Midewest Earthquake.

Yesterday morning at approximately 5:38a.m., I was awaken abruptly when my studio apartment began to shake. It felt like the entire apartment was vibrating; my futon was creaking and the chandelier in the living area was swaying. At first I thought I was in the middle of a tornado, but my mind quickly reasoned that there had been no severe storms in the weather forecast. My apartment is at the end of the hallway on the second floor, so it is next to the laundry facility. As the shaking continued, it sounded like someone was doing laundry and the washers had gone off-balance and were banging into each other. Then, as quickly as it had started, the shaking stopped. I laid in bed for a couple of minutes, contemplating trying to go back to sleep, my heart racing and my body too paralyzed to get up and look around. Finally I rolled over and switched on the television, turning on the Channel 8 morning news. Minutes after I had turned on the television, there was breaking news about an earthquake centered in southern Illinois. Suddenly everything made sense, and my body finally began to relax. The moral of the story? If I am ever in a catastrophic situation, I will surely be doomed, seeing as how even just the thought of a possible tornado is enough to paralyze me. :-D On a more serious note, it does make me wonder how I would react were a truly dangerous situation to arise.