FIRE DRILL? ALARM? nah, you figure it out...

letterman hit on this as well and i do my best writing at work (cause theres nothing to do) but i must say this...

there was an earthquake yesterday here on the East Coast of America and it isn't something we are accustomed to feeling, hearing about, etc. . . i honestly thought one of the famously overweight here at the state offices was walking by, then i thought i had vertigo again (its what it felt like) but then i realized that was my first earthquake ever.

we don't have earthquake training. we don't have ANY training really, but things like fire drills (or nuclear explosion drills from the 1950's "all-the-kids-get-under-their-desk" drills) are a regular occurrence here.

nobody knew what to do. we all looked at each other with stoned faces on like "you feel that"?

emails flew, some people left... me? i just sat here waiting for the dizziness to go away, and got back to "work"... but there were no alarms. no fire drills. no people directing you where to go. people were just stunned. and in that way it was odd.

my director (the head dept boss) came down our row and said basically a Spaceballs line: President Skroob: "...You got to help me. I don't know what to do. I can't make decisions. I'm a president!"

it was a mild form of chaos with an aftertaste of dementia...

later on the news it was found out that a large number of employees gathered in a grassy area as if to be on a fire drill, but those "nonessential workers" you hear about were left wondering what in fact to do.

my brilliant higher-ups, while letting us stay in the building, took the elevator downstairs to street level. the elevator. i know i'm a nut and wouldn't mind dying at this very second, (i hate when i write that and the heart attack never comes) its why i didn't leave the building. but i also know in the event of an emergency event, you take the stairs. at even 5 floors up the drop could be instantaneous death if the cord breaks...

long story short, a million or 2 will write about this earthquake and it will be discussed on the news ad~nauseum (sp), so maybe just maybe we will have an "earthquake drill" in the coming months...

at least we will know what to do if and when it happens next.... although with my luck, a brick chimney would fall on me the second i left the building. and in the entire earthquake, there'd be one casualty, ME, and i would be the next "15 seconds of fame" death on youtube.

III