about earthquakes

after last week's quake i decided i needed to look up the history of my earthquake experience. i was born, raised & have spent my entire life in california; heck i think i've haven't been out of the state longer than 3 weeks any point in time.

that doesn't mean i'm a vegetarian though, i can't go longer than a few hours w/out some variant of meat consumption. when B & i went on our first date he was worried that beings i was a cali girl & thin, i must be a vegetarian & the 1st date almost didn't happen. 1st date was at a nice little italian place in del mar, i had a pasta dish w/shrimp & i liked him so much i gave him one...
a shrimp that is
get your mind outta the gutter!

back to the original topic of earthquake history....
growing up at the tail end of the san andreas fault earthquakes are something you just get used to (as much as one can get used to the idea that at any given moment the ground may start moving & there's isn't a dang thing you can do about except hold on & hope that it's over quick!)
so the one that made the most impact on me was in '79, it measured a 6.4 & centered in IV. there were a few other big ones in '87 that centered in the nearby superstition hills.

i remember spending the night at a friend's apt (2nd floor above grandma B's apt) & being awaken up by the movement. i woke up to walls swaying & creaking while all her grandma's trinkets crashed into each other. it was like waking up on an amusement park ride that you inadvertently fell asleep on & some dumb ass thought it would be funny to wake you up by starting the ride.

i also remember sleeping outside at nana's house in the summer; it was safer to sleep outside in case the gas pipes broke during a quake. it was kinda like camping in the front yard & all the neighbors were out there too, course none of us had any of them fancy tents. besides, it was better to sleep out in front because nana's backyard was roach haven (you do not even want to know the details).

earthquake weather always seemed to be in the summer & it would be oddly still, just like a calm before a storm. i guess that's mother nature's calling card.