Madagascar "Escape to Africa"

I was at the cinema together with my friend looking through the monitor screen which were showing all the shows that were presently being screened. Debating with each other over what is good and what is not we finally decided to go for something in the middle. My mind was so set in watching a horror movie but my friend is not. The answer to our cinema choice was "Madagascar: Escape to Africa".

Not another animation movie I thought to myself. I dragged myself into the cinema seat down. My last animated movie, Kung Fu Panda, I must say has been a pleasant experience but animated movie has always have its ups and down. The movie surprisingly surpasses the quality of the first film made. Though the story is scattered as it tried to wedge several different narratives into a movie that is less than an hour and a half long, but thankfully the animated comedy genre where good joke-writing and cute characters compensated the plot deficiencies. The animation is sharp, and whenever things start to get confusing, a penguin or lemur comes onscreen and does something really funny distracting us from ever trying to figure out what was going on.

"Madagascar 2" begins where the last one left off, with the lion, giraffe, zebra and hippo from "Madagascar" leaving the titular country and heading back to their homes at the New York Zoo. These first 10 minutes of the movie are genius, with the mercenary-for-hire penguins from the first film piloting a restored plane that crashed into the jungle decades earlier. One character reads an old Life magazine with Joe DiMaggio on the cover, trying to ignore the skeletons scattered throughout the cockpit and the engine that's smoking outside the window.

The group detours to Africa, where Alex the Lion runs into his father, Zuba. From here, the story splinters into several directions - some boring and some inspired. Alex's father issues and the romantic subplot between the hippo and the giraffe are tired. Any scenes with penguins or the lemur are bound to generate a few laughs, even though the Julien-related volcano sacrifice subplot doesn't quite work.

Much of the humor in "Madagascar 2" is broad, but the script avoids flatulence jokes and broad slapstick, adding a sophisticated level of parody in several scenes. A subplot involving New Yorkers who get trapped in Africa goes in unexpected directions, which are mostly very amusing. Some monkeys show up to help build a new plane, and spend the majority of their time negotiating on behalf of their union.

However I must say that of all the characters in Madagascar, either the prequel or sequal, the penguins are the most adorable characters. They are the plot-movers and laugh-shakers of the movie, cobbling together a plane wreck and a giant slingshot in a bid to send Stiller's lion, Rock's zebra, Schwimmer's giraffe and Pinkett Smith's hippo from Madagascar back to Manhattan. Unfortunately, Air Penguin as it is known gets no further than mainland Africa before making an unexpected crash landing in a nature reserve. Undeterred, and with the help of enough monkeys only after the Union demands were made, to take a crack at Shakespeare, the penguins set about rebuilding the plane.

I have to say that the movie was worth the time spent. Least I do not have to spend too much time trying to figure out what was going on and where the how the plot was developing and unveiling itself. I just need to laugh as and when the crowd laugh out. I couldn't wait for the next movie to be released only that I hope it will be sooner, to quote Cohen's lemur king, "Hurry up, before we all come to our senses!"

Stomp - Citizen Journalism or Journalistic Outcry?

The Straits Times Stomp or more officially known as Straits Times Online Media Print integrates the content and activities in the three platforms of print, online and mobile into a single website. The website has gained much popularity in Singapore partly due to an increasing ownership of handphones which are capable of taking photographs and video clips and the high penetration of broadband usage in Singapore. This are the two crucial important development contributing to the popularity of the stomp website.

How Popular Has the Site Been?

Netizens have been logging in to the website to load photos and video clips of the daily seen, sights and happenings in Singapore. Known as the 'Singapore Seen' (sic) you will be able to find all forms of postings from accidents to public show of affections, fighting to pure strange behaviours amongst Singaporeans. The website has also been a placed where Singaporeans expresses their grunt and complaints and anything that they see out of the ordinary.

Singaporeans record the interesting happenings that they witness such as a quarrel on board a bus, inconsiderate driving and riding, indiscriminate parking to unsocial behaviours amongst other Singaporeans. But more and more, the website has become a place where petty complaints and comments were posted. I supposed it is easier to be a shadow person who posts such scene on the websites without revealing their true identity from the active participants correcting those act in the first place. It is much easier to snap a photo of students making out at the void deck without having to confront them, it is easier to express the disgust of a person enjoying a seat on a train or bus and ignoring an elderly or a pregnant woman standing without having to tell them to give up their seat.

