Keystroke Journal

I received an early morning text message today. It’s from the weather alert station -- winter storm advisory until 2pm. I looked out. It was still dark. I checked the time, its 4:05am. The street was silent. No cars passing by. In fact, from the lamppost reflection, I couldn’t distinguish which part was the main road and which was our sidewalk. Everything was leveled with snow. I went back to sleep. I was awakened by a ring tone. My dad was checking on me since I’m home alone. In turn, I called my sister and her kids. They’re all okay. I went back to sleep again. A shrill screeching sound woke me up. I looked out at the window and saw a vehicle stranded by the road. The front wheel was moving but the rear wheels aren’t. The snow was still falling. A woman got off from the car and checked her tires then she went back inside her car. The engine started again but the car wasn’t moving. By the window I was praying for the woman to give her strength and wisdom. Some cars started to pass by...

It’s another chaperone day with another nephew. This time it's in grade 5. In one day, I was in three states: the state where I live, another state where my nephew’s school was and in Pennsylvania where the ski resort was located for their field trip. A mountain resort? Yes I went snow tubing with the kids! And we had a blast. Again, I was assigned to be in charge of boys – four more plus my nephew. I’m glad that the kids under me were manageable though. From time to time I had to look out where the kids were but at the same time, I got a chance to enjoy the ride – by myself -- as well. Yipee! In retrospect, the winter sport reminded me of one of the most awaited carnival ride we had way back in the Philippines. There used to be an open-air Big Bang Carnival in Alabang and they had this Giant Slide ride. The only way to go up the slide is through a one-way 4-story stair. And the only way to go down was by sliding through a smooth metal slide. We used a sack to cover our entire bod...

I was in the middle of a sound sleep when suddenly, my mobile’s ring tone stirred me up. Who could it be? Half-awake and half-asleep my right fingers tried to grope for my Samsung gadget. Just when I was about to pull it away under my pillow the ringing stopped. Ahhh! I momentarily looked at my window and imagined the sun rising up its way; I then turned around at the alarm clock, 6:48 a.m. My day started a typical morning except of course for that early call. I checked out who called. It’s one of the four numbers that has been calling me strangely for three consecutive days now, grrrr. Well, I did answer the first call on the first day but it was a wrong number; and yes, there was one voice mail but it was oddly silent. After that, my gut feeling told me something’s strange. Through a friend’s help I was able to figure out where the 803+ calls were made which was out-of-state; two numbers were from a state department office and the two other numbers were from unknown owners. I was ve...

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...