When Your Hair Starts Standing

Just when I was here bitching about Labuan being boring in the previous post, something interesting/exciting/dangerous happened.

I'm not sure whether any of you have ever received this email. The email is about a girl in Sequoia National Park, California who suddenly saw that her hair was standing on ends. The other tourists thought it was funny, and her brother snapped her picture.


5 minutes after they left, thunder strike at that place, killing 1 and injuring 7 others. Email ends there.

On Sunday, I went to the beach, Layang-Layangan. 3 of us were having fun, walking rather far away from the shore, the tide was just coming in , the skies heavy with menacing dark clouds and rolling thunder. We were playing with this fish which is black on one side and white on the other, the black side has eyes but not on the white side of the fish. Weird eh...

We were video-ing, laughing and having fun, when suddenly, my friend who was holding the video suddenly had a change of expression, and shouted: " Run! Faster run! Believe me. Run!"

I thought Tsunami was coming, so I looked towards the sea, finding everything ok.
She continued shouting, "Don't look! Just run! Believe me! RUN!!"

Another friend beside me just looked at me, and looked back at the video-person, and suddenly grabbed my hand and dragged me.

This one even more dramatic. My friend say, " Don't ask why. Just run. Run towards the car."

I said, " Let me wear my shoes first."

"No, not enough time already. No need to wear. Just run!"

So we started running, and sped up to a sprint. THe expression on their faces is enough to scare me shitless. I was thinking, Run! Run! Run for your life!. And what's worse is they are athletics, and I am a lump. But still, when survival mode kicks in, the lump can bounce fast too.

When we reached the place where there were a lot of pine trees, the video girl stopped, panted, look back and say, " No, not far enough, keep on running."

So there we were, three of us, barefooted, sprinted towards the car.

Upon arriving the car, it was already pouring. Finally, they told me, they saw each other's hair standing on ends. And they recalled the email which mentioned about high voltage in the air, which has a very high possibility of thunder striking at that place.

When we were sprinting like 3 damn cheetahs, our hair was still standing on ends, unmoved by the wind.

Worst part is, I didn't see any of the hair standing at all. I only sort of guessed it when they keep on looking at each other's heads.

So i f any of you are at a wide open area, such as a football field, or a meadow, with you being the tallest object, be alert. When you are caught in a thunderstorm, dont hide under a tree. Go to your car and close your windows. You'll be safe as long as you don't get out of the car. The charge won't ground even if lightning strikes you as long as you don't step out.

I take back the part about Labuan being boring. It was an eventful day. I love you guys. I don't want to die. Yet. Take good care.