Singaporeans are more comfortable in observing from afar and quick in logging on to the internet and loading up their observation at the very first opportunity that they are hook up to the internet but they are very slow in taking the proactive action of correcting those actions. We give our comments and complaints but never lift a finger to do anything about it. So what are we? A society of concerned people or a society of complaint masters. I would think that the latter would aptly describe us more than the former.

I couldn't help but expressed my astonishment at the type of complaints that could be read on the website. Singaporeans already known for being quick to complain but slow to react reaches a new level with the introduction of the website. Here, you will be able to see a sort of ranting and comments. The mocking that they received online hasn't stop the website to gain popularity.

Many would say that the advent of the website is a natural progress in the continuing interest in citizen journalism but to me it is more of an outlet where Singaporeans may express their views without doing anything about it. As the saying goes why make your hand dirty.

The Black Hole - Humanly Greed

This is an interesting clip that I came across whilst I was wasting my youth (what is remaining of it) behind the computer. Though humorous it succinctly and aptly describe how greedy man can be. It is genetically imbue on us since the beginning of time. Are human beings “naturally” greedy? Is greed so much a part of human biology that it will always shape human social life?

Girls Not Welcome Please

I met my friend a few days back and it happened that he is invited to a wedding dinner of our common friend. Casually he asked me, “Would you be bringing your partner along?” I thought he was daft. It was, after all, an invite to the wedding of a close friend of ours – an event that ideally should be filled with crude dirty jokes, unfettered laughter and mens' gossip and vigorous back slapping and butt kicking with more mates and buddies..

It’ll be just like old days, I thought. The missus werestaying home where they belong.

Time slips by before you even notice: It’s been several years since we laid eyes on each other or met to catch up. We’ve ORD-ed, finished university, changed jobs, changed yet another girlfriends, hairstyles or lack off or growing hairless, homes and a few – like my office mate – even taken the bold, uninsured step into the deep plough of marriage.

Expectations on my part were high. I was hoping for a guffaw-filled, booze-guzzling, heart-to-heart catching-up session with the rest where we exchange history and notes of our former friends and buddies. Male gossiping and jokes.

At the hotel, I swear I’ve never seen my once petite looking decent faced buddy turned-bridegroom dressed in his evening suit look better. I met a few of our common friends and this particularly guy which used to be closed to me. I greet him, he yells back an enthusiastic reply before pumping my hand for a full 30 seconds, mouthing the usual “What’ve you been up to?” spiel before i ushered him into the ballroom.

I find my seat and plonk myself down. A few vaguely familiar faces stare at me. We smile, then erupt into enthusiastic handshaking, and – yes – some backslapping and exchange of crude and friendly insult.

But two of my academy mates brought along their partners – one a wife, the other a girlfriend. The nitwits.

Suddenly, our conversation topics became awfully restricted. No reminiscing about the time an entire squad of 30 took five minutes to shower, towel off and get dressed again for the “water parade” just before bed. No more coarse jokes about how fat each of us had become. No more cussing. We had to behave.

It was so awkward we were actually feeling… shy. Imagine a bunch of guys who’ve seen each other butt naked before – guys who’ve crawled, dug, run, marched and slept in mosquito-infested forests wearing week-old fatigues – actually feeling reserved at the wedding of our best mate.

It was ridiculous.

God bless the squad joker: The gold chain, gold bracelet and gold earring-adorned bloke (who still possessed an idiotic sense of humour) cheered things up a little.

Then we got nostalgic. We spoke of our squad FI– a regular who was the archetype of the Devil in our BMT days – now badly in debt. We all took a solemn nod at a squad mate who died of asthma after completing his NS, who incidentally shared the same first name with the more popular platoon joker. We all thought the latter had kicked the bucket instead. (That drew a few more chuckles.)

All this while, the ladies rolled their eyes and tried their best not to look utterly bored. What else did you expect academy blokes to talk about other than well, our lives there?

