EARTHQUAKE!, part V
overheard

[on the phone]
mom: did you feel that one? it lasted several seconds
mar: no — wait! the trees are moving!
mom: but it's done now.
mar: oh. i guess it's just windy.

so my mom's been feeling all of the aftershocks, of which there have been hundreds (not all felt; some are larger than others). i haven't felt any. i think i fail the princess and the pea test. damn.

addendum. so my neighbor maggie just came out of her house and said, "did you feel that aftershock?" so it was the aftershock that was shaking those trees. and i made a mental note: no wind.

non-earthquake, part one million
overheard

[on email]
mar: as a child did your eyes take up half your face?
jdr: three-quarters, really....plus, half of whoever was near me.



non-earthquake, part one million and one
overheard

[email from scotland]
mar: there's no rush hour traffic here.
steve: Okay, busy traffic. Work traffic. Okay, some tractors and a bus.

he seemed to get quite a kick out of the paso robles building being called "historic." i clocked him upside the head for that one, as there were fatalities:

steve: I didn't say it wasn't dark humour, with a U.

mar: you brit types have to laugh at things like this because history is all you've got.
steve: We'll make do with just the history. You get history by living in a place that doesn't fall down.