Areas of Unrest

2 August 2000 - Leaving the Epicenter

QOTD: "When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it." - Clarence Darrow

Reading: odds and ends out of The Oxford Book of American Short Stories

Listening to: Ondar, Back Tuva Future

I'm off to points east in a matter of hours, so this is the last entry for a while. I may try to write from assorted cybercafes, but there are no promises. Your best bet is to check back here at the end of August.

Yesterday, about one in the afternoon, there was a sudden jolt. It felt like an earthquake - but there wasn't any shaking. So I went and did a bit of web surfing and found that it was indeed an earthquake. Just a 3.0 so nothing serious. But it was centered 2 miles northwest of Hawthorne, California. That put the epicenter more or less right under my desk at work! Which explains the lack of shaking - no need for waves to travel to reach me.

I am so relieved it wasn't anything big. Having to postpone my vacation because I got killed in an earthquake would really suck.

Anyway, I am pretty much packed. I'll shower and change clothes before leaving, but that's about it. I finished assorted errands (photocopying travel documents to facilitate replacement if anything is lost or stolen, for example), in the course of which I have discovered what the scariest place in Los Angeles is. Namely, the Palms Post Office over on Motor Avenue. I usually use the Worldway Postal Center by LAX, but this time I needed to drop off the form to put a hold on my mail and it's best to do that at your own post office. What made it scary? The woman behind me was carrying on a loud conversation with the air, while tearing off articles of clothing, writing in a journal in nail polish, and rearranging the items in a clear box she was carrying. As soon as I got to a clerk, she turned around and left.

One final note to show why I need to get away. Los Angeles is in the midst of a heat wave. I've been whining mildly about this. This morning I was sitting in my living room organizing a few things and I looked across the room. And only then did I remember that I have air conditioning.