Lesson learned: Meeting up is essential for the friends you want to keep – make time for that, because money can’t buy you true friends. We left the hotel with a final flurry of handshakes and promises to meet up. But the next time we are meeting, I will make them leave the women behind. They have no place in our gathering.

Spare the Time

I have always wondered what it would be like when I am old? How the simple tasks that we take for granted such as climbing the stairs and holding a cup, day to day tasks that I once found easy to carry out would become more difficult?

At times as I sat back on the bench in a park and pondered on life as it passes by me, it occurred to me that that I am stuck in a fit of frustration that things aren’t the same as they used to be while I am still called upon to earn a living the same as everyone else?

This frustration had inevitably lead to an increase in grumpiness and discontent in me and many other, which made me realise why so many uncles and aunties, for that matter, in Singapore seem to walk around with a perpetual frown on their faces. The saying “worked to the bone” really makes sense in this case.

We all feel invincible when we are young, the feeling that nothing is impossible and that life is a a journey of endless opportunity and happiness. Aging is the furthest thing from our minds. We want to live in the biggest house and drives the most fanciest cars. We want to date the most attractive girls and party all night out. As the saying goes 'we want to paint the town red'. As we want to seize the proverbial day and, in doing so, get caught up in the daily grind and work our butts off just to pay the bills, put food on the table and chase that promotion that we always wanted… allowing ourselves a bit of leisure along the way. And then, before we know it, we find ourselves collecting our CPF and deciding what to do with the remaining years of our lives.

As I walked around the town after work, what gets to me is seeing these uncles and aunties having to eke out a living at fast foods restaurant and shopping centres, when, at their age, they should be at home, relaxing and enjoying themselves, reaping the benefits of a life of hard work and retirement and enjoying their time with family and children or their grandchildren.

It is no surprise that as we transcended from a third world to first in such, Singapore became ever more competitive and those who either can't or don’t keep up – even the elderly – risk getting left behind. This has been echoed by the political leaders many times. It’s just the nature of the society we live in. If you don’t continue earning your keep, what else is there left for you to do but lie down and die? You cannot be a burden to the society. Cruel, but true.

The other day I was at volunteering my time at an elderly home when i overheard a young person asked an elderly old man how he feels about being old. The elderly man sat solemnly on his wheel chair staring blankly at the face of the questioner; look up at the ceiling, in an apparent deep thought. Upon seeing his reaction, she was immediately embarrassed by her question. However as if the passage of time reached up to him, he glanced back at the youth and said, "That it an interesting question, and I would ponder it, and let you know."
I look at all the residents of the old folk’s home and decided that Old Age is a gift. They are now, probably for the first time in their life, the person they have always wanted to be. The wrinkles, the baggy eyes, and the sagging butt are not something that they despair any longer.

The old man's answer strikes me hard to the core. He would never trade his amazing friends that he had made along the years, his wonderful life and loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly. He said that as he aged, he became kinder and less critical to himself. He has become his own friend.

We chide our self for eating that extra cookie and snooping at night for a late night supper, or for not making our beds in the morning. As we grow older, I realised that we are entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant. As they saw too many of their dear friends leaving this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.

I observed with great interest as the elderly residents dance to themselves to those wonderful tunes of the 60&70's and laughs at the simplest of joke and the innocence of conversation. I know like them, I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, there are something in life is just as well forgotten and I eventually remember the important things. Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I supposed the elderly residents are blessed to have lived long enough to have their hair turned gray, and to have the youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on their faces. So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver. As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. You don't question yourself anymore. You even earned the right to be wrong.

Without hesitation the elderly man answered the youth "I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day.

For us whose still enjoys the youthfulness of life and still have to be bothered by the dealings of day to day demands let us do our small part to make things a little easier for the aged. Clear your tray the next time you finish a meal at the hawker centre. Mop up that mess you made at your neighbourhood fast food outlet. Make way for that old auntie who’s rushing to get a seat in the train even before you disembark. Place not one, but two dollars in the hand of the uncle who spends his days selling tissue paper on the street corner and wondering where his next meal will come from.

These are all tiny sacrifices, but they would make a big difference. Because one day, it might well be an aged you or me in some eatery mopping up spilled sundaes, creaky bones notwithstanding, and we’d be thankful for every little gesture that made our remaining years that little bit easier.

