Thursday, December 13, 2018

Aural Earthquake Flashbacks

I realized today that I'm randomly re-hearing the earthquake.  It's an ominous sound that includes a low (in frequency, not volume) rumbling sound which I assume is the earth shifting and the wrenching, crunching, creaking sound of the wood of the house being bent, I think there might also be a bit of rattling of the windows, but I'm not sure.

I don't think I even thought about the noise after the earthquake.  My initial thoughts were visual and kinesthetic.   The crooked pictures and toppled shelves in the garage.  And my body being shaken as I brace myself against the door frame.  My sciatic muscle seems to have absorbed the force of the quake and the pain comes and goes like aftershocks, down my leg.  (The physical therapist has given me exercises to deal with this, but it's almost two weeks later, so I'm guessing this isn't going away soon..)

And as I thought about how I could describe these sounds I realized I never even thought about my camera - which wouldn't have done a very good job, I don't think, of capturing the sounds of the quake.  And the only video I've seen of the quake online was footage caught by security cameras.  I'm guessing few people had time to think about capturing the quake on their phones.  It just happened too suddenly and strongly. Whipping out my camera didn't occur to me until after I was reasonably sure the quake was over.

Strange how the human body processes these things.

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