Lunch with a side of quake

While I flipped through New York Daily News this morning, I came across this picture:




I chuckled.


Not because I don't take the ground shaking underfoot without the rumble of a subway or the touch of the right man at the time in the right spot seriously. Oh trust and believe, it freaked me out and my first thought upon finding out was "oooohh, Momma Nature is not happy right now?" Actually that was my second thought. My first thought was "What?! Oh Shiiiiittttt!!!"

I chuckled because while this above scene played out with undoubtedly some panic and memories of the uncertainty of almost 10 years ago, I was sitting with an almost demolished chicken and spinach burrito, a mojito, and paperwork at one of my chill eateries, and most ironically, didn't feel a damn thing. For the record, I never indulge in an afternoon cocktail on a work day. But I was having a pretty intense day, had 3 hours to kill and when I walked into my favorite watering hole, one of my favorite bartenders was behind the bar and she makes a damn good mojito, sooo I called it fate and ordered one. And once again, she didn't disappoint.

To put this in perspective, the scene pictured above was less than 20 minutes away from where I was sitting and the only thing I felt was a fully belly and after drinking that mojito, a stronnnng need for a very large cup of Starbucks to get me through my evening training sessions. And to make matters even more comical (well at least in mind), my phone was charging behind the bar, and when the bartender told me my phone was blowing up like crazy, I told her, "Eh, ignore it. I'm out to lunch.", completely oblivious to what was going on in the world around me. Of course by the time I finished my meal and afternoon cocktail, paid my bill and collected my phone, I had not a hint of phone service when I tried to return all of my missed calls.

Upon hearing that there was an earthquake in Virginia, I reached out to people I know there to make sure they were okay. I still didn't know anything about its effect here in New York until I arrived at my training site (armed with my caffeine fix). Apparently, the building had been evacuated as a precaution. Some of my training clients told me they felt it. The entire time I'm wondering, "Where the hell was I?!" This felt like some kinda Alice in Wonderland slipping down the rabbit hole experience, only I was completely and utterly oblivious to what was going on. I spent the day exactly as I wanted - had a damn good lunch with a damn good cocktail, ran a couple of errands, and apparently walked on shaky ground without even knowing it. Talk about a day. Ah well, I at least I had a damn good mojito.