On
Sunday night I was sleeping peacefully on the sofa when I suddenly had
the strange sensation that I was being gently rocked. Richard was at
work and I opened my eyes to an empty apartment wondering what that had
been about. I had a huge comforter over me and I had the very sleepy
thought that if that had been an earthquake surely the comforter was
thick enough to protect me. So I pulled it over my head and went right
back to sleep (I do not suggest this as a course of action, but it was
one of those I'm-still-asleep-and-slightly-irrational thoughts). This
was about 10:30 p.m.
Eventually I dragged myself to the
bedroom, crawled into bed and passed out again. I awoke with a start at
about 2:30 a.m. because the bed was moving. I thought at first that the
dog was just moving around on the bed in his sleep, until I remembered
that I am now in L.A. and gave my dogs away. But because the bed was
still moving I was convinced that there was someone under it that was
coming out to get me (in my defense I was still mostly asleep and have
been watching way to many horror movies). On the up side this brought
me fully awake and I hit the lamp to get some light.
It
was then that I realized what was happening. It was an earthquake. The
"dream" that I had dismissed from earlier was happening and I was alone
in the apartment and seriously freaked out. And just like that, it was
over. I sat there just staring around the room for a god 5 minutes.
Finally I realized that there was no way I was getting back to sleep so
I just got up and watched some movies until Richard got home.
I decided to find out if I was just completely out of my mind or if
all of this had really happened because it seemed so surreal. So, I
went to the U.S.G.S. (United States Geological Survey) website and
looked up the local seismic activity, and there they were. In fact,
there were 3 earthquakes that night, though I had only felt two of
them. The earlier one was epicentered in Lawndale, and the bed-mover was actually epicentered
right here in Long Beach. So I guess this is something I'll have to get
used to like the rest of the city has. They don't even put them on the
news unless they're over a 5.0. The ones I felt were in the 1.9 range.
So all I've been able to think of for the past few days is that scene
from L.A. Story where they're all at lunch and the tables start
shaking. Everyone just grabs their wine glasses so they don't tip over
but keeps on talking like nothing is going on. The out-of-towner is holding on to the table for dear life looking at the others like they're maniacs. Welcome to L.A.
