My photo
I have moved to monsoux.com THIS NO JOKE! (update your links, RSS and the like)

T0p D0g Reloaded

Thursday, October 28, 2004

Killing doorways

So, here you are, by popular demand, and because I did manage to finish that damn report, what I was doing at the time of the earthquake last night.

Well, since I am not your average Romanian, I was not sleeping. Therefore I did not wake up, but I was rather left sleepless, which should give G an answer to his previous comment. I was browsing the internet checking what the others have been up to lately. I remember I had the time to calmly move away from the couch and walk towards the doorway, think it might be over until I get there. Then I sat myself in the doorway, or was it bent and kneeled? and... it wouldn't be over, so, pushing with my fists into the floor, don't ask me why, I had time to say three or four times,don't ask me to whom, "Please, make it stop!". I don't usually entertain the habit of talking to God. The feeling must be mutual since I remember when I fell in my bathroom and hit my head I did not have any vision either. About that time I got the adrenaline rush, and my heart rate went through the ceiling, hearing the funny noises Foolea's work was making brushing against the wall. Bad idea to keep architectural mock-ups like that. Not that hanging them on the wall would be much helpful in the same situation. I also remember another me, the learned one, kept on saying reassuringly this only takes a couple of seconds. These seconds however kept me waiting longer than the next few hours. And then it was over and I was still waiting for the concrete walls to fall and bury everything under them. The phone lines were down because of the overflow. I somehow managed to get a hold of T and make sure he was fine. He was also out drinking with his friends following his first appearance on TV. He offered to bring me some soda or juice: "there is plenty on tables, people have just left". No, thank you, but so kind of you to offer. So there I was, unable to move back to the couch. I refused to go out, because the stairs could have been shaky and the elevator is unreliable even during a regular day.

Post-factum I read Douglas F. Copp's tips to survive earthquakes. We have obviously not been in such circumstances, but if I had been, some of the things I did were stupid and dangerous.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i felt like a trapped mouse. as if i was in a box, which someone was shakening very hard.

i experienced a huge feeling of smallness and lack of control.

exquisite

Kit said...

A buddy sent me some of those tips via e-mail (with the title "worth reading") about eleven hours before the earthquake. How odd!