October 30, 2007 | I Felt the Earth Move...
Our apartment is not what you would call sturdy. The floors slant when you get near the walls, the ceiling squeaks from the weight of our smallish upstairs neighbor, and the these walls (as you may have already guessed), they're paper thin. Everyone hears every little sound.
(Look at me go with the Modest Mouse lyrics!)
When things started to get a little shaky earlier this evening, I didn't do anything. I just sat here in my cute but not entirely comfortable green desk chair, and tried to figure out if it was just MY apartment shaking, or if this was a bigger shake.
When I realized that yes, this was indeed an earthquake (which probably took longer than it should have), I figured I had two choices. Get up and go stand near the doorway, or crawl under my desk. Before I could decide on standing or crawling, the shaking stopped. Way to sit through a potential disaster. Go me!
The funny thing about this? Earlier tonight, I was looking through the cabinets for some sugar for the dessert I was making (more on this later), and I came across a cabinet above the stove full of canned food. Canned food that I had not bought. This was undoubtedly a purchase made by the boyfriend. While I've been known to buy the occasional can of green beans, canned tamales are not high on my list of must buy canned food items. And as far as I can remember they're not things he'd normally be eating either. Which can only mean one thing. Emergency food. In an effort for us to be somewhat prepared in the event of a disaster, he keeps us stocked in bottled water and canned food. While this is a smart thing for him to do, I tend to find it cute. Cute in a chicken little sort of way.
However, I think the fact that I found the canned food stash shortly before a 5.6 earthquake (centered not far from where we live) could be the universe trying to tell me that perhaps my boyfriend isn't quite as paranoid as I thought. Though I think I may suggest something besides green beans and tamales the next time he goes on an emergency food shopping spree.
P.S. Happy almost Hallowe'en!
I'm the worst when it comes to crisis management. I'd stock up on ice cream so you'd HAVE to eat it if the power is knocked out by a quake. I was in the San Francisco 89 earthquake and my dad let us eat all the ice cream in the freezer. It's a good memory from a crappy period of time. So I always equate earthquakes with eating ice cream, and that may not be the healthiest (or wisest) of correlations.
And hang on to that boyfriend!
I sat through most of it too, petrified that the world was going to collapse on me. I sat there trying to remember what to do, and how to make the dog hush so I could think. Finally I went to a door way and stood there, trying to entice said yappy beast to come to me. His listening skills aren't so sharp.
I'm sure we have some canned goods lying around in case of an earthquake. I am also sure I didn't go buy them. It seems like every time I would move into a new apartment back in what the kids call "the day," my mother would insist on going to the grocery store and stocking me up with groceries...and all the canned goods would wind up in a sack at the local food bank the week I moved out.
(All I ask is that the earthquake doesn't break the liquor cabinet. If I had to subsist on nothing but food and water I don't know what I'd do. Because apparently i am WC Fields.)
Now that's cute. You are both far better prepared than I. I also sat at my desk trying to decide which way to go...crawl under or run to a doorway. In the middle of the shaking I got up to walk to my daughter's bedroom wondering if I could indeed walk. It stopped at that point, so I could walk.