earthquake survivor

there was an earthquake today while i was at work.

it was a really weak earthquake that did no damage. but still, the whole thing is pretty fucking surreal in hindsight.

it was the last thing i was expecting. the office i was in shook a little bit and everyone in the office was a little bewildered. the first reaction for the most part seemed to be, 'what the fuck was that?' no one felt it and then said, 'that's an earthquake.'

it only lasted for a few seconds. the shaking ended before thoughts were fully processed. but once it was over, that's when the evacuation went into gear. we all left the building saying amongst ourselves, 'damn, guess that was an earthquake.' it was the only explanation that made sense for what we just experienced.

it caused no harm though and that's awesome.

after the building stopped shaking, i remember looking around the office and for the most part people were frozen and bewildered. what do we do in this situation? leave? run? wait for someone to tell us something factual?

we work on the 3rd floor and i'm glad that nothing awful happened. i can't help but think that if it could've been worse. the floor could've fell out from under us, we all could've fell as the building fell around us...a 5 story building... if it all fell at once, i don't see much survival happening.

so i'm just glad to be alive. glad everyone i know is alive. glad the earthquake didn't fuck anybody up.

i was watching cnn shortly after it happened and the anchors are interviewing people and you could almost smell the disappointment of the tv media machine that no blood was shed. i caught an interview with a dude who worked in a nuclear power plant near the epicenter of the quake and he was pretty relaxed saying, 'everything's okay, we got it all under control.' and the reporter kept prodding as if she was hoping something was gonna go wrong.

some got the blood lust. not me. any situation that ends with, 'hey, everything's gonna be okay,' is a good situation. hallelujah and all that jazz.