaginative evolutionary paths could result, such as some living their entire lives in former skyscrapers or even evolving the capability to glide short distances like flying squirrels.

Fish/sea creatures

Pollution and overfishing will cease. Life in the ocean will quickly rebound to levels before consumption by humans. As evidence, the show cites the recovery of fish stocks in the North Atlantic Ocean during World War II when commercial fishing was impossible.

Rats/mice

Since mice eat the leftovers of humans, they will devour most of the remaining human food on earth. Once all human food is gone, the mice will return to the wild, where they will return to the bottom of the food chain, and the population will decrease.

Cockroaches

Cockroaches will devour available food and then move on to cardboard and paper. When they have exhausted these food supplies, they will return to eating seeds and other natural food items. Although cockroaches are native to tropical areas, they may survive in cold weather areas of the world by spending winters below ground.

Pigeons

Since pigeons have adapted to life with humans and life in the wild, they will find food in the wild and live in cities. Once trees cover the cities, the pigeons will not need to leave the city.

Cattle

The program does not speculate about the future of farm animals after the disappearance of humanity, though one scene shows a bull being hunted by a wolf pack at the remnants of a farm.