Water - The Next Big Commodity ?

The opening of the Singapore Marina Barrage marks another milestone in Singapore’s history as we take yet another step forward away from our dependency on our neighbours for our livelihood. Recently finished after about three years of construction, the $176 million Marina Barrage will create a new source of precious water in a city-state with almost no natural resources of its own.Built across the mouth of the Marina Channel, the Marina Barrage creates Singapore’s 15th reservoir, and the first in the heart of the city. With a catchment area of 10,000 hectares, or one-sixth the size of Singapore, the Marina catchment is the island’s largest and most urbanised catchment. Together with two other new reservoirs, the Marina Reservoir will boost Singapore’s water catchment from half to two-thirds of the country’s land area. The Marina Barrage is the result of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew’s vision nearly two decades ago when he envisaged damming the mouth of the Marina Channel to create a freshwater reservoir.

If Singapore is known as a green city because of its lush tropical growth, it may soon be recognized as a blue town for the pristine clear blue water right at the doorstep of the city. That is the hope of civic officials behind a project to seal off the city-state’s waterfront from the sea and create a three-in-one water source for drinking, flood control and recreation.Water has always been the contentious issue between Singapore and Malaysia. The rise and fall between the cross straits relations have always been link closely to the water issue. Singapore has been depending on Malaysia for nearly forty percent or more of its water supply. The importance of water to the Republic, economically and otherwise, cannot be questioned, and the historical and present role of Malaysia in assuaging this aspect of Singapore's vulnerability has been nothing less than crucial until recent years.

The issue of supplying water to Singapore has, at times, been brought to the forefront of the Malaysian and Singapore political arena. This can be traced to as early as 1965, the year when Singapore was separated from Malaysia. Since then, Singapore has sometimes been the target of resentment, or a political “whipping boy” from segments of the Malaysian polity (ruling and opposition members) and some of its constituents, especially when bilateral relations between these countries have become strained. This was sometimes brought about due to a perception of Singapore’s inadequate consideration of ethnic and religious sensitivities in Malaysia, sentiments arising from the widening disparity of affluence due to Singapore’s “uncaring” economic competition, “violations” into the territorial airspace of Malaysia, and views expressed by politicians from both sides of the causeway. The threat of cutting water supplies would often accompany such disagreements and tensions.

With the water agreement between the two states set to expire, Singapore began to take the bold step of cutting the dependency of our water supplies from Malaysia totally, first by the introduction of the Newater, the purification and reusing of waste water to make it fit for consumption and the conversion of all the canals and rivers to become a natural reservoir. Such is the bold step the the republic is taking and it has not gone unnoticed.

Academicians and experts believed that Singapore moves should be emulated. Water is set to be the next commodity. As the dependency on oil is set to be reduced with the introduction of renewable energy such as wind, solar and thermal energy and nuclear energy, water is fast identified as the next big commodity. Though Singapore may be at the forefront in the water technology in the Southeast Asia, Europe, America and Canada is fast moving ahead in the modernisation and privatisation of water technology with many private infrastructure set up to meet the demands of the locals. As the demand of oil deep in the realisation that the oil well around the world set to be drying up in less than 50 years and the ever advancing technology in renewable energy, the demand for water is never set to reduced.

As the population of the earth is set to increase in leaps and bounds over the next century so will the demand of water. Let us faced it, we all need water to live. As useful as oil, copper and corn may be, we could get by without them for a while or may even be dependent from it sooner then expected, but water? Water is a necessity. And for some, this makes it the ultimate commodity.People invest in commodities for a lot of reasons: for diversification; as a way to play growth in the developing world; because they think demand growth will outstrip supply.

Demand for water is steady and never-ending, meaning water investments should not be correlated with broader economic developments. Meanwhile, history shows that as economies develop, citizens will demand more and more water to support richer lifestyles, making water an interesting play on countries like China and India. And finally, the world is in a silent water crisis, with rising demand set against limited supply; a classic commodities squeeze. The reality in the current water supply is that the distribution of existing water resources around the world is horribly uneven with almost 60% of the world's fresh water located in just nine countries. Unlike oil or other natural resources such as oil or precious minerals or metals water isn't portable; it simply doesn't make economic sense to transport water from one continent to another even if the value of water rises tenfold. In location where water is actually available it is more than often not suitable for consumption either because it is too hot or too old, or, perhaps, too dirty or too salty or increasingly, it's also too polluted.

