Watch it wiggle, see it jiggle

[I can only assume that everyone's thoughts run as mine do in an earthquake:]

YOU ARE SUPINE UPON YOUR FIRM, QUEEN-SIZE BED, THE HIGH QUALITY OF WHICH WAS REFLECTED IN THE PRICE, IF YOU MUST KNOW, RE-READING M.F.K. FISHER'S THE ART OF EATING AND MUNCHING CRACKERS BECAUSE THAT SALAD YOU HAD FOR DINNER, AS VIRTUOUS AS IT WAS, JUST ISN'T CUTTING IT:

SECOND 1: Hmm. Who's galumphing around upstairs?

SECOND 2: That's no heavy neighbor! We're having an earthquake!

LIE ABSOLUTELY STILL TO SEE IF IT'S GOING TO GET STRONGER. LOOK AROUND ROOM, WATCHING STUFF HANGING ON WALLS SHIVER SLIGHTLY. WONDER IF PRECARIOUSLY PLACED TELEVISION WILL INDEED TUMBLE OFF NARROW PERCH LIKE ALL FRIENDS SAY.

SECONDS 3-10: Wow, this really is an earthquake. Not a weak one, either.

SECOND 11: Whew. It ended. (NOTE: TEN SECONDS CAN BE A LONG TIME!)

SECONDS 12-60 (GET UP, WANDER AROUND APARTMENT): No one's home. I wonder if Chris and Elisabeth felt it. I wonder where it was centered. I hope no one was hurt/maimed/killed. I wonder how Maison le Trou, easily a century old, is fixed as far as seismic safety goes.

SECONDS 61-120 (STEP OUTSIDE FRONT DOOR, TALK TO ANY STRANGERS HAPPENING BY ABOUT QUAKE) We had an earthquake!

SECONDS 121-600 (TEXT SEAN AND ALLEN): We had an earthquake!

SECONDS 601-NOW (GO BACK TO BEING A SLUG IN USUAL COMPLACENT CALIFORNIAN DENIAL): Meh, you've felt one...

NOW (BLOG)

[While last night's love-shake was on the South Bay's Calaveras Fault, those really fun-n'-optimistic USGS types are saying this could've given the East Bay's Hayward Fault a nudge. Um, eek - Happy Halloween! Also, my parents live like a mile from the North Bay's Rodgers Creek Fault, which, while not as big as the Hayward or the San Andreas, is considerable, and hasn't let off steam in a couple of centuries.]

[For the record, neither Chris nor Elisabeth, being in transit, felt it. None but the strongest quakes are felt if you're driving, and last night's was the kind that most people wouldn't sense even if just walking or biking.]

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