rude awakening

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So this morning's 4:04am earthquake was a 4.4 on the Richter scale. Not a big deal. (Unless, of course, you're my friend Sari's dad, who has a fear of the number 4.) (Or Chinese, so the number 4 means "death" to you.) By the time I realized it wasn't a dream or my roommates fighting or a rumbling truck (oh-so-cliche) and had sufficiently roused myself from a REM-stupor to tumble off the side of my bed into a triangle-space safe position, I only had to semi-consciously ride out about 10 or 15 seconds of the almost-minute-long shake. All was well.

Yeah, or so I thought.

A couple of weeks ago, I thought to myself, "Hmmm... we are probably due for a quake one of these days." Call it a premonition, call it fear due to recent events, call it my inherent love of planning ahead, but I heeded that thought--and decided I'd better figure out what could be in danger of utter destruction from falling. 

And promptly took my sand jars off their shelves :)

Some people collect souvenirs when traveling (waste), some collect magnets (understandable), some collect spoons (never understood the draw), some collect Christmas tree ornaments (sure wish I'd done that...). I personally like to buy inexpensive jewelry for the memory of the country, and if I'm on an island or a significant beach, I collect (take) SAND. And though it hasn't set me back financially more than a few dollars for the jars, the collection is Mastercard-commercial Priceless to me-- when am I ever going to Huahine or Rarotonga again--? so I really don't want to end up with broken glass and scattered grains all over my bathroom counter someday when the Big One strikes.

 (love that black-sand Tahiti one, too...)

So, the jars (in the bathroom, I have many more in safer places) came down immediately, and I found some QuakeHold at OSH a week ago which I plan to use to secure them. The Hold has been sitting on my nightstand in this exact position the past four days, to remind me to actually complete the project. Oh, and the jars have been/are in the exact same position as seen above, and survived today's shakedown just fine. Yay!

But now... let's move on to a different story.

Here's another love of mine: goblets.

I don't like drinking out of plastic, hate drinking out of mugs (unless it's a hot drink), utterly loathe styrofoam, but really love a little OJ and mineral water, or even water (beverage of choice) in a goblet. And my favorite goblets of all-time are a set from Target, and these from Cost Plus.

If you look closely at the goblet pictured, you'll see a big crack in the bowl of the glass. Pro of these fave gobs: Only $1.99 each. Con: Since they are cheap, they are easily cracked. So a week ago, after this innocent vessel suffered an innocent roommate-inspired accident, I got fed up with them being broken and decided it was time to put them away for the time being (since I can't replace any of them-- the Cost Plus ones were a substitute for the Targets, and now neither are being sold and I can't find similar anywhere else). I removed them from the kitchen cupboard and put them on the buffet on the dining room, intending to box them up before I lost any more.

OOHHHH, THE IRONY.

Total, and utter destruction.

(almost)

In this morning's "thrust" earthquake (only one side of the fault line moves), not one thing in the entire house appeared to have shifted even one inch. Except for in the dining room, where one huge heavy mirror decided to hurl itself away from the wall it was leaning against and dive to the floor to take cover, and in the process take down three tiers of an iron plate stand and its contents, a crystal trifle bowl, and two porcelain serving bowls. Oh, yeah, and TEN BELOVED GOBLETS.

The trifle bowl bounced to safety. Four of the eight silver-rimmed dessert bowls were saved. The Apilco porcelain fruit bowl survived, but the smaller Apilco tulip serving bowl suffered an ignominious death. Three white dinner dishes are in splinters.

 And of the goblets? Four remain. Three Targets, but only only one Cost Plus. Sniff.

Rest in Peace, my beloved material belongings.

Oh, and by the way? I hope not all my premonitions are going to be realized, because lately I've been having nightmares about nighttime intruders breaking into my room. (though if you're a potential intruder reading this, beware-- I've also now lately been sleeping with my emergency crowbar-hatchet, and I'm pretty sure I could inflict some bodily damage if startled). Also, a few weeks ago I dreamt that Kelsey Grammar and I were dating. 

So... yeah. Maybe just the quake one.