Not my Fault

...but I felt it anyhow.

This may sound crazy—after all, considering how head over heels I am about family history—but there I was last night, hot on the trail of another unidentified fourth cousin, when a disorienting feeling at the back of my head made me look up to regain my bearings. Don't think it was because I had lost it to genealogy. Sure enough, we were having an earthquake.

It started. And rolled. And kept going—longer than I remember these things carrying on. It's been a while since I last experienced an earthquake, despite being a California resident for decades now. The first time, at least, since being on social media.

So what did I do? Drop, cover, and hold on? Of course not. I watched the venetian blinds sway away from the window sills and the rocking chair begin rocking—with no one in it—and promptly posted my observances on Facebook. And Twitter.

Half an hour later, I still was chatting about earthquake observances with friends and family I hadn't talked to in months, and reading all the hashtag-identified earthquake comments of strangers near and far. Apparently, the government website dedicated to real-time mapping of earthquake occurrences must have crashed, because there was no access, so we Californians collectively did what anyone would do in an information vacuum: create our own news on social media.

Meanwhile, my research quest to organize my closest DNA matches took a back burner, as did the time to spend on today's post.

This has not been the only event this week to sabotage my writing and research, as I'll be discussing tomorrow. The week started off last Sunday with a tree cracking and falling on a power line, taking with it the juice to supply the work of an entire neighborhood for the next six hours. Guess which time slot was slated for blog writing that day?!

And we close the week—almost—with a second earthquake, one which garnered "I felt it" remarks from people as far away as Nevada and other places 350 miles from the action.

Perhaps the moral of such a story is to write my blog posts earlier in the day—I do know someone who would appreciate that strategy—but who's to say there wouldn't be another unexpected upheaval? After all, we certainly don't live anywhere near the infamous San Andreas Fault. How could someone like me have predicted such an outcome?