The Story of a Ceiling Light

Part I: The Beginning

This is a story about a ceiling light. This particular light: a bit pricey, fairly huge, dimmable RGB LED ceiling light. It’s also a Christmassy story, in a way. And it’s also not really about the light… but bear with me.

The story starts on November 29, 2024, when we first bought the light. Among all the things we bought under the Black Friday deals, this was the only one that – wasn’t. But I saw the light and just fell in love.

So anyway, a few weeks later, my boyfriend and a friend of ours try to install the light. The first thing they notice is that they have to drill the ceiling. And since the ceiling is concrete, and they don’t have an adequate drill, they postpone it until our friend returns from his trip.

A few more weeks go by before take two, but this time, Lolek & Bolek do the unimaginable, and before they even manage to take the light out of the bag, they drop it – well, technically, one pulled it because he thought the other one would hold it, and the other one didn’t catch it because he didn’t think the first one would drop it.

Anyway… they do drop it, a small piece of the diffusor smashes, an even tinier piece flies off, while I fly off the handle.

It didn’t even leave the freaking bag.

The next day, my boyfriend goes to the store to see if we can order a new diffuser. The seller says it’s not possible. He contacts a different shop that sells the same lights, asks the same thing, the guy says he’ll let us know after the holidays (it’s around Christmas at that time), and then says no about a week later.

So we put the light away because nobody has the heart to throw away that much money, and we leave it in the storage to collect dust and occupy precious space. We don’t mention the light anymore because he’s heartbroken, and I’m incandescent with rage.

Part II: The Development

Anyway, fast forward a year, it’s December 2025, and I get one of my crazy inspos for a creative project. My boyfriend actually likes it, for a change, and says, great, I’ll get you what you need tomorrow (because, obviously, I have no idea what I need, I just know how to make it). Fun fact: it’s the same store where we bought the light.

The next day, he goes to the store, returns an hour later, shoves the bag into my hands from the door, and says, I’m going back, just give me the receipt.

Clearly, I have no idea what he’s talking about, but he briefly explains that he thought he might check the lights while he was there. The lady who works there asks him if she could help, and he says, well, actually… and then proceeds to tell her the story of the light. To which she responds…

To which she responds – mind you – well, why haven’t you returned it already, it has a two-year warranty?!

For obvious reasons – we broke it – of course, but she insists that it doesn’t matter, just bring the light with the receipt, and she’ll see what they can do.

So he takes the receipt and the light, goes back… and returns with a new light. A year later. In the same old box, because the original was opened in the store, and they tore it.

About a week later, on Saturday, a different friend – mind you – comes to help install the light. He sees the technology on the back of the light, finds it’s too basic for the price, notices one of the mounts looks a bit fishy… but decides not to mention anything. Meanwhile, he also concludes that there’s no need to drill the ceiling to mount the light, which we all find odd since that was the first thing we started off last year, but still. He drills the light and tries to install it… but it doesn’t work. The power works, the remote works, everything works, but there’s no light.

Since they can’t find what’s wrong with it, my boyfriend packs the light and heads off to the store – again – to ask if they could test it there. After all, it has a two-year warranty. And a freshly drilled hole in the back. However, they immediately just give him a new light, no questions asked.

The friend agrees to come the next day, even though it’s Sunday, because he’s also going on a trip and wants to do it before Christmas. Plus, we don’t have to drill the ceiling, so we won’t make much noise.

When he arrives, they unpack the light and the first thing they see – it’s not the same light as the one they had yesterday. Which kinda explains why the mount was fishy, the light didn’t work, and they couldn’t connect anything. Also, the technology in this light matches the price, and we do need to drill the ceiling, so yeah.

In case you didn’t know – six holes and a concrete ceiling are the winning combo to piss your neighbors off on Sunday afternoon. For which I apologize, once again, Rahela. And everyone else.

Anyway, we drill the holes, connect the light, mount it, and – bam – it works.

Until we turn off the light physically, not over the remote. And then it doesn’t. After a few minutes of panicking, sweating, cursing, praying, testing everything and anything, we realize that the technology has a safety mechanism against abrupt power interruption. So that’s that… We’ve learned something, right?

And this is where the story ends, on December 21, 2025, without me ever finishing that original project that led us to the store a whole year later.

Part III: The Conclusion

If you’ve stuck around long enough to hear the whole story about the ceiling lamp, congrats – you’ve made it to the best part. So let’s see what we’ve learned from this whole thing, shall we? Well…

No. #1:

One thing always leads to another, even if you’re not aware of it.

No. #2:

Just because it’s broken does not mean it doesn’t work but will most likely get replaced out of vanity.

No. #3:

Just because it’s brand new and shiny does not mean it’s either what you want or what you need.

No. #4:

The third time is the charm, but is it really worth the trouble?

No. #5:

It’s true – what’s already yours cannot be taken from you and will always find you… despite the struggle and perseverance you may have to go through until you get it.

And as for No. #6:

Well… I’m just gonna leave that one to you. 😏