Timeout

I was out down south for a 2-day shoot on a speedboat when (my) time literally stood still. My 10-year old Swatch's battery once again gave up right in the middle of a crustacean lunch in the islands. While I excitedly devoured the sumptuous crabs, I checked out my time and it said 11am. I must have been so fascinated with the unusual crab size that it took me nearly 3 hours more before checking my watch again. And it still said 11am. Uh-oh, I asked for the actual time and found out it was already way past 2pm! I took my watch off and securely placed it inside my bag.

Working on field without a watch was rather awkward. Chasing daylight was even harder. And so I had to rely on my celphone for time. I had no choice but to carry it in my pocket along with the camera's spare battery and memory card.

We finished the shoot around 3pm the 2nd day, briefly thanked the mayor and headed off again for the mainland, still aboard the speedboat. A few minutes into the ride, it started to drizzle which later on turned into actual rain. Just as we entered the seas of the mainland, we were already soaking wet. And so were my pocket friends -cellphone, battery and memory card - which I totally forgot to put back in my drybag. I still could have taken them out earlier but I opted not to take the risk of accidentally tossing them into the sea (I was seated beside the driver, elevated and sans wall for protection). From the moment it started to rain, I positioned my left hand above my pocket, if only to protect the tiny gadgets that weren't mine. Forget the cellphone, it was given by Smart for free anyway.

When I got back to the hotel, I immediately took everything wet off and wiped the gadgets dry. A few moments later, I checked out the battery and memory card into the camera and thank(ed) God they were ok. Next to check was my dripping cellphone. It had a hard time accepting my PIN code. I took the sim card and battery once again and let it dry for a few more minutes. Still it didn't work. Each time I attempted to turn it on, it just sort of hanged. Oh no! How do I get time this time? TV shows at night don't show time on air. I was starting to panic. Perhaps I was oa too! About an hour or so into drying my phone off, it finally worked again. But to my surprise, the time on it read 8:26am! I seem to have forgotten this usually happens each time you take everything off to restart. I hurriedly texted a friend asking for time. No reply. Obviously she's ran out of load. I texted another friend who finally texted me back telling me the time was 7:10pm. Whew! Thank you Lord, at least now I'm back into the timeframe. Time to get a new watch perhaps?