Monday, July 09, 2001


I went to bed at around 12:00 midnight. I read a chapter of American Gods by Neil Gaiman, Neil's new novel which I'm enjoying tremendously. Unlike novels I've read before, I'm reading this one slowly, taking in each word carefully. Neil's stories are deceptively simple, but in truth they're so dense that many stories are told at once without you even realizing it. I don't want to miss a thing! Getting sleepy, I fell asleep.

All of a sudden I woke up. And the bed was shaking. The whole house was shaking. It's an earthquake! It was rather strong. I lay flat on my bed really still because I wanted to feel it. I wanted to feel if it was getting stronger or getting weaker. I heard my nephew start to cry. I heard dogs start to bark. I heard our walls and ceilings creak. What's strange about earthquakes is that they make time seem longer than it really is. It felt like a long time passed before it stopped. But it was maybe just only 15 seconds or less. I got up to see what time it was. It was 1:20am. Turned on the TV and channel surfed for an hour until I felt sleepy again.