Earthquake Story and then some
(warning: long post; I need to update more often to avoid this!)
What an interesting weekend I've had. I’m reminded of the old theatre phrase “Deus ex machine” or god in the machine (or of the machine, from the machine, however you want to say it). Why? Well, mainly because I can’t think of a proper phrase that accounts for the “things we cannot predict or control and how they affect our lives”.
This week has been rather stressful on me, mainly due to some financial issues that stem from me not being able to finish my thesis this semester. Yes, I am going to present in the beginning of fall, but since circumstances surrounding this situation were clearly laid out for me (as it do it or else), I went into damage control mode. First, I tried to test the waters by breaking the news to my mother. Well, not such a good idea because she totally flipped out. I stressed and stressed, and tried to fill my mother in on more details, hoping she would see that I am not just a lazy slug.
Thursday night I got to bed late. Though I should have gone to sleep, I stayed up and talked to Matt until around midnight. It took me a while to get to sleep, but I think I was finally successful.
Approximately 4:40am I awoke to the strangest sensation. My bed felt like someone was standing at the end on the side and pushing the mattress back and forth. It wasn’t bad, but it was enough to wake me up and feel that my mattress was indeed wobbling from side to side. What’s more, I heard my ceiling creaking, and I noticed the windows were moving and as such, the whole building. I thought it must be a strong gust of wind, as that is not that unusual around here. But as my bed finally stopped moving and I woke up a bit more, I suddenly thought it wasn’t very logical that wind could move my building, from outside, and my bed, which was inside. I got up to go to the bathroom, and I remembered back in 2003 when I was living in Georgia, I awoke one morning, for no reason, and didn’t know why I had woken up. When I turned on the news and went to work, it was obvious we had had an earthquake. I had slept through it. Everyone was talking about it, and I slept through it. Earthquakes are very unusual where I come from.
Could that have been an earthquake? It seemed logical, but I really thought I might be exaggerating it to myself, because earthquakes “don’t happen” in the Midwest. I turned on the TV, but the weather channel was just the weather channel, so I rolled over and spent an hour getting back to sleep.
Upon waking Friday morning, I turned to my local NBC station, and sure enough the crawl across the bottom indicated that we had indeed had an earthquake at 4:37am! I couldn’t believe it! A 5.2 magnitude! And I felt it! I think I sent a dozen texts to people and I talked to two people before breakfast.
One of those people was my mother. During our conversation, it became clear to me that she had misunderstood what I had been telling her over e-mails. Once she understood, it was like a weight lifted. While I had been thinking I may have to move and get a job and a loan to support myself, maybe at worst a tuition loan was all I was going to have to get! I wrote a letter, cleared it through my mother, and swallowed hard as I sent it to my grandmother today. I’m purposely not checking that address tonight. I need to be able to sleep tonight.
Back to Friday, I went to my 10:00 am class and the earthquake was the talk of the morning. At 10:15 all of us heard the ceiling creaking, and we suddenly felt a rumble under us as our desks and chairs vibrated. We all stared at each other in wonder. We just had an aftershock! And we felt it! Wow! (4.6 magnitude)
Friday night I was able to discuss new living arrangements with my friend. I may be getting a roommate, but I think that may be a good thing, for a little while anyway.
The rest of my weekend I spent hanging out with friends. Saturday night I was watching a movie with a friend when Matt called. He told me his older brother, Sean, whom I’ve never met, had called him to give him a heads up about their mom. She was going to be a bit angry at him because Sean accidentally let it slip that I had a kid.
WHAT?!? Matt thought this was extremely funny, and proceeded to tell him that in fact I did not have a kid. Apparently Sean must have assumed I had a child because I often show up in my pictures I put online with kids. Sean said he was sorry, but Matt said it was too late to say anything to his parents. He thought it was hysterical, but I didn’t find it so funny. I made him swear that he would fix it first thing this morning. I sent Mr. Sean Moran and little note of my own as well, setting the record straight from my end officially.
Matt called me at 9:45 this morning to tell me he fixed it. He keeps telling me I need to see the humor in all this, and while I have cracked a few smiles, I don’t find it nearly as amusing as he does. He says he may write a comedy act out of it, and I think that might be a good idea.
