Weeks before last Tuesday, I was informed that there would be an earthquake drill. Every building on campus had the maps posted at all their exits. A few days before the drill, the bookstore put up notice that they would be closed between the hours of on April 17th. My boss, Lisa conducted meetings with those in office the day before. We saw a depressing video that left me with no hope of surviving the real thing. It said thousands would die and life as we knew it would be over. Highways and such would be in chaos and buildings would all be leveled. Lisa did show some other videos, one which was the earthquake that my Steven experienced. It was more informative than the death wish video that someone in Utah Southern California , told us that the longest quake she was in only lasted 42 seconds or less than a minute.
Tuesday morning arrived and so did the talk. A few joked about a real earthquake happening just before or at the time of the drill. The nervous chit chat increased as the time grew shorter. I got out my iPad and earplugs so I wouldn’t have to listen to their ramblings during the drill; I did not care to listen to that again. I was in an earthquake drill at Blue Cross and one woman could not quit yakking. Granted we were under our desks for 15 minutes. I decided right then that if an earthquake happen, I wouldn’t get under my desk; I just get myself out of her misery.
At , a text arrived to cell phone, informing me to get under my desk. So under I went, but I sat instead of rolling up like a ball. I am too tall to sit under my desk; I would have to take out a few ribs or my neck to fit under there. I did turn on my iPod on my iPad and listened to some song. I could hear people leaving, so I texted Karie in St. George and told her two individuals didn’t shut up the entire time. I put my iPad in my bag and put on my jacket, then I wore my cross pack. I was quite surprised that my neck wasn’t sore, but if I had been under my desk like I had in the first drill, my neck would have been sore. Next time, I am not taking the time to wear earphones; I will do my best to ignore the loudmouths or laugh at their nervous chitchat. Maybe I will get lucky and they will be put out of their misery.
I was the last one out of the office. Pat and Lisa walked me out. I had to text Karie and that is why I was last. Next time, not gonna happen. We met up at the appointed spot on the lawn on the corner of 2nd & University or the lawn in front of Big Ed’s. When I got there, I noticed that not all of the office was there, so I went looking for them. While I was searching, I ran into Jen, who used to work in our office and I picked up a 1st aid kit from the tent that was set up. In my 1st aid kit (or was it a 72 hour kit?) were band-aids, ointment, toothbrush, toothpaste, a bottle of water and a granola bar in a Campus Store plastic bag. I stuffed it in my bag and forgot to take it out, so it went home with me. I brought it back the next day and added an overnight pad for young women. Hey, I’ve been told those things belong in a 1st aid kit. The next day after I decided it would be a take home ER kit, I added deodorant, small package of tissues, and lotion. Since I had gum in my desk drawer, I threw that in the kit too. My ER kit or “Hoofin’ like a New Yorker” kit is now hanging on a coat hook by the trash basket under my desk. I still have to walk on glass to get to my purse and bag. If my lunch is in the frig, I will probably forget to grab it, but then maybe not. It could be on the way out to the evacuation spot by Big Ed’s. That is if the frig isn’t blocking the exit.
Oh, by the way, I texted my out of state contact (my oldest sister) that we had an earthquake drill and I was fine. I didn’t know that living apart that from my family would provide me with so many contacts out of state. That prep was probably the easiest prep of the whole drill.
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