an earth shaking experience.

i felt the ground slightly shaking under my feet. my eyes darted around to see all the cords on my lights that are dangling from the ceiling dancing. it stopped as unexpectedly as it had started. i had just begun to second guess myself and what i had just felt when it happened again. this time the slight tremors kept escalating until the earth was letting out a terrifying belch of energy. it was about 6 pm here. we were heading to a live music club in the entertainment district to see a punk band. i was getting ready for the night and was rifling through a pile of shirts. as the shakes worsened i found myself dropping to my knees as standing was difficult. all these thoughts are racing through my head…what did we learn in elementary school to do during earthquakes…under the table or in the door frame. i saw my kitchen table bouncing across the floor so i crawled towards the door. i’m on the fourth floor of a 5 story building. if this apartment collapses my best bet may be to go up instead of down…this street is lined with tall buildings that would bury any bystanders…where’s the nearest open space. there is a cacophony of sound as things bounce and crash. all my toiletries come spilling out of the bathroom, glasses in my cabinet are clanking and falling. the balcony doors are rattling. quickly prioritize…what should i try to hold in place? i put my hand on the tv as i notice all the wine bottles on top of the microwave are teetering towards the edge. dishes are falling out of the drainer. i pull myself up to grab some of the bottles when i think, ‘if these all fall on me, that’ll be serious.’ these things are racing through my head in the span of probably 30 seconds which seemed like an absolute eternity. as the tremors subsided, i was left poised on all fours in the middle of the floor, panting, out of breath, with enough adrenaline pumping to excite a horse. i scurried to the phone to call liz. she was fine. we chatted in disbelief. it was nearly impossible to believe your eyes and your equilibrium. talk about a force of nature, out of control, making you feel weak and insignificant. what to clean up first. as i was putting dishes back in their places it started again. the scariest thing, i’ve come to realize, is that you never know when these minor shakes will escalate into a full-blown 6.8 earthquake. you just brace yourself and hold your breath until the vibrations die out. aftershocks. they continued as i straightened my place and finished readying myself for the night out. then there was an aftershock that didn’t die out. it rumbled harder and harder and things got louder and louder. here we go again... the first things to crash were the 6 bottles on top of the microwave. i dove that way but was too late. thank goodness i have a short mini-fridge; none of the bottles broke. they just rolled around clanking. the cabinet above the sink flew open sending spices and tinfoil and Ziploc baggies flying through the air. my sliver ware spilt, chopsticks, forks and knives clamor to the floor. cups fell off the shelf, one wine glass crashing to the floor and splintering everywhere. my vision is absolutely messed up. things are shaking so severely my sight seems smeared. a spindle of music rattles off the shelf spilling a hundred cds across the floor. i have several bookcases lining the walls. i’m sitting, holding the two shorter ones, attempting to keep the bottles and food from falling. i’m watching the 6-foot shelf on the opposite wall wavering like laundry on a clothesline in a breeze. papers and books falling. several empty bottles on top are hopping dangerously close to the edge. no time to catch them…i have to move as my bamboo plants spill, their vases dumping their water all over me, the bed, the floor, everything on my shelves and coffee table drenched. i hear things crashing in other apartments and people talking in excited voices. the box holding my jewelry teeters off the edge sending everything flying. i watch the refrigerator dance across the floor. by this point i’ve nearly given up on trying to catch things. my mind is racing…how long can the building withstand this insanity…i’m gonna die in a stupid earthquake…when will the shaking stop? and just then it did. it’s difficult to gauge how long the earthquake actually lasted. i was paralyzed. an eerie quietness took over. i watched the water dripping from the edges of shelves. after a while i started to hear people snapping out of it. chattering outside. balcony doors opening and shutting. emergency vehicles barreling by with sirens blaring. tried to call liz, the phone’s dead. what to do first. i pull all my important papers out of the water as i toss towels into the puddles that have formed. hurriedly dry off my computer, camera, cd player. pile the broken glass in the sink. push the tv back onto its stand and wheel it back into the corner. this time i left the bottles on the ground, the cups overturned, the toiletries piled in the bathroom floor. hung up the bedding to dry. finally i get through to liz…she’s in shock, i’m cussing the mess that i’m surrounded by when the earth starts moving again. it was almost enough to bring tears to my eyes. not again. merely the earth sighing, not roaring. luckily. i’m anxious to leave my apartment and the mess. i head downstairs and out on the street people are everywhere. they’re carrying sleeping bags, standing in circles with book bags piled in the middle, examining breaker boxes with flashlights. i was surprised to see so many cars on the road too. as i rode my bike towards the club i passed a hostess bar that had apparently lost electricity. parading out front were about 50 hostesses dressed in miniskirts and stilettos all chattering away on cell phones as men in suits scurried around. of course, i didn’t have my camera on me. the concert was delayed but eventually got going. liz and i recounted what had happened in the lulls between songs. we continued to feel tremors through the night. this all started on sunday evening, it’s now monday morning. i was awakened three times last night as my bed vibrated in time with tremors. one was strong enough to prompt me to get up out of the bed and move the bottles off of shelves and cordon the plants in the bathtub. i read on cnn a few minutes ago that this one measured a 5.6 on the richter scale. from what i am able to gather from the news and others, there is a serious possibility of another earthquake of similar magnitude within the next ten days. my school's gymnasium has been designated as a safe spot.
all in all there were more than 340 quakes and aftershocks. they didn’t just shake up the apartment. they challenged my sense of reality. the word ground is used to talk about the basis on which many things rest, metaphorically; an underpinning for knowledge. you ground yourself when, through introspection, you bring yourself back to what’s important to you, concentrate on your foundation. these uses of the word are derived, i’m guessing, from the fact that the ground, as in crust of the earth, is supposed to be a solid and stable entity; a strong base on which to build and grow a society. well, there goes my etymological theory now that i’m convinced the ground isn’t unyielding. here’s to reality checks…