With the rise in industrialisation significant percentage of water reservoirs are rendered unfit for human consumption.In countries, where water is generally available, the infrastructure supplying it is old and decaying and there were still no real efforts to upgrade the infrastructure to make it more efficient and cost effective. However all this are set to change. In a few years to come, we will be seeing more and more industrialised countries upgrading their infrastructure and tapping into the reservoirs of sea waters to convert it to drinkable water. Singapore for one has already joined the band wagon and moving ahead.

What Are Our Kids Learning In School??

Have we ever asked ourselves what our children learnt in school? I remembered when I was still in the school bench, where my innocence is still intact and kissing a girl is the most gross thing one could ever do, back then lessons are simple arithmetics and calculations were '1+1 = 2 or 11' depending on how you looked at it. Homework is a quick half an hour browse through my notes and revision books and the next few hours is an outdoor learning experience of catching spider and butterflies and football with neighbourhood friends. 

I spent more time in the classroom of life and adventure with the open fields as my backyard and the sky my ceilings rather than the classroom of books and lectures. It has been several years since my eyes lay itself on a book and the last attempt that I had in trying to help my dear nephew in his homework sent me running for two tablets of extra strong penicillin just to rid the headache spell away. That was my first and last attempt to ever help him with his homework. 

My friend forwarded me an email about some of the work that our students produced in school and I can't help it but burst into laughter at the answers that were provided. Though it may seems silly at first glance, but if you were to see the questions through the eyes of the innocence, I supposed my answer would be not too dissimilar then the one that was provided.  

Money Not Enough !!

The current financial crisis has jolted many people including myself out of our comfort zone and into the realm of reality on how volatile the environment that we are in is, how at one stage everything is status quo and without warning everything went topsy turvy. After some serious discussion with friends who work in the financial sector, and thinking about the best strategies to survive what the industry is calling “the perfect storm”, I am left with many question on what I need to do and what more could be done. 

I have never been one who looks closely at all my investment or even tracked the health of my various stocks and investment purchases. the monthly receipts advice that I receive from my bank or trading house will either meet its way into one of the drawers in my study room waiting for it to be shredded or will meet an early demise of meeting the shredder machine without having to wait any longer. However the recent upheavel in the financial market has made me to be more interested in the report. The first time that I actually opened the letter on purpose, I could not make sense of what is being written in it. It all became clear when I called a friend who explained to me in great detail and patience of what I am seeing. However after the whole conversation that I had with him it made me to realise a few things. 

First, I discovered I would need a lot of money ride out this storm – and therefore, I might be in the wrong industry. As much as I love to be in the law industry doing what I am doing, this is certainly not a sector where most of us would define belt-tightening measures as having to sell the Ferrari for an Audi or purchase one Bottega bag a year instead of five. Then again, I possess neither the eloquence nor the hardened conscience to even “mis-sell” White Rabbit sweets to a kid, let alone financial products to clueless retirees. So, I’ll just have to trust my passion for my profession to get me through bad times. And lets face it, I will never be making my first million in my current lifetime doing what I am doing. 

Secondly, since I had ascertained I would probably never amass an obscene amount of money which I can swim in – the next best thing to do was to accumulate a wealth of financial knowledge. I devoured whatever information I could get my hands on and also got my financial adviser to explain the finer details to me however that has never augment well with me. I am never one that has the patience of seating through hours of briefing and listening to anything beyond 20 minutes without getting bored easily, but I tried nevertheless. From the several moments of consciousness that I had I realised that judging from the Republican US presidential campaign, I was convinced I did the right thing of getting a friend to explain to me all the details. Because should the economic crisis deepen due to (a) the next US president thinking “the issue of the economy is something that [he] never understood as well as [he] should have” and (b) the next US vice-president thinking she’s able to look out of her window in Alaska and see The Kremlin in Russia, I’ll know how to handle my finances better.

