Hey! Guess what?!
We had an earthquake!
Well, somewhere in Virginia they had a 5.8 or 5.9 earthquake and we felt it all the way up here in Pennsylvania, to be factual about it. However, that doesn't change the fact that the earth moved, the building I was in shook (I was at work, which is actually a house), and my chair rolled in one direction while the desk slid in the opposite direction. COOL! (Okay, it was a little freaky, too, but mostly it was way cool.)
Had the tremor, which lasted between five and ten seconds, by my reckoning, been any stronger or lasted longer, perhaps I wouldn't think it was so interesting, but given that hardly anything ever moves anywhere in this town, this was neat.
The last time I was in a quake this strong (which is not strong, I realize), I was living in California. I had the flu at the time and was headed for the bathroom to upchuck and thought the motion I felt was due to my illness. Then I noticed that the water in the toilet bowl was swishing side to side. I forgot all about hurling, grabbed Daughter from her crib and ran outside. A neighbor was out on the balcony, having her morning cup of gin and her "special" cigarette. She told me that was nothing to worry about, just a tiny tremor, like a mild hiccup.
When another mild hiccup hit, this time knocking her cup of gin to the floor, she hustled Daughter and me to the middle of the street, where we stood for about ten minutes, awaiting the next one, but there was no next one that morning.
And here I was, while getting dressed this morning, telling the Universe that just once more, before I die, I want to be in a loving, sexual relationship.
I want to feel the earth move, just one more time, I pleaded, only half-jokingly.
Be careful what you ask for, right? Now I have to wonder if this means I'm about to croak?
11 comments:
You are too funny! A science center here in North Georgia recorded the quake, too, but if it was noticeable here, I was in one of my vague states. Glad it was an interesting one, as opposed to a disturbing one.
Yes, I chuckled out loud! As one who has felt some mild earthly tremors here many times, I do know the feeling. Just hope never to feel a full earthquake, as we may not survive, living as we do near a faultline
I admire your jocular reaction to that event - I would have been terrified. I will be adding "upchuck" to my list of favourite words.
Having lived in earthquake country most of my adult life, the only one I ever felt was in Detroit. Third floor apartment, heard everything on top of the fridge rattle, and thought it was broken. Then I realized the whole apartment was shaking. This was about 1982 or so.
So, very cool.
So it was good for you?
We tend not to get those things, like you area does not also. However, when the huge caldera under Yellowstone blows, I'll be one of the first to know.
Good luck, and may the earth move for you in more auspicious ways.
In Maryland we felt this earthquake... I slept through last year's earthquake!
~AM
I am so relieved to know you made it through Quakmageddon.
The only tremor I noticed was in the Twitterverse. Well, Facebook got in on the act also. Danger reports that he is now a man, having lived through an earthquake. Meanwhile, I just want a pot of coffee this morning, one that doesn't slosh too much when I pour a mug. That just doesn't seem to much for an old man to ask for this morning.
I heard about your earthquake this morning on The BBC. I was in one in Tokyo about 35 years ago. I was on the 33rd floor of The Hilton Hotel. It was the middle of the night. The floor tilted and my bed slide about. When I looked out of the window, nothing had changed, everything was standing. No one mentioned it the next day apart from my fellow guests. Apparently they were used to it. The hotel, new at the time, was built like a plant and designed to sway rather than fall over.
I used to live in California when I was a little kid. One of my early childhood memories is finishing my bowl of cereal sitting under the kitchen table because of an earthquake (never a huge one thankfully).
I'm in Pennsylvania, and from talking to people, those on the ground floor of my workplace didn't feel much, but a few stories up was a different story :) One lady thought for a few seconds that she was getting a stroke or something, then noticed that all the stuff on her desk was shaking too.
I did not feel a thing, but my daughter did- they evacuated her high-rise office building in Boston.
Of course it doesn't mean you're about to croak. It means you're about to have a steaming love affair.
My son Ben's earliest memory is my making him get under the table in an earthquake in Northridge CA. He was 3. I wonder if that was the same one you and your daughter were in.
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