You haven’t lived until you’ve been awakened at 3:30 in the morning by an earthquake.
I was deep into rem sleep when all of a sudden I was jolted awake by a loud sound, followed by what felt like the building being lifted off the ground and then dropped.
Living my whole life in California, never travelling elsewhere — except for vacationing once in Hawaii, I instantly knew it was an earthquake, grabbed the phone, checked news and learned it was a 3.4 centered two cities over.
The strongest I’ve experienced was the 6.7 Northridge Quake, back in ’94. That one shook, rattled, rolled for an extended period and had aftershocks that equated to a 3.4.
So, a 3.4 is normally child’s play, one might not even notice it. What made this one noticeable is that, instead of a mild shake, rattle, roll, it was one quick loud sound then THUD! The bed bounced.
No problem falling back asleep and, once up and at it three hours later, I found nothing disturbed.
Our building, being along the fault line, wasn't built on rollers. But thus far, the only earthquake damage I’ve observed — in my ten years of living here, is a crack along the ceiling of the Community Room.
I’ll take our earthquakes over a tornado, so it’s all good.
Today is my day off. I’ve no place I must be, nothing I must do. So, though I’ll be hibernating, I won’t be idle as there’s a situation in the bedroom closet — when I want to wear a certain item, I can’t find it, its gone missing.
Twice in the last week, it's been an item I'd worn just a day or so before and now I can't find it.
It’s either that the closet is an entry way into Nardia, some of my items are falling into that dimension OR there’s too much of the same or similar item on the rod, making it difficult to find what I’m looking for.
I need to make some decisions about items I can’t let go of, items I rarely wear, items that I’ve never worn — still have the tags on, and items I favor for frequent wear.
Is Nardia the next kingdom over from Narnia? I hope you find your missing clothes!
ReplyDeleteCould be next kingdom but, in this case, it's a typo. :-)
DeleteYour building was built on rollers? Never heard of that. I guess in CA, you need that kind of ingenuity.
ReplyDeleteDon't mess with the closet ghost. But he/she must have good taste?
As many quakes as we have, I can't imagine what would happen if the structure of this building, and others I've lived in, were not on a base of rollers.
DeleteKnow the closet feeling - every year I get my summer stuff out and say 'if I don't wear it this year - out it goes!' What happens- summer ends I don't wear it and back into winter storage it goes! 😏
ReplyDeleteIt's soooooo hard to let go.
DeleteExperienced an earthquake when we lived in Pasadena in the 1960's--it was as if a wave passed under the bed, lifted it a bit, and set it down softly.
ReplyDeleteLucky you weren't here for the Northridge Quake. My friend Q lost everything.
DeleteI don't think I'll trade Hurricanes for Earthquakes or Tornadoes. LOL. However, after a serious car accident I started feeling Earthquakes. I remember the first big one, I was sitting on the couch and the room started bouncing. I looked around to see if pictures were falling off the wall, etc. but nothing was moving. I learned later there had been a big one in, I think, Japan. I had a couple of more documentable experiences and then they disappeared. Although it was scary, I missed having my special power. Note: I just realized that Devil in a Blue Dress with Denzel was a Walter Mosley book. I think that was before I discovered Mosley.
ReplyDeleteHow interesting, you were an Earthquake Whisperer. I think Devil was the first Mosley book I read, followed by seeing the movie which did not disappoint. I'm anxious to see Samuel Jackson in last days of ptolemy, but I don't do movie theaters. I'll wait for the DVD. Only books of his I did not like were Debbie Doesn't Do it Anymore and John Woman. Plus, I don't read his Syfy stuff.
DeleteI agree with Debbie and John Woman. Both very strange. I think I prefer Easy Rawlins because of the time and place.
DeleteI knew skateboarding was a big thing in sunny climes, but rollers for your buildings?
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking there's an earthquake crack in the back of your closet. Did you ask Karen if she borrowed it? Ack! I might prefer tornadoes: more warning, we can see where they are, but they can be pretty destructive. Linda in Kansas
Rollers in earthquake country not that unusual. Karen probably thinks what we know to have been an earthquake was actually Talker jumping on the ceiling. I checked, LOL, there's no crack in the closet. It was just clutter.
DeleteLived through a couple of earthquakes when I lived in California. All that bumping and jolting, which normally I might like ....
ReplyDeleteLOL. Reminds me of an episode of Two and a Half Men when an earthquake occurred while Charlie was upstairs getting busy. Charles came downstairs crowing about his abilities because he thought he'd made the earth shake.
DeleteShake, rattle and roll. Yes, people who live in earthquake country seem to handle the shakers quite well.
ReplyDeleteOne becomes accustomed to what's familiar.
DeleteThey had a 6. one in Japan too... let us Hope that the 3. one is all you get tere in Cali. Only had one here in AZ many Years ago that was a remnant of a big one you all had there. It shook the Mobile Home I lived in at the time back and forth so violently that I thought someone was doing it as a joke at first, since it hit at 3:00 in the Morning, waking me. I reminded me of being on a Train with that rocking motion, but more violently. You all handle them well in Cali since you've had them often, I would scare more easily. *smiles*
ReplyDeleteYou've few earthquakes but have to deal with snakes and scorpions. I'll take an earthquakes, lizards and birds over those as well, lol.
DeleteHaving lived through 2 tornados, one of which hit our house, I'm gonna take your word for it, and will trade them for an earthquake ANY day. We did have a quake here, about 15 years ago, but all it did was rumble a bit. But every tornado season, we all live in dread, here in Illinois. I've been down in our crawl space, with a hard hat on, with all of our cats and have decided F that, I will take my chances up top nest time, rather than be buried in the rubble. On the "lose my stuff" line, I've misplaced a set of wireless earbuds about 27 times, even though I put them back in the same place EVERY time. WTH. It has to be one of my passed on relatives, messing with me!!
ReplyDeleteA little rumble seems a lot less terrifying than your two tornados, but I'm with you about being on top, rather than buried in rubble. Looking at the devastation of what's happening in Louisiana, I'm wondering if insurance will come through or, because there's so much damage to so many, leave the folks high and dry. I too sometimes think some invisible someone is playing tricks on me, especially when I look in a certain place, it's not there, but then magically reappears where I'd just looked.
DeleteJust tried following again. One of these days, blogger will work! I agree, though. I’ll take an earthquake over a tornado any day. Nearly 20 years in California, lots of earthquakes. But we were always well situated at the time.
ReplyDeleteSo much trouble following me. Hope reading about my normal everyday life. compared to your fabulous one, is worth the trouble. I was just now looking at news of a tornado in Louisiana. Even our worst earthquake wasn't the kind of damage I'm seeing, so yes earthquakes yes, tornados no. AND BTW, eating that fish with the head on, dead eyes looking at you, is creepy :-0
DeleteTo be clear, you wouldn’t catch ME eating that fish. I always make sure the head and eyes are gone before I order. I’ve gotten better lately, though. I WAS able to sit next to her while she ate it.
DeleteROFLMAO!
Delete