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8/06/2008

We are doing well

Jessie jots...

It was the hardest move I've gone through in my life. From little, I've been trained to move from one place to another, and honestly, it wasn't very hard then. Only meeting new friends was hard. Mom and dad always got the financial things and administrative stuff done... while we kids only help mom to pack. My expertise was and still is, to pack fragile items and they have been proven over time, successful from not breaking. In case you wonder how many times my family moved, here's a run down: from Bukit Mertajam to Terengganu, from Terengganu to Subang Jaya, from Subang Jaya to Taiping, from Taiping to Kuching, and from Kuching to Bukit Mertajam.

That's 5 times. Not including the time I moved to Penang by myself, into an apartment to live with my dear friends for college. And then moving to the US but I won't count that because I only took two luggages with me.

This time, from good ol' Minnesota to California is the 6th time. Amazingly, we survived without furnitures for four freaking weeks. No television, no landline, no computer, no nothing. Like I said earlier, I only had a car to go around and that too, I didn't know where to go. GPS is cool but it doesn't tell you where you can hang out. I borrowed a lot of books from the local library - it was fun reading but my butt hurts from sitting on the floor. So then I decided to go running but that only took an hour, so I went back to reading again. My sister asked, "What else did you do other than read books?"

I replied "read magazines". LOL

The day our furnitures arrived was like seeing halos on top of the movers head. I was secretly happy but I knew there will be something that would set me back. For the past 4 weeks, the moving company had nothing but bad news for me, again and again. True enough, the dresser broke, computer desk broke, coffee table broke, a couple of standing lamps broke and a dampen couch (it smelled like egg white). Surprisingly, I have a strange calm, neutral feelings toward the movers... I didn't lash out like a very pain in the bottom customer eventhough I knew the extra work I have to do for furniture hunt. Even the mover said, "You are a very nice, ma'am. You didn't scold me like other customer would. If only all my customers are like you!"

Uh huh! Give me your goddam customer service number. No I didn't say that outloud either. I understand that we would get compensated but the trouble to go through the long hours of waiting, press 1 for English and so forth, and sticking our ears on the phone that gets warmer each minute is a hassle. So lashing out is quite a waste of energy and time.

On that day too, last Tuesday, the movers came up with my mattress and ask where I'd like it to go. I was standing on the other side of the apartment, abrupted by the machinary noise from outside landscaping project, I pointed them the direction to our room. Then the whole apartment vibrated and I thought it was the concrete breaker machine (whatever you call it). A few seconds later, the whole apartment started to sway as if it's made of paper. I found myself trying to do a balancing act as I looked over, the top boxes stacked on top of others on the floor and on the kitchen looked like it was tipping over but it didn't. I thought, the bulldozer was probably pushing some things a little too hard but it sure felt like an earthquake.

Moments later, Hushby called and asked if I was OK. I said "Sure, the move is going well". He said "Didn't you feel the earthquake?" Then I went, "holy smoke, that WAS an earthquake". I forgot that we moved into an earthquake-prone state!

Minutes later, I turned on the TV and found out it was quite of a big wave. The news traveled so fast, our uncle called from Vancouver to ask if we were OK. My cellphone went dead but I got the message a few hours later. My sister in St. Cloud knew of it too. I gathered the earthquake wasn't anything small. The quake was a 5.4 on Richter scale, strong enough to create damages in buildings and inventories, but fortunately only lasted less than 10 seconds.

Then only do I know, my day wasn't that bad afterall. Yeah, throw me bad news, I can handle it. Suffering 4 weeks of nothingness is an easier ordeal than to go through a bad aftermath of an earthquake. Luckily nothing happen to anyone we knew here, nor to ourselves. My furnitures could easily be all broken into pieces on the ground and my apartment building could have collapse but thank God, we are well.

Moving is a stress event but it is not unbearable. Adding earthquake to it? Maybe not. hehe

5 comments:

Shuh Jiuan said...

I heard about the earthquake too. Konon lah, my company's headquarter is in California so it was quite a big hoo-haa. I actually forgot that you're in Cali now :x Thank God you and Yew Wai are okay :)

Anonymous said...

Your furnitures look like they went through an earthquake! kesian la.. but nvm, reasons to go get new furnitures to suit ur spanking new apartment ;)

san

zlee said...

waa.. menakutkan jugak.. nasib baik u and hushby ok kan? ehehe..
jessie jots....
Jot more :D:D:*

flosie_ooi said...

jess, i have the same feeling like you when the earthquake happened in Penang. That's i thought i was sick until i felt dizzyness! hahahaha! but, thank GOD, you and Yew Wai are sihat walafiat!

Suying

Jessie C said...

Thanks for everyone's concern. The broken furniture is not caused by the earthquake... it was from the moving truck. LOL