Earthquake!

Well, boy howdy! Now I can say that I’ve actually lived through a genuine Southern California earthquake.hitcounter

I was, of course, asleep, but was awoken by a strange shaking sensation. It felt as though one of my children was shaking the bed, trying to get me to wake up. Then, as I came awake, I thought what it felt like was one of the cats perched on the head of the bed, steadying himself before making a big jump to somewhere — if our cats weighed about 100 pounds more than they do.

Then I became aware of a rattling sound, which, were I in a different bed, I would have attributed to the bed frame rattling against the wall. Then I woke up enough to see that it wasn’t the bed frame, it was the framed paintings at the foot of the bed, and they were all swaying back and forth. By the time I was awake enough to register it, it was all over. Dogs in the street barked a little, passers-by laughed and related their tales of minor peril.

I sat up in bed, said “Hey. That was an earthquake,” and called my wife to make sure she and the kids were okay (they were — and at swim class, so, perfect).

I went downstairs to see if anything was broken. Not only was everything not broken, nothing seems to have even fallen down. Bookcases, dishes, tiny little porcelain figurines, everything was intact. Oops, no, wait, there is a casualty — my 12″ Hawkgirl figure fell off her perch on top of my computer monitor — maybe I should start up a funding campaign to stand her back up again.

Comments

18 Responses to “Earthquake!”
  1. lolavavoom says:

    Is this your first?

  2. amanofhats says:

    my 12″ Hawkgirl figure fell off her perch on top of my computer monitor

    I hope she’s alright. I lost a Toxic Avenger figure to a dog once. I know how heartbreaking it can be.

  3. blagh says:

    Hah, neat. I had my first earthquake in Ottawa, of all places. I was in the basement, and it felt like an extra extra large snowplow going by (in the middle of summer). My friend in an apartment building (a few blocks over and ten floors up) didn’t feel a thing.

  4. pirateman says:

    Oh, I’ll stand her back up again.

    All twelve inches of her, baby… All twelve lovely inches.

  5. clayfoot says:

    Oh, god. We’re going to see a flurry of earthquake-related movies and TV episodes pretty soon, aren’t we?

  6. misterseth says:

    Good to hear you and your family are okay! (Sorry about Hawkgirl tho.)

  7. stainedecho says:

    The one that hit the midwest a few months ago woke me up. Almost shook me out of bed! 🙂

  8. mitejen says:

    What’s further incredibly is that someone else on my friends list posted that exact same casualty, with the exception that his Hawkgirl figurine was 13 inches tall. And he had a picture. His name’s ( if you’re curious!

  9. rennameeks says:

    This was a good earthquake for a first timer. It was long and rolling, really giving you the chance to experience the quake, but too weak to really damage much of anything.

    It’s been a long time since there was an earthquake around these parts that everyone knew right off was an earthquake, so this is a much better example.

  10. gazblow says:

    Eeek! Glad you’re alive and all Alcotts are unharmed.

  11. foryourfyi says:

    Earthquake

    We had a 5:00 am quake in Chicago in April and I went through a similar progression: First I thought the cat had figured out a way to leverage himself to shake my queensized bed as he does the bedroom door when he’s hungry. Then I thought “Earthquake!” and woke up my girlfriend, saying “I think it’s an earthquake, can you believe it?”

    But then I decided it had to be something else: A powerful wind, but the trees weren’t waving; neighbors moving furniture — that had to be it. No earthquakes in Chicago, stupid.

    Anyway, I was glad to be proven right when the story hit the news, but I’m sure my true love no longer sees me as very wise or protective, waking her up in the midst of a potential natural disaster to say “Isn’t this cool!?”