She asked me if I'd ever felt an earthquake. Of course I have. I've lived in California all my life.
The biggest earthquake I've ever been in was 5.9 (or 6.1 depending on who you ask). I didn't feel it.
It was my 17th birthday, October 1, 1987.
I was in my bathroom. I was running late, of course.
It was my birthday so I made sure that I looked extra special in my blue eye shadow and jet black eye liner. I also had to make sure that I had enough mousse and gel to get the sides of my hair feathered and poofy at just the right height. I was drying my hair; hair dryer in one hand, giant can of aquanet in the other.
I heard the front door of the house open and my friend call my name. She was picking me up to drive me to school. A combination of her startling me and me running late caused me to drop my aquanet and hair dryer. I bent down to pick them up and CRASH! I hit my forehead on the doorknob to the bathroom. (Picture Sylvester the Cat with little Tweetie Pies flying in circles around his head after getting hit with a frying pan.)
I shook it off, grabbed my stuff and got into my friend's car. When we were about a block away from the school the earthquake hit. Maybe I felt it, I don't know. I certainly didn't recognize it as an earthquake. Maybe I thought we took a turn too quickly. Maybe I thought the steering in my friend's Celica wasn't working properly. Point is, I had no idea we had just experienced an earthquake.
A few minutes after I got to my first class the fire alarm sounded. We all marched out to the fields and hung out. I had no idea why. I asked someone. They told me it was because the fire department had to check the buildings. I asked why. I kept getting puzzling looks. I guess they all assumed I had felt the earthquake. Finally someone told me we had just had an earthquake, a big one. It all made sense.
About this time I noticed my head was a bit poundy feeling. I touched my head and it felt a little puffy. I grabbed my covergirl compact and looked at my forehead. I had a big welt on it; a big welt in the shape of a doorknob. I got a giant doorknob shaped goose egg on my forehead from when I hit my head on the door.
Confession - I was so embarassed about how I had gotten the bump on my forehead that for the rest of the day I told everyone I fell when the earthquake hit.
Oooh... I think I remember that one--it was in the LA area--right? I was in the Loma Prieta earthquake, and I was also in the car. I did not know it was an earthquake right away either--I thought I had a flat tire. I'm kind of glad I didn't "feel it" too much! :) Consider yourself lucky! :)
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