Then for some reason, they seemed to happen a lot less frequently. There were only a couple that I recall over the last ten years or so that are even worth mentioning. The biggest disappointment with fewer earthquakes, by the way, is you don't get to see the "earthquake guy" - this seismologist who ALWAYS came on tv to tell people what just happened. Here's a couple pictures of him:
Check out that moustache! That's his signature. Seriously. When he signs checks or something, he just dips his moustache in some ink and presses it on the paper.
Anyhow.... Over the last year or so, there'd been a few quakes out in the desert that were big enough to feel out here, but only because I work in a highrise - extra swaying, I guess. Alison had never felt one, so I kept asking her if she felt them, and she kept saying no. In fact, she said that she didn't believe in earthquakes - they were a myth created by Californians to keep people away. The last time she told me that was the day before the big Easter quake we had this year. Talk about a jinx! Of course, that was the biggest one that I've ever felt, so it was a rude introduction.
Now that she's experienced one, she hates them. She doesn't think that the ground (or a house) is supposed to just start moving like that. She has a point, but I have to say that I love 'em! They're my favorite natural disaster to experience in person by far.
My love of earthquakes coupled with Alison's visceral antipathy towards them led me to conduct an informal survey of my aquaintances to find out which one of us held the majority view. Interestingly, I found out that there is a HUGE correlation between one's attitude towards earthquakes and where one grew up. Nearly all of the native Californians enjoyed quakes, or at least were neutral. Nearly everyone from someplace else, though, hated them - often, even so that the mere thought of one gave them the willies.
To the loyal readers out there, I'd like to continue the survey - what do you think of earthquakes? Have you felt one?
And, more broadly, what's your favorite natural disaster? Does it matter where you're from or grew up? Shouldn't a tornado or an earthquake be just as terrifying (or exciting) whether you're from Oklahoma or California (or vice versa)?
4 comments:
I have never been in an earthquake. The whole concept is completely foreign to me. Therefore, I HATE THEM!!!!!! Damn earthquakes, coming here and taking our jobs ...
And I don't have any particular affinity for tornados, which are the Midwest's only native natural disaster. You don't really go through tornados the way you do earthquakes. If you do actually go through it, your house is destroyed and you're dead. So it's not a fun ride like earthquakes are. Don't be sucked in by the Hollywood myth that tornados are all about being transported to a magical land filled with flying monkeys and cowardly lions. Lies, all lies.
I have perhaps a wee bit of nostalgia for having to run down to the basement and peer through the basement window to see if there's a tornado out there. And once when a tornado hit St. Paul, the sky was pea green beforehand. Meh. Snowsotrms are a lot more fun. Maybe that's our fun natural disaster.
During the only earthquake I have experienced, I was sitting outside in a field and it kind of felt like my butt was spasming. It really wasn't scary at all. But if I had been inside or on a bridge, it might have been a different story. The natural disaster I am most familiar with is hurricanes. They were never very bad, but they are still really scary.
hmmm, I'm from California, and I guess I'd say I'm negatively neutral toward earthquakes. I don't enjoy them, but don't hate them or worry too much about them (especially since I live in VA now) when they're not happening. But when they happen, I'm not happy.
Hmmm, we had a fun hurricane party when a hurricane came through town a few years ago. We went outside and did the Al Roker and tried to see if we could stand up in the winds. But then we were without power for a week and we lived on the 5th floor, so no elevator, and no AC and it was 90 degrees with 100% humidity. So that part wasn't as much fun.
I like thunderstorms when I know they won't turn into tornadoes. I don't much like wildfires. Blizzards are nice if you're indoors...everything gets quiet.
Heh, I naturally assumed as I started reading this post that it was by Chris E. Keedei and I thought, "What?!? What earthquakes were you ever in, Chris?!" Of course, I quickly figured out that the writer was Joe and it was strangely satisfying to see the first line of Chris's comment. Not to dis St. Louis and NY or anything, but they're just not known for their earthquakes.
Anyway, I've never been in an earthquake, but I totally want to. Not one that's so huge that it burns all of San Francisco, but one of the fun ones that Joe mentions. I've never been in anything more than a blizzard, though I was in St. Paul, actually, during the pea green tornado night last summer. No hurricanes, no real tornadoes where I see the cyclone, and I've only just flirted with wildfires. So I guess my favorite disaster is a blizzard, as long as I'm inside a warm house playing Canasta and not hiking into one out of the Grand Canyon wearing only a rain coat over a tank top and shorts. Brrrrrr.
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