What an interesting weekend I've had. I’m reminded of the old theatre phrase “Deus ex machine” or god in the machine (or of the machine, from the machine, however you want to say it). Why? Well, mainly because I can’t think of a proper phrase that accounts for the “things we cannot predict or control and how they affect our lives”.
This week has been rather stressful on me, mainly due to some financial issues that stem from me not being able to finish my thesis this semester. Yes, I am going to present in the beginning of fall, but since circumstances surrounding this situation were clearly laid out for me (as it do it or else), I went into damage control mode. First, I tried to test the waters by breaking the news to my mother. Well, not such a good idea because she totally flipped out. I stressed and stressed, and tried to fill my mother in on more details, hoping she would see that I am not just a lazy slug.
Thursday night I got to bed late. Though I should have gone to sleep, I stayed up and talked to Matt until around midnight. It took me a while to get to sleep, but I think I was finally successful.
Approximately 4:40am I awoke to the strangest sensation. My bed felt like someone was standing at the end on the side and pushing the mattress back and forth. It wasn’t bad, but it was enough to wake me up and feel that my mattress was indeed wobbling from side to side. What’s more, I heard my ceiling creaking, and I noticed the windows were moving and as such, the whole building. I thought it must be a strong gust of wind, as that is not that unusual around here. But as my bed finally stopped moving and I woke up a bit more, I suddenly thought it wasn’t very logical that wind could move my building, from outside, and my bed, which was inside. I got up to go to the bathroom, and I remembered back in 2003 when I was living in Georgia, I awoke one morning, for no reason, and didn’t know why I had woken up. When I turned on the news and went to work, it was obvious we had had an earthquake. I had slept through it. Everyone was talking about it, and I slept through it. Earthquakes are very unusual where I come from.
Could that have been an earthquake? It seemed logical, but I really thought I might be exaggerating it to myself, because earthquakes “don’t happen” in the Midwest. I turned on the TV, but the weather channel was just the weather channel, so I rolled over and spent an hour getting back to sleep.
Upon waking Friday morning, I turned to my local NBC station, and sure enough the crawl across the bottom indicated that we had indeed had an earthquake at 4:37am! I couldn’t believe it! A 5.2 magnitude! And I felt it! I think I sent a dozen texts to people and I talked to two people before breakfast.
One of those people was my mother. During our conversation, it became clear to me that she had misunderstood what I had been telling her over e-mails. Once she understood, it was like a weight lifted. While I had been thinking I may have to move and get a job and a loan to support myself, maybe at worst a tuition loan was all I was going to have to get! I wrote a letter, cleared it through my mother, and swallowed hard as I sent it to my grandmother today. I’m purposely not checking that address tonight. I need to be able to sleep tonight.
Back to Friday, I went to my 10:00 am class and the earthquake was the talk of the morning. At 10:15 all of us heard the ceiling creaking, and we suddenly felt a rumble under us as our desks and chairs vibrated. We all stared at each other in wonder. We just had an aftershock! And we felt it! Wow! (4.6 magnitude)
Friday night I was able to discuss new living arrangements with my friend. I may be getting a roommate, but I think that may be a good thing, for a little while anyway.
The rest of my weekend I spent hanging out with friends. Saturday night I was watching a movie with a friend when Matt called. He told me his older brother, Sean, whom I’ve never met, had called him to give him a heads up about their mom. She was going to be a bit angry at him because Sean accidentally let it slip that I had a kid.
WHAT?!? Matt thought this was extremely funny, and proceeded to tell him that in fact I did not have a kid. Apparently Sean must have assumed I had a child because I often show up in my pictures I put online with kids. Sean said he was sorry, but Matt said it was too late to say anything to his parents. He thought it was hysterical, but I didn’t find it so funny. I made him swear that he would fix it first thing this morning. I sent Mr. Sean Moran and little note of my own as well, setting the record straight from my end officially.
Matt called me at 9:45 this morning to tell me he fixed it. He keeps telling me I need to see the humor in all this, and while I have cracked a few smiles, I don’t find it nearly as amusing as he does. He says he may write a comedy act out of it, and I think that might be a good idea.