Yesterday Mack and I went to a new member briefing at Benguet Electrical Cooperative as a prelude for getting a new BENECO membership and an electrical connection to the shack that his family resides in. Afterward, I had a horrible headache, as if I’d been shot in the head.  So we went to a pharmacy, and I bought ibuprofen.  One has to take ibuprofen with food or milk, so we took tea and a snack in Vizco’s restaurant beside Session Road.

We walked to a photo lab to get 1″x1″ photos of Mack for his Beneco application.  Then we went into a PNB branch to open a bank account for Mack.  Unfortunately, he doesn’t have two photographic identifications, as he doesn’t have a driver license or workplace identification; he only has a student identification card.

So we hiked to the Baguio City Police Office to get a police clearance for him, so that he’ll have a second photo identification document.  Police clearance is necessary for many jobs in the city, anyway.

As we walked across the street from the police headquarters to City Hall to pay 106 pesos, I began to go ‘downhill’ fast.  My headache hadn’t abated, and I felt sluggish and drowsy.  My body began to hurt all over. Almost every muscle group and joint ached.  I was miserable.  And I didn’t know what was causing this.

We spent about forty minutes in City Hall, just for the privilege of paying for the police clearance, and I felt worse and worse.  By the time we emerged from City hall and returned to the Police Office, the time was 11:56, and the desk sergeant told Mack to return after 1:00.  I gave to Mack some money for lunch and jeepney fare, then I went home.  The taxi ride seemed so long.  I was so eager to go to bed.

I don’t know why I felt so lousy, so fast.  By the time I hit the bed I was drowsy and dizzy, as I am now, and feverish yet shivering.  I was in bed from 12:30 yesterday until 1:30 today; 25 hours.  I arose because the redneck neighbors’ dogs bark and bark and bark and bark and bark and bark and bark and bark and bark and bark and bark and bark and bark and bark and bark, and I felt hungry, so I thought that I’d eat a meal and take acetaminophen for my pains.

I still feel miserable, but I guess that I’ll stay ‘up’ until tonight.  I certainly can’t sleep with the dogs barking almost every minute.  I’d really like to go to sleep; I feel miserable.  I’d like to throw grenades downhill to the dogs.  I can’t believe that none of the rednecks there cares about all the noise.  ~mind-boggling~  That’s life in the Philippines.  No one trains dogs.