Keystroke Journal

8:30 AM As I write this morning, I am beholden by the sight outside my bedroom window. What started to look like falling white confetti has now become masses of non-stop snowflakes. It’s been hours of snowfall and I am enjoying the heavenly sight. Have to get my camera, go outside and take shots of the majestic scene but I'll do that later as I cherish the moment by my window. From the window, I also witness cars passing by as if in slow motion on the icy road while some pedestrians carefully find their way walking along the snowy pavement. I hope they're enjoying their walk in the snow. I look up and can see the cloudy yet slightly luminiscent sky. There's going to be some more snowflakes down the road. But thank you Lord for such beautiful sight. 1:00 PM After a whole morning of continuous snow, it's time to start shoveling our driveway. Humph, sigh, humph, sigh. But in between my scooping and throwing exercises, I took some snapshots of the scenery. Click, click, cli...

I remember being asked by my professor in literature class about my interpretation of Van Gogh’s Starry night over the Rhone painting. I’ve seen the painting before but never did I really scrutinize it the way I have to in an English class. The painting depicted an illuminated sky with the shining stars, the bright city lights, a calm river, a couple walking ashore and the two boats docked along the river bank. If only I could describe the painting then I have already answered the question. But to know the correlation of each visual imagery with one another, why bother? With no background knowledge as to why Van Gogh painted this while in a mental asylum , I dug deeper and let myself be enthralled by the painting for a moment. “What was on Van Gogh’s mind when he painted this picture?” I silently asked myself. “We’re supposed to be in a literature class, not in an art appreciation class,” I added while my eyes laid still upon the masterpiece, “So what is my professor tryin...

A few days from now, my high school alma mater (an exclusive school for girls in Manila) will be having a homecoming for the Jubilee and Golden Year celebrants. Unfortunately, I’m one of the ladies whose a thousand miles away from home and who won't be around to witness the event. Even though I couldn't make it this Saturday January 24th, I'd like to refresh my mind some of the events that took place 25 years ago … Freshman Year • The year of Dallas and Knots Landing (TV soap operas na talaga namang inaabangan ko) • Chinese Shoes ( with socks almost out of sight – lagot kay Sr. Magdeleine!) • Anime TV shows: Voltez V, Mazinger Z, Daimos, Candy candy (I was an avid cartoon fan!) • Americans hostaged in Iran (my first time to hear about hostages) • John Lennon assassinated (Oops I never thought it was possible) • Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s wedding (I wanted to be in her shoes not because of Prince Charles but just to be a Princess haha) • School clubs...

After washing my face last night, I looked at the mirror above the bathroom sink. I saw a familiar reflection and I smiled. Then my gaze focused on the rectangular shaped cabinet and thought of examining what’s behind it. The medicine cabinet has a fixed frame, mounted against the wall; immovable, like hardwood furniture. Unless much effort is exerted, it won’t open freely. But after some aerobic-like stretching stints, the cabinet produced a shrill screeching car brake sound as its door-like metal exposed its contents. Voila! Something came out in the air but it was too fast to even remember what it was. Then I saw two rows. On the lower row, the first thing that caught my eye was the nail polish remover. It was still half-filled. There were three other plastic bottles of rubbing alcohol beside it: two colorless liquid of the same brand but in variable sizes while one bottle has a mint green colored solution. I reached out to smell each bottle but it seemed as if the bottl...

For Filipinos, there are certain words in one dialect that has a different meaning in another dialect. Here’s an example of an overheard Visayan/Tagalog conversations at a kitchen sink in a recent Filipino gathering: “Paano ba ito ma si-ra?” “Ay di yan sira, high tech lang talaga.” Upon hearing their conversations, I couldn’t help but giggle in silence as I tried to avoid looking at their direction. Why was I secretly laughing? If their conversation was transliterated into English, their conversation would go like this: “How does this thing turns off?” “Oh that’s not broken, it’s just high tech.” Yes they sound funny. Still trying to constrain myself, I continued to listen. Nobody talked but there was a little commotion at the sink then the water stopped flowing. Finally, a little gesture helped solve the problem. I did not tell any one at the party about the incident nevertheless I thought of sharing it in my blog. Not because I want to make fun of them but I learned a lesson, too. Bo...

Recently, I was invited by my grade school classmates and schoolmates to join them in e-group/online conferences. It's a delight to reconnect despite the distance and time zone differences (from US East coast, West coast, Hawaii, Philippines, Japan to Saudi Arabia). Thanks to advance technology. Looking at our old photos posted online, I couldn't help but reminisce at our happy childhood years together. If not for the ones posted there would be events I could have even forgotten. It is also amazing how some of my friends were not just able to keep their photos but still have them where they are now settled. On my part, I couldn't wait to go back to MNL and share my old Kodak collections of childhood memories as well. But it will take some time thus I'll just have to be content on relishing the moments online. It's a reality that the course of time has changed our physical attributes, present status, spiritual journey and outlook in life. Yet, despite these undeniabl...