Shaking Things Up.

As anxiously sat in my seat, awaiting the arrival of my speech professor, I went over my scribbled index cards over and over again. Continuously telling myself that I wasn't ready, I looked at my watch and to my luck, fifteen minutes had passed since the original class time, 10:25 am. Fifteen minutes! At Pasadena College, or many universities, if a professor is more than fifteen minutes late to a class session that students are allowed to leave the class. I totally lucked out and didn't have to present a speech on Earthquakes that wasn't ready to be spoken about.



Yes, earthquakes are my expertise. My fascination with earthquakes was brought to life in my Geology course last semester. It is such a lively topic that really relates to everyday life. The minute I hear about: seismic waves, magnitude, faults, boundaries, intensity, plate movements, fault scarps, stresses, elastic rebound theory, etc. I get very excited and drawn to the conversation. I guess everyone has a little "nerd" in them, and mine happens to be a geological nerd who's into earthquakes and rocks. Who knew?



I'll leave you with this, a quote from Jack London's journal entry about the 1906 Great San Francisco Earthquake, which had a magnitude of 7.7 and resulted in over 700 casualties:

"Not in history has a modern imperial city been so completely destroyed. San Francisco is gone. Nothing remains of it but memories and a fringe of dwelling-houses on its outskirts."

Get ready, California. It's going to be a bumpy ride.