earthquake #2

So about an hour ago I experienced my second earthquake. According to the LA Times, it was a 5.4 and its epicenter was about 35-40 miles from where I live. It's been almost exactly a year since my first earthquake. Hmmm . . . Anyway, it still scared the hell out of me. I was all shaky. The thing was, it was a lot longer than the first one. It was at least 20 seconds--my metronome was on, since I was practicing! I didn't even put my instrument down, it didn't occur to me, so I just stood in the door of my room with it in my hand. And even seconds can feel like forever. Some CDs fell off my bookshelf. The ceiling light fixture in our living room shook a lot. And I got a jolt of adrenaline that is still wearing off. It was kind of hard to practice afterwards. Actually, running through an audition list right after an earthquake would be great practice--it feels kind of like the adrenaline from an audition. Too bad I don't have anything ready yet. And I was practicing EH, not oboe. Meanwhile, the construction workers on the street didn't appear to notice and just kept drilling. No car alarms went off. But seriously, such an unnatural feeling. The earth is the one thing my body thinks it can count on to stay still! It is SOOO WEIRD when it starts to move. Although, in some ways, how it feels makes sense. I imagine enormous plates of the earth grinding past each other, and that I'm on those enormous plates, and it's basically a big, bumpy ride. But I never want to be an anything bigger than that one, thank you.