Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On

So, last week, I had a truly authentic L.A. experience in the form of my first earthquake. As you may have heard, we had about a 5.4 out here. I have to say, it's a pretty surreal experience. Bubba and I were in the bedroom talking, she on the bed, I on a chair. All of a sudden, the whole room just starts to shake and sway. We identified that it was an earthquake probably in about 2 seconds, so we didn't panic. But I tell you, it was a LONG 15 seconds. One is really in "the now" during an earthquake. It's long because you don't know what all is going to happen next. Will it increase? Is stuff gonna start flying off the shelves?

The epicenter of this bad boy was about 30-40 miles from us, so really, it wasn't even a 5.4 to us. The locals have all said to me, "that was nothing." Ok. I believe them. It's a little scary to consider. I mean, our house has been here for some time. The old gal upstairs lived through 45 years of quakes in that apt., so it shouldn't ever be too bad. But where it gets scary is, what if you're in a parking garage somewhere? Or up in the hills?
So, while Bubba and I didn't panic, we DID show our New York colors in the sense that, we completely ignored earthquake protocol. They say you're supposed to stand in a doorway. We didn't budge. If the big one ever hits, I'd be curious if I'd have the awareness to do that. I'm also curious to know if our boy Orville is one of them, prophesizing types of animal. You know how they're always saying on the nature shows that the animals know when bad stuff is coming? It would've been cool if Orville were in the room with us, to see if he was twitching or something.
So anyway, it seems to me that no matter where you live, there's always something that COULD take you out. Tornado, hurricane, earthquake, mudslide, etc. As such, I gotta live my life without fear, 'cause it's all bigger than me anyway.