Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Earthquake
...so I've driving through West L.A. at around 11:45 and I hear the announcer on the radio say "Whoa! We just had a big earthquake!" "Huh?" I said, "We did?" I didn't feel a thing. Turns out it was a 5.6, centered in Orange County. Yikes! But I'm fine and there was no noticeable damage in my area. My cable was even still working.
No major damage here at an unnamed major motion picture studio on Melrose Avenue. We rocked and rolled like Boss Radio, but I'm on the top floor of my building, taking solice in the belief that, if the building collapses, I'll fall on top of everyone else
ReplyDeleteThank God your cable survived so you can get your Cheers residuals. I was worried for you there for a minute ;-)
ReplyDeleteIn 1989, I was living in Sydney, Australia when the earthquake that was centred in Newcastle (not far from Sydney) occurred. I was actually having a shower when it happened, got out and wondered what all the commotion was. Everyone had felt it. My family even phoned to make sure I was okay. I had to tell them that I was in the shower, and never felt it. They asked whether it was a long shower or a short earthquake.
ReplyDeleteAs an orange county native I have to tell you Chino Hills is NOT in orange county. If I remember correctly Ryan from "The OC" moved from the hard streets of chino hills to the safe streets of orange county. Other than that I have no objections to what you have written.
ReplyDeleteI was WALKING in West L.A. and felt nothing! When I arrived at my gym, there were all these people milling about outside. Fire drill? Nope--earthquake.
ReplyDeleteDidn't feel a thing...
When I got home, however, a bottle of salad dressing had been knocked out of a cupboard over the stove and onto the floor.
Weird.
My housekeeper claims my two black and tan coonhounds starting barking about 10 seconds before my Valley house started shaking. She says they weren't barking at each other (something they enjoy immensely) and that she had time to look out the window to see what they were excited about, when all of sudden the shock wave arrived.
ReplyDeleteIt woke me up (Please. It was 11:42 AM, in other words, just before dawn.) and I rode it out calmly in bed, while one of my cats RACED out of the room, only to find the other rooms shaking also, so she raced back. My other cat hid under the bed until I got up, and then walked about, staying safely between my feet, while meowing at me angrily for allowing this annoyance to upset his day. Since I control everything in his life, this earthquake must have been my fault, and explaining to him that it was just God punishing us for Gay Marriage didn't impress him.
ReplyDeleteBut please. After 58 years in Los Angeles, it was like "Yawn!" After 40 minutes of watching every channel report when they had nothing to report ("Did you feel it?" "Yeah. The room shook. I thought it might be 'The Big One' but it wasn't.") I got so bored, I switched over to a 50 year old PERRY MASON repeat because it was the only thing on that wasn't "We have no reports of damage or deaths yet. Hopefully we will soon."
At least you know your shock absorbers are working. One generally doesn't feel them in cars.
Checking in from Rochester, NY -- didn't feel a thing here either -- Rocky Mountains must have got in the way...
ReplyDeleteThat's why it's generally so much safer here. Texas tornadoes only get you in a trailer park. California earthquakes move everything but Raymond Burr.
ReplyDeleteEarthquakes?
ReplyDeletePfft, try being woken up by the largest explosion in Europe since that little war we had going off 500 yards outside your apartment.
Still, glad your cable's OK. How's your neighbours?
The earthquake was actually my niece's fault. She recently arrived in the LA area to avoid any more cold winters in the Northeast, so Mother Nature wanted to welcome her to the area. I need to remind her if her a/c seems to be failing and her apartment is always hot, she needs to check for a wildfire outside her window. Suddenly, a bit of snow may not seem so bad.
ReplyDeleteWhen Dana rolled over and yawned, I knew it was nothing special, just our average day in bed together.
ReplyDeleteActually, I'm taking the blame for the earthquake. It took me 50 years to finally visit California. Before I left Florida, I jokingly said to a friend, "Well, there's no hurricanes brewing but watch an earthquake hit while I'm in CA."
ReplyDeleteI didn't actually feel it since I'm up in San Francisco with 1999 other romance writers for the national conference.