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sunshine jen: I Survived the CNN Earthquake
Yesterday, a five point something earthquake rumbled through LA. The buildings shook, but we’re all right. Beverly Hills stills stands.
I heard from Steve at the gym that CNN covered the earthquake extensively yesterday. He even came up with the term CNN Earthquake which I’m going to steal and define as an earthquake that’s not that big a deal yet talked up on CNN because they need something to talk about. He’s a smart one, that Steve. He’s a Red Sox fan too.
Anyway, when the earthquake hit, I was alone in the office while rewriting my play. Suddenly, the walls started shaking, but none of the pictures fell down. The shaking went on longer than the rolling aftershocks I experienced a few years back.
As the shaking continued, I looked at my play on the computer and felt very calm. Okay, if the floor was going to fall out from under me or the eight floors above me were going to fall on top of me, if this was the end, I was going out doing exactly what I wanted to do. That was a very comforting thought.
Sure the second act had been bumming me out all morning. Sure I was working in an office hole. Sure I was wondering if I was ever gonna just move on to the next thing. Sure I was feeling old and kind of slouchy, but god damn it, I was pursuing the god damn American dream. I was pursuing my god damn happiness, and if this was the god damn end, well fine.
As you might have guessed, nothing bad happened, and I’m still here.
And I’m thinking the second act might benefit from an earthquake.
When the rumbling stopped, I got up from my desk and checked out the hallway. About six other people were milling around in the hallway, and I swear, we could be the characters who survive in a disaster movie. There was a mail carrier, a heavy set good natured guy, a yuppie guy, an office assistant, and a pretty girl. We all agreed that something had happened. There had definitely been shaking. Then, we all went back into our offices to google it.
Nothing much happened then. My co-worker’s mother called. My uncle called later and told me he was okay and he had bought olives for martinis. Mrs. Robot sent me a text, and I reassured her that Robot West was still online (we never really went offline). Later in the gym, I learned that a lot of people were in their cars and didn’t even feel it. I guess if you’re moving over ground that’s shaking, you don’t really feel the shake.
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