Third, other than enhancing my financial know-how, I realised one would need guts of steel and a cool head to pull through this crisis. But it’s evidently getting tougher, judging by the newspaper reports about people who have lost their minds: the robbers in Malaysia who tried to loot an ATM by setting it alight with a spectacular display of fireworks; the thieves in Jamaica who mysteriously stole 500 truck-loads of sand from a beach resort without anyone noticing; and the US Senator who had his lawsuit against God for causing “widespread death, destruction and terrorisation” thrown out of court. This crunch has clearly taken its toll, and I am determined to not end up as a statistic of those people who sought medical attention at the Institute of Mental Health. 

Lastly, other than investing in precious metals (which I clearly cannot afford with a bank balance of less than $10), I figured that buying biscuits – those that come in a tin – seemed the next most logical thing to do. Because unlike the bankers, I think that substituting my daily meals with biscuits sounds like a more realistic belt-tightening measure. Moreover, after I’m done with the biscuits, I’d still be able to recession-proof my money in the tins.

And should my plan work and I survive this economic crisis, all I would have to do to guarantee my continued existence is to make sure I don’t get poisoned by the melamine in those biscuits which contain milk produced in China.

 

Power Trip - How Helpless Could We Be

I was running my last few laps on the threadmill in my gym, watching the news and listening with intent on the latest news of the financial market and how it was all going topsy turvy, when the electricity went out abruptly without warning while I was doing 14 mph on the treadmill. I escaped smashing my face against the wall only because I slammed my ribs onto the control console first. After a few minutes of swearing and cursing and uttering words which I myself did not realise exists I staggered off the treadmill, clutching my throbbing midsection and a wounded ego. 

This is the second time that a power trip had had occured in the office building that day. A building as vital an installation as I am at, I gives me wonder how vulnerable we are to the whim of electricity. The office doors that used to be shut closed obscuring the outside world from seeing what was going on inside, all of  the sudden opened one by one. A group of the 'NS' (national servicemen) guys kicked a football made out of newspaper crunched together, in between the cubicles to pass the time. The older group took the opportunity to make their way to the near by coffesshop across the road to grab an early lunch or shall I say an extended lunch. Even those who usually had eBuddy or Facebook as a clandestine distraction were interrupted. One of my guys approached me to brief me about the power situation and their whereabouts. Not that I could stop  them from leaving the office, I decided to stay in the gymnasium and get some cardio done to let off steam.

As I sat in the darkened room with the only source of light coming in from the window in the far end of the room and the temperature slowly but steadily rising, and in those moments of uncertainty, I made an elementary yet vital observation: In a well-oiled society like ours, famed for its efficiency, it appears that power (in this case, in the form of electricity) is what that gives our society the sense of order and when that power is taken away, chaos (in the form of employees playing hooky and performing disappearing acts even better than Houdini could) begins to creep in – the very inception of apocalyptic fiction. 

As people, we’ve continued to function well despite of all the kinds of externalities that had occurred: power failures, epidemics, recession, fugitives escape, road closures, ERP introduction and politics. Those incidences seems to have very little effect in our society as we continued on with or daily work like a 'well-oiled machine'. Those problems seems to just glide off us whilst others stick like a sore thumb in other countries. I wondered what would constitute the proverbial straw that would break the camel’s back. What if the power failure had been long drawn and if it had affected the whole country? What scale of chaos would we have to endure?

I decided to wind up my cardio as working out in the dark seems to give me the creep and I could not see what I was doing. I head off to the shower and had to endure a quick cold shower. Yet another luxury that we had taken for granted. Whilst with the hot shower I could have spent 15 minutes under the  tap doing absolutely nothing, a cold shower send me running for the towels in seconds. 

When I got back to my desk, I still couldn’t turn on the computer, it lay dead on the table lifeless. I began to wonder the amount of emails that will appear on my email by the time the power is up and shudders at the thought of yet another late hours in office. I was closed to calling it a day and wrapping things early instead but I spotted some work that had been left for me to proofread and some files begging and shouting for me to clear. I picked up my pen and got cracking. 

Sure, the computer wasn’t working and all the other gizmos that we were so used to daily weren't operating, but it wasn’t its responsibility to do my job. They are but a means to meet the end. That responsibility was still mine. So with or without electricity, those work still needed to be cleared. I spent the next 4 hours in the dark clearing one file at a time.