tremors

I always thought I was pretty calm and cool in the face of adversity, a challenge, the unexpected. But I totally lost it at the hands of a 5.9 earthquake that passed through our area yesterday.

The building that I work in is often rattled a little by heavy trucks that roll by, or planes that fly low, etc. so when the shaking started, I was thinking to myself, "wow, that is a really BIG truck"!

But, it didn't stop rattling and it was getting worse! The whole building was shaking...oh Sh*t!!

I have never been in an earthquake before and I had ABSOLUTELY no clue what to do...at all. I was glued to my chair in abject fear. (not something I am particularly proud of...wow, epic fail!!) and I was sitting by the window (apparently an earthquake no-no). Luckily some of the people in my office did have some idea what to do and yelled for me to come stand in the doorway till the quake subsided. The adrenaline that poured (like the hoover dam exploded kind of poured) into my blood stream was so powerful that not only was the building shaking but I was shaking...so badly that when the quake had ended I had to ask someone if the building was still moving or if it was just me!! (yeah, super show of courage!) I think perhaps I should rethink sky-diving... but i digress (as usual) ... so I am shaking worse than the building was 30 seconds ago, sweat is trickling down my back, I am freezing cold, pale white, and I am not entirely sure how long it took me to breath again. Way to go 'miss cool under pressure'!!

Now, here is the part that I really didn't understand - we all went outside, but people stood on the sidewalk - right next to the building...and I am thinking 'if we thought that the building wasn't safe to be IN, then why would people think it is safe enough to be BESIDE?'
yeah, still trying to figure that out...

Our group went to a field across the street, but I must admit that it felt no safer given that the buildings in the area were all within toppling distance of the field that we were standing in, I think our evacuation plans needs a little tweaking - hmmm... (sarcasm ... me? never!)

We were all on our cell phones writing friends and family (like the other 300 million people who felt the quake), and making sure that they were all ok (which took an hour because of the afore mention 300 million other people doing the same thing)...and then with what was close to fire drill precision, after a certain amount of time, the entire crowd seemed to feel they had waited long enough and shuffled back inside. I looked at my co-workers, still pale and still shaking from the shot of panic that my body was experiencing, 'how do they KNOW it is ok' I asked, they shrugged their shoulders and began walking in as well...ummm...ok, I guess we all die together then :(

Given that walking and I are not buddies to begin with, the 3 pints worth of adrenaline that got dumped into my system, was making it almost impossible for me to be mobile at all and to be honest I would have been perfectly happy to have just laid down in the field for a bit. Because now the uncontrollable feeling of nausea is sweeping over me, for two reasons ...1) yes there was an earthquake, but far more anxiety filled than that was 2) the thought of going back into the building and having it fall around me, and I would be
stuck!
trapped!
buried alive!
or squashed!!!

Oh, God...I can feel the blood drain from my face as I write this, I am slightly claustrophobic on a normal day and this was NOT a normal day!!! I did not want to go in, or get in the elevator...at all! Because all that was running through my mind was scene from a horror movie where the woman is going to step on to the elevator and the doors close on her and the elevator drops and she is cut in half!!!! It is highly possible that at this point, if you can believe it, that I was close to over-reacting?
ok - perhaps I was over-reacting is a better choice?
yes, ok fine - I was definietly over-reacting!!!

And since I was in full on panic and as my regular readers know, I have no poker face, the look of sheer terror on my face as we got on the elevator had even the office manager worried about me and offering me water. Not to put to fine a point on it, but I don't want water right now...I want vodka!!! (no, I did not say that, but oh boy did I think it)

So thus was my brave and courageous brush with a natural disaster, nothing like massive movements in the earth's crust to remind me to be humble and grateful, and possibly to invest in Valium.