As usual, I heard it before I felt it.

It sounded like a big truck rumbling past the builing. I ignored it, like I ignore the traffic noises that are constant in my office building. Then it got deeper, and I started to feel a little vibration. I thought, "Ah, the mail cart is coming through." Then, "The mail cart? They don't bring up the mail cart any more..."

And then, from a corner of my brain that hasn't been used in years, came a voice:

"It's an earthquake, you idiot!"

I pushed back from my desk and looked out the window. Yep, the apartment building across the street was shaking, too. I sat and waited for it to stop.

Oh, shit.

It's not stopping.

I glanced at my computer screen, and noted that Roland had sent a broadcast that read, approximately, "Earthquake. RIGHT NOW." At that point, my California-trained instincts kicked in and I dove under my desk, ducked my head between my knees and put my shoulders against the wall. And waited, and waited....

Everything around me was roaring. I couldn't hear any screams, either from people or tortured metal, so I wasn't that worried. It seemed like everything shook forever, sharp up and down waves giving way to more rolling motions.

Then I started to feel the building flex around me, as the energy stored in the beams started to be given off. There were two definite motions, at that point--the rolling motion, and the sideways swaying motion, which wasn't really in time with the waves of the earthquake. It was very strange to be sitting there with the analytical part of my brain on, thinking, "Wow, this is less strong than the Loma Prieta quake, but it's lasting a lot longer. I give it a 6.4 or 5...."

Finally, the shaking stopped and the swaying started to subside. I popped up, sent a broadcast on Hell telling people to leave their buildings if they could, and then went out into the hallway. People were starting to round each other up and head downstairs, and so I grabbed my coat and my purse and went down.

I think the thing that struck me was how *quiet* everything was, afterwards. After an earthquake, the world seems to hold its breath.

After a while, I went back up to my office and managed to get in touch with K. Then Roland and I packed up and went home--rather, I went to his house and got a ride from his place to mine. The buses were packed with people leaving downtown; nobody wanted to take the chance that it was going to happen again, and everyone seemed worried about houses and critters left by themselves for the day.

Nothing broke at my house except a few of my nice candles--my candelabra and a picture frame were thrown to the floor, and it's amazing that the glass didn't break.

I spent some time working from home, talking to Chris and making sure he was all right. (It was at that point that I noticed that the name server that tells the world where madstop.org is had fallen over; I didn't recieve much email for a day afterwards).

Honestly, in retrospect, it wasn't that big of a deal. In general, Seattle's a really well-built city. It did rattle me, but without the constant aftershocks that made life so difficult after the Loma Prieta quake, life has returned to normal very quickly.

Another reminder that the world can drop out from under our fet at any moment...

Okay, I'll talk about last weekend in my next entry. I promise. Heh.

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