Earth Shattering?

Sooooooo, this afternoon the dee. dot. cee. was hit by an earthquake that was 5.9 on the Richter scale. Most people feel like it's the 1st time this area's been hit by 1. NOT TRUE! I ain't gon' run down a whole bunch of geological stats cuz I don't care enough but the most recent 1 in MY memory, & my 1st 1 EVER, was last June's earthquake that was 3.6 on the Richter. I was minding my business around 5 a.m. & all of a sudden I was living Trey Songz (how do you add an 's to a name ending in Z?) "I can make ya bed rock [girl]." B'cept...I was alone. Being asleep by myself & having my bed rockin' would seem like cause for concern. Intuitive person that I am, in my sleepy fog, assessed quickly that the Earth must've been quaking, thought how cool that was & rolled back over. The end.

Seriously, it was so random an occurrence in my life, with the previous 1 happening 36 years prior, that it never crossed my mind to really give a shit care. Conspiracy theorists will run--sensibly I might add--bout the various man-made tsunamis & earthquakes happening #whirlwide. Some are looking for the end of days, a la the Rapture. Many are completely flummoxed, thinking they never moved to the Left Coast to avoid this kinda madness & to ensure they never fell into the ocean with the rest of Tex-Mexico (aka California). I figured I'm already wearing SPF 95 to prevent any sun exposure so I don't die of a Melanoma invasion, I've come on board with rain boots to prevent ankle pneumonia, & I buy organic produce. What more can I do? Nothing.

Except....

...maybe I can brush up on my preparedness. When I was little, living in Colorado Springs, we used to have fire AND tornado drills. Apparently, being that close to Kansas there was a strong likely hood that I might get lifted. No John Legend. Coming allaway over to the Right Coast, I only recall fire drills, with the exception of my time in New Orleans & getting hurricane drills.

All that 9/11 business was supposed to have us all prepared for emergency situations courtesy of our friends in Homeland Security. Wellllll, when that devastation happened, I was chillin' & managed to continue to chill. See, when it comes to fear, I don't always know when I'm s'posed to be afraid. As far as I was concerned, I lived too far away from any edifices that would be used to make a point. So, I simply sat home because it was impossible to go anywhere. I was bored watching the Twin Towers replays & answering worried callers concerned about Da Mudda working at The Pentagon. She'd already changed jobs years before so, despite the fact that she wasn't home when I got home, I wasn't worried. My mom's a trooper. & she came home, intact, from the Chinese herbalist where she'd simply gone to re-up. Fear of things I can't control is NOT something my parents have passed down to me.

Sooooooo....at school, my suite-mate & I were trying to work through some scheduling logistics & it suddenly felt like the building had decided it wanted to relocate. We watched, calmly, as the walls & everything against them began to shake & stayed put. Why? Either we're both stupid, or we both had confidence that it would eventually stop. & it did. It was the sound of children screaming that caused us to move, still calm, to grab our purses & car keys in case things wound up shut down. Mind you, as this is happening & we're being instructed to evacuate, something wasn't making sense. The long & short of it is we were being instructed to leave a brick structure that's been up since 1927 to go stand out on the sidewalk with trees & cars & row houses. Yes...lets do that!! That sounds good!! Uhmmmm.... Panicked children & misinformed uninformed adults hangin' out in the streets together?

There were tears & nerves. There were kids saying ridiculous things because they've never experienced this before. & then there were answers provided in an insensitive manner by a person who lacks sensitivity. Awesome Day 2! What else will this school year bring?!?

What I learned from today is that I really can NOT waste time worrying about things out of my control. I was reminded that I have some phone calls to make to people who I'd miss tremendously if something were to happen to them. I couldn't help but see the symbolism in the unveiling of Martin Luther King's memorial & the Earth literally moving. Guess that dream is still deferred & he may not be pleased. I found strength in humor. I also pondered the necessity of remembering to live for oneself. DO WHAT YOU WANNA DO!! Tomorrow we could all drop into the swamp the ocean or or be washed out to it by some watery chick name [Hurricane] Irene [by the weekend]. There is NO POINT to living dissatisfied. Learn something new. Eat something new. Do something new. BE SOMETHING NEW!!

Watch me move.