So I’m embarrassed because I didn’t realize a 5.8 magnitude earthquake happened today because I was walking in Fells Point and didn’t feel anything, although I did hear unfamiliar sounds. My lunch partner was frantically asking, “Do you see the cars shaking?” My response, “No, I was looking up!” I really was looking up at a building across the street trying to pinpoint the sound of what I thought was a huge metal garage door closing, problem was there was no such door. As we continue sauntering up the block, a gentleman with a wide-eyed look was like, “Was that an earthquake? I watched as that building cracked over there!” His arm outstretched, we followed his pointer finger all the way across to the new Black Olive boutique hotel where a jagged crack was visible on the side of the building right next to the parking garage. At this point, people flooded the streets from every direction and we hustled back to find some of our co-workers. Harbor East workers and out-of-towners from surrounding hotels mingled outside discussing what happened; apparently the intensity of this quake was felt mostly by those inside the buildings. It was clear that this was a shocking event that scared the piss out of everybody. Now, some of my west coast friends might find this humorous, but we east coasters aren’t trained from an early age to navigate an earthquake. We are lucky that straight up anarchy didn’t take place and should be commended for keeping an overall level head. Something else different, the whole east coast was strongly affected by an earthquake whose epicenter was in Virginia. I do not know of San Francisco earthquakes that have that strong of an impact in Los Angeles. Today wasn’t my first time in an earthquake; I remember walking to school as a little kid in Utah and felt the ground tilt, but nothing more since I was outside. The next time I was living in Los Angeles and had partied like a rock-star earlier that evening so was mercifully passed out in my bed. When I felt the shaking I thought I had the spins until my roomie’s younger brother burst into my bedroom without knocking (a definite no-no, so should have alerted me to the severity of the situation) and shouted, “Do you feel that?! It’s an earthquake!” Me- “huuuuhhhhhh?” Him- screaming and gesturing “Your blinds are swinging back and forth!” Me-unresponsive. I know he was disgusted because he slammed the door. Sometimes I look back on that story and feel bad, after all he was probably 18 and I was in my mid-20s so should have offered up some solace, but at the same time, he was raised in Los Angeles, not me, he should have been equipped to handle it. I am still glad that I’ve been blessed to always be outdoors or heavily intoxicated when faced with earthquakes. This just in…aftershocks have already been tracked, so we should be good for the night, at least I hope so.
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