In which the mind works in mysterious ways
Sep. 7th, 2010 09:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zeborahI could probably avoid all these effects if I stayed off Twitter and GeoNet and just read books or something, but that's not my coping strategy, and besides it's interesting.
1) If I'm awake, a 4 will still startle me, and a high 4 or a 5 will have me moving swiftly towards a safe corner. I know some people are rather more blasé by now (when I said in a previous post 100+ aftershocks I wasn't exaggerating in the slightest; there's an awesome timelapse mashup showing all the quakes to date) but uncool as it might be, this is at least a functional reaction and is Officially Approved by the Red Cross et al who point out that when the quake starts you don't know how big it's going to get.
If I'm asleep, what wakes me depends entirely on how tired I am - sometimes a 3 will wake me, sometimes I'll sleep through a 4 - but a 5 will have me leaping for cover. OTOH I've discovered today that the Official Recommendation from the Red Cross, FEMA et al if you're in bed is to just stay there and stick a pillow over your head, on the grounds that most injuries come from people moving about. If we get any big ones tonight I'll see whether my body or my mind wins out on that one.
2) I seem newly unable to go (and certainly not settle) anywhere without working out where I'll leap to if an aftershock strikes. This is also temporarily functional so I'm humouring myself on the matter. Plus it's just part of how my mind randomly wanders from time to time into working out exactly how I'd cope if I found I had to warn fellow bus passengers in Mandarin about an incoming tsunami, or stop a war if I was the president of the United States, or whatever.
I may also have spent a portion of the afternoon belatedly putting together the beginnings of an emergency kit, though further ingredients are required from the store and I won't start pouring water into empty bottles until maybe they've assured us our water is no longer at risk of sewerage contamination.... But I have completed a necessary stocktake of batteries in the house, thrown away the dead ones, and commenced recharging the rechargeable ones.
3) I've come down with what Wikipedia charmingly calls Dock Rock: when you've been on a boat for a while (or alternatively, in a hundred earthquakes over three days) and then you come at last to terra firma and you still feel as if the earth is moving but GeoNet insists that there haven't been any quakes for hours.
And speaking of Twitter and such - if anyone ever thought Twitter chatter is all inane - there's just nothing more comforting, when you're sitting alone in a cold dark corner while the house shakes around you, than taking part in inane chatter and a rousing game of #GuessTheMagnitude with a bunch of complete strangers in the exact same situation.
--
Didn't go to choir practice tonight because the hall it's in has been damaged.
Seven libraries are opening tomorrow though not my local one - not sure whether there's damage/mess there I didn't see, or they just don't have enough staff.
I still don't get to go back to work tomorrow, but from the timetable I've seen, and talking to a colleague who knows a bit more, I suspect it'll probably be Thursday. It sounds like we'll be dumping books back on shelves without worrying about what order they're in....
1) If I'm awake, a 4 will still startle me, and a high 4 or a 5 will have me moving swiftly towards a safe corner. I know some people are rather more blasé by now (when I said in a previous post 100+ aftershocks I wasn't exaggerating in the slightest; there's an awesome timelapse mashup showing all the quakes to date) but uncool as it might be, this is at least a functional reaction and is Officially Approved by the Red Cross et al who point out that when the quake starts you don't know how big it's going to get.
If I'm asleep, what wakes me depends entirely on how tired I am - sometimes a 3 will wake me, sometimes I'll sleep through a 4 - but a 5 will have me leaping for cover. OTOH I've discovered today that the Official Recommendation from the Red Cross, FEMA et al if you're in bed is to just stay there and stick a pillow over your head, on the grounds that most injuries come from people moving about. If we get any big ones tonight I'll see whether my body or my mind wins out on that one.
2) I seem newly unable to go (and certainly not settle) anywhere without working out where I'll leap to if an aftershock strikes. This is also temporarily functional so I'm humouring myself on the matter. Plus it's just part of how my mind randomly wanders from time to time into working out exactly how I'd cope if I found I had to warn fellow bus passengers in Mandarin about an incoming tsunami, or stop a war if I was the president of the United States, or whatever.
I may also have spent a portion of the afternoon belatedly putting together the beginnings of an emergency kit, though further ingredients are required from the store and I won't start pouring water into empty bottles until maybe they've assured us our water is no longer at risk of sewerage contamination.... But I have completed a necessary stocktake of batteries in the house, thrown away the dead ones, and commenced recharging the rechargeable ones.
3) I've come down with what Wikipedia charmingly calls Dock Rock: when you've been on a boat for a while (or alternatively, in a hundred earthquakes over three days) and then you come at last to terra firma and you still feel as if the earth is moving but GeoNet insists that there haven't been any quakes for hours.
It feels like a whole lot of little 3s. This isn't just me; there've been a few people on Twitter wondering if they're going crazy, which is quite reassuring, so I've been reassuring people in turn with that Wikipedia link. (Under another name if you're wondering why @zeborah has been so silent.) This is probably why today I'm no longer noticing the (increasingly rarer) occasions when we actually are getting a 3. --Oh, except for that last one just then. 3.9, really? It didn't feel that big, but I guess that's why I noticed it.(Speaking of which, it's distinctly unnerving to go for hours without any aftershocks. One starts to wonder if the earth is saving up for something special.)
And speaking of Twitter and such - if anyone ever thought Twitter chatter is all inane - there's just nothing more comforting, when you're sitting alone in a cold dark corner while the house shakes around you, than taking part in inane chatter and a rousing game of #GuessTheMagnitude with a bunch of complete strangers in the exact same situation.
--
Didn't go to choir practice tonight because the hall it's in has been damaged.
Seven libraries are opening tomorrow though not my local one - not sure whether there's damage/mess there I didn't see, or they just don't have enough staff.
I still don't get to go back to work tomorrow, but from the timetable I've seen, and talking to a colleague who knows a bit more, I suspect it'll probably be Thursday. It sounds like we'll be dumping books back on shelves without worrying about what order they're in....
no subject
Date: 2010-09-07 10:28 am (UTC)Just came across some district health board information which (at the bottom) talks a bit about psychological reactions.