Earthquake

Earthquake last night, a 4.7, a nice long jolt–roll. Lala and I went from sleep to a very animalian huddle. I don’t know how long it took me to realize that it was an earthquake, but it wasn’t more than a second or two, because I had time to enjoy it a little. There’s still fear, but there’s also a strange frisson of “what’s going to happen next?” I’ve always assumed, and I could be wrong, that the Big One will start so violently that I’ll be in no doubt about what’s going on. So if I wake and feel an earthquake and understand what it is, I’m allowed to just kind of enjoy it.

I did like the way we clutched at each other. Felt like we were in a cave and there was an animal outside. Very prehistoric. We didn’t have to think, “find my partner and hold on,” we just did. I was wearing my earplugs as usual, so Lala got up to see the damage since she’d heard something falling. It was her TRS-80, still fine of course. For some reason, I find this HILARIOUS.

Then I rolled over and prided myself on being such a staunch Californian that I could go right back to sleep, and of course, I didn’t. Up for another hour, trying not to imagine carnage. It was so roll–jolty (that’s the technical term) that it felt local, but what if it wasn’t? What if it was Baja or Oregon, having an eight? I was a five–hour drive from the Loma Prieta and it felt like riding a wave of land that made me panicked and dizzy at the same time. So I had to check Twitter, which roundly woke me up. Then I dreamed of natural disaster for the rest of the night, which is completely normal for me, and something I still sometimes wonder if I can’t get fixed. I love that I dream a lot, but I hate that I have nightmares every night. Gory, bloody, violent, grief–filled ones. I’ve had them since I was a child. Someone told me I can get hypnosis to help, and I’m almost at that point. Speaking of that, I heard yesterday about someone who got hypnosis for sugar cravings. Sign me up. I wonder if I can get a two–fer?