richter scale
i have been in the on-again, off-again habit of stopping at the little coffee stand by my house on my way to work to caffeinate with a hot, cinnamon-y mocha. my pathetically weak tolerance for caffeine has not changed even with this habit, so it reliably has me flying high by 10am. sometimes i have trouble falling asleep at night when i have one, so recently i have laid off a bit, but treated myself this morning... it's friday, afterall. and my to do list at work has diminished substantially so i thought a little caffeine buzz might keep my mind and nerves occupied.
i got in this morning and was sipping and surfing, checking in on friday's news on the washington post, the seattle times, and la jornada. just as i was catching up on the intricacies of the latest airplane ban on shampoo/toothpaste/bottled water, and the semi-encouraging results of the presidential vote recount thus far, i started to feel a little funny, and was worried that the mocha was having even more of an effect than i bargained for.
on a freaky occaision a few months ago in seattle, i woke up in the middle of the night, went to the bathroom, and promptly passed out. corinne, my dear roommate, came to my rescue just after i came to, when i promptly konked out again. at some point bleary-eyed brendan joined in the fun, got me some juice and a cold washcloth, and i slowly started to feel better. i went to the clinic at school the following week, and after a medical exam that seemed to only skim the surface of possible causes, the doctor assured me that there were no signs of anything serious. ever since then i have been a little nervous that it could happen again. (i guess i will mention that the fainting spell followed a night of several drinks, and very little dinner, but doesn't that take away from the intrigue of it all?)
so when i started to feel a little light-headed this morning, and then started to sense that i was swaying back and forth, the doctor's advice from several months ago came flooding back. i put my head between my knees and hoped for the best. when i sat back up, i felt okay... mostly i was not lying disoriented on the floor, which was the outcome i was hoping most to avoid. i shook it off and vowed to drink a lot of water to try to dilute some of the stimulant that threw me for a loop and would continue to course through my veins for the better part of the rest of the day.
jennifer got into the office soon after, and when she came back upstairs from making her daily cup of tea, she cast some light on the whole situation... the punchline...
it was an earthquake!
the woman who cleans the office, señora mica, asked jennifer if she had felt it - that it had happened about half an hour ago or so - and though jennifer didn't notice it, it certainly helped to explain my extraterrestrial caffeine trip. if i was going to be in mexico city for an earthquake, i'm sure glad it was the type that makes everything in my line of vision sway side-to-side for a few moments, and not of the variety that would make the hefty binders above my desk fall on my head.
and i guess i can keep drinking my beloved mochas. i get a kick out the jitters, and when you factor in shifting tectonic plates, the illusion of low-level hallucinations adds some excitement to my day too.
posted by jonesie @ 8:23 AM
8 Comments:
So Nattie - in the last few weeks you've survived a gambling spree, an earthquake, the shutdown of large parts of Mexico City, and the equivalent of a public tagging on fertility issues. That makes for really good resume material - just put it in the section called "Other Experience".
Your tales of being caught up in the political turmoil in Mexico city - and my brother's comments on what happened in Quito back in the early 1970s - reminded me of my own brush with militant demonstrators. I've never been able to get the exact story out of my parents, but they did go to an anti-Nixon demonstration round about 1972, when he visited Nashville.
Well, they were keeping demonstrators far away from the airport where he flew in, and the crowd was getting more and more unruly (not violent, just heated). At some point, some protesters started to climb the perimeter fence around the airport (imagine doing that today?!?), and my parents - I *think* - followed suit. And since tiny Thomas was, well, pretty young, he was in short order 'thrown' over the fence by either Maria or Peter. So there was my first exposure to a radical expression of a point of view. And I have no idea what happened afterwards... whether people were arrested, where my parents went, whether I was abandoned on the other side of the fence, or what.
I do remember a political slogan from the time, though, and it's stuck with me ever since ... full of irony, I would guess:
Don't change Dicks in the middle of a screw, re-elect Nixon in '72.
Great writing, love your tales - I'll say hi to France from you next week!
ciao, Cousin Thomas
I was in an earth quake once while on a business trip in San Diego. It woke me from my peaceful slumber at about 6:40 am. By the time I thought "This is an earth quake. Wow! I'm in an earth quake! This will be a great story for the east coasters when I return home. Don't I get under a doorway or in the bath tub or something?" it was over. Good times.
-lulu
oddly enough, i am happy that it was an earthquake, and not another bout of you passing out:-) that was just the weirdest thing!
Nathalie,
I remember years ago we were renting a house for a week in Newport Beach, CA. The kids were small. At 6:30 AM an earthquake shook our little beach cottage noisily so we all got up. We were standing on the beach around 7 when the next one hit. It looked like someone picked up the edge of a rug and snapped it - the shock wave rippled right beneath our feet through the sand. Anytime I hear the word "earthquake", that memory comes rushing back.
Mike B.
I love reading about your adventures. You're such a great storyteller!
there's a new kid on the block in blogtown. colter saw your snazzy spot and had to get one for himself (and a flickr account!). check it out: colterharper.blogspot.com
some pics of the magnificent olympics and our equally astonishing soccer skills.
miss you and I'm glad it was only an earthquake :)
I hope you're having a good time with Anne and Abbe this weekend!
leslie,
ooh, orientation activities! sign me up for anything that involves hazing.
i'm back on the 13th... i'm hoping to rally the evans troops for a twilight exit karaoke night and/or bbq before school starts.
nj
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