Is This What "Jaded" Looks Like?
We had an earthquake today: 5.4 on the richter scale, and lasted 15 seconds. It made my heart beat faster, but once it stopped I was over it. It was all over the news for hours, they were interviewing local people, asking "What did you feel?" And I was thinking "Didn't we all pretty much feel the same thing?" The epicenter was in Chino Hills, about 50 miles away
from where I was at the time, and I was concerned for the people there, but that's not who I was seeing on the news. I was seeing people who live and work 10-20 miles away from me. Next.
The first earthquake I ever experienced was about 8 months after I moved to L.A. I don't know what I was dreaming about, but the shaking bed woke me up laughing - until I realized what was going on, then I jumped out of bed, and leaned up against my bookcase so it wouldn't fall over. Dumb-de-dumb-dumb. Now I know better than THAT, but unless stuff is falling over action-movie style, I no longer go freaking out over tremors.
As Eve White mentioned in her blog, the best thing to do is stay off the phone if at all possible, or make a brief phone call to let your loved ones know that you are okay, then get off the phone. Going forward I know better, but this time, I honestly didn't even think about it. The FIRST thing I did was grab my cell phone - I couldn't get any calls to go through, so I got on my home phone and it worked just fine. I just assumed that the towers were knocked a bit askew, and it never even dawned on me that the lines were tied up because of people calling for help because I didn't see any evidence of damage.
August 24th will mark the anniversary of my tenth year in Los Angeles, and now that earthquakes, to me, have become as 'normal' as tornado warnings in Chicago, I guess I can finally consider this "home".
P.S. - Sorry Eve. I'll be more mindful next time. Promise.
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