Creatively Drained and Shaken

My current job, despite its perks, (weekly massages being the most notable), is creatively draining. I have a ton of unfinished projects I have piling up at my feet and I can't muster together a well formed sentence vocally, much less written. Not to mention the picture I saw the other day that made me want to draw it and frame it immediately. AND not to mention the music video I've been working on for almost an entire year (!!!) and can't seem to finish.

But the point of this post was to most eloquently describe the insane thing that I experienced yesterday. An earthquake. Yes, I'm sure you've heard. Well I felt it. Big time. As I wrote about here, I experienced my first earthquake last year. Well this time was different.

Backing up a little bit first, earthquakes have been on my mind big time lately. I can't explain it, but I've even mentioned it to a few friends lately. For starters, a friend had mentioned last year when the little one happened that she left her toilet seat up when she went to work so that if anything happened and she couldn't get home, her dog could get water. Well I never do that, mainly because my pup will and does drink freely from the toilet when I'm not looking. And I try to discourage her behavior by keeping it closed. Anyway, both Monday and Tuesday I inexplicably started thinking "Big One" and left the toilet seat up.

I also had friends in town this weekend and was telling them about my earthquake kit after seeing someone at a grocery store buying a gallon of water.

I left for work yesterday thinking about maybe taking my framed picture in the den off of the wall. No kidding. But I didn't, as I don't like to play into my own paranoia, or now should I say, physic senses.

Needless to say, when I realized I was experiencing an earthquake yesterday, I was shocked. It wasn't like last time. It came on slowly, at first sounding and feeling like someone was running down the hall, or a big truck was coming by. Slowly, or as slow as a 20 second total experience could be, it built until everything on my desk was shaking and the door the my office was unhappy on its hinges. I heard people outside in the hall and whipped open my door, immediately taking refuge in my doorway. "Earthquake!" people were yelling, and there were natives smiling a bit as people like me stood stricken in a doorway. When it seemed over, everyone was heading outside. I followed, still shaking, but no longer from the earth.

I spent the rest of my day waiting for the aftershocks. When I went home to check on my pup, my picture was still hanging strong.

But just another reminder of the thing that lurks on most SoCal residents minds: The Big One.

I'll be stocking up on even more earthquake kit items this weekend.