News Of The Weird, August 23 Edition

Well. They say there's a first time for everything, and today was one of those days. We had an earthquake. A big one. A big one by East Coast standards, at least. I know that everyone out in California is snickering away at us, especially those who "found God" today, certain that they were going to be flattened by oh, say, a book or DVD falling off their shelves. There are plenty of faults around here (earthquake faults, that is) so we are no stranger to earthquakes. What we are a stranger to, is an earthquake you can Actually Feel. When I lived in Monmouth County, we had the Cheesequake Fault misbehaving occasionally, but usually nothing you could feel unless you were right on top of it. BTW, I love that name, don't you?

I worked last night and was sorta sleeping today when I felt my bed jiggling around. No problem. I thought it was my 16-pound pussycat, Mica, galloping around my bed with one of his catnip mice, as he will do. Hmmm. A minute later, my bedroom door pops open and my son Eric says "Mom, something just happened". Lord, you have no idea how much I hate those words. They are usually followed by "the basement flooded/the stove isn't working/the sink is making funny noises/the electric outlet is crackling/the cat threw up all over everything" or something along those lines. Amazing how this stuff always happens when I'm trying to sleep. Awake, nothing happens. Sleeping, all hell breaks loose. But, I digress. I crack open an eye and mutter "huh?", so he continues "I felt like I was moving, it made me feel a little dizzy, and I could feel the house move, and I could hear it creaking". Uh-oh. This sounds like a biggie. So, I mutter "earthquake", and close my eyes. He leaves the room, satisfied with that explanation. That, and the fact that the house is still standing. In the meantime, the meaning of my words (word?) finally sinks through the layers of my sleep-deprived brain, and I sit up thinking, "Holy s**t! That jiggling wasn't that fatso galloping around my bed! It was an honest-to-God earthquake!" Get up, wander out to the hallway, peek out the door, and all I see is some bitchy neighbor allowing her dog to take a dump on my lawn, even though I yell at her to take him elsewhere. Everything is still standing, so I head to the tv, and every station has the earthquake story on. Yikes. It's big news in Washington and New York. I can sort of see that, because I'm sure that quite a few people in those cities were wondering if this was going to be a repeat of 9/11, given that the 10th anniversary of that is only two weeks away. It's mostly an anti-climax, though, because there are no serious injuries; indeed, probably no injuries at all. Several stores in Virginia reported that groceries fell off their shelves, and a few buildings lost bricks or stoneworks, but thankfully, nothing major appears to have happened. We aren't earthquake-proofed out here, you know. Not like California, where buildings are reinforced to within an inch of their lives.

We've certainly had an interesting year here on the East Coast. If we didn't know better, we'd think someone was Mad At Us. A winter full of legendary blizzards, a summer full of biblical rain and flash floods, and earthquake, and if that wasn't enough, it appears we may have a hurricane poised to wipe us off the face of the earth this weekend. Damn!! I'm not sure we'll be able to go to Asbury Park for the Roller Girls bout. If the storm is bad enough, perhaps the Roller Girls and Asbury Park will come to us. Or perhaps I will finally have beachfront property, even though I am currently 30+ miles from the sea. Will my trees stay in the ground? Will we be flooded out? Will I run out of chocolate?

We will see what happens. Stay tuned to this space for furtrher developments.

Anyhow, no knitting or quilting today. Slept, caught up with all the news on the earthquake, head to Target to replenish groceries and paper goods, and vegetate.