#000000; font-family: Calibri">My workday was shaken up a bit this afternoon when I came back from lunch and was met with: "Your mom just called from California ... there's been an earthquake."

#000000; font-family: Calibri">I didn't even know my mom had my work number and for her to call, it must have been quite a rocker. 

#000000; font-family: Calibri">I suppose it's just a Californian thing. That heart-gripping terror when you hear the initial rattling of knick-knacks on your shelf that all-too-often predates a quake.

#000000; font-family: Calibri">And for some strange reason, I've always had an eerie intuition for those ground-clattering quakes. Ever since the Northridge earthquake in 1994, I've always dreaded that paralyzing alarm that comes when I first hear my shelves begin to rattle.

#000000; font-family: Calibri">I think it's safe to say I was scarred by that lethal 6.7-magnitude quake -- so much so that I fled 2,000 miles to attend college. I was about 7 years old then, and I was trapped by fallen bookshelves that blocked the doorway. (Our house would have failed an earthquake-preparedness test with flying colors.) All our power had gone out, and I remember my dad trying to grab my sleeping brother from his crib that was rolling from one side of the room to the other.

#000000; font-family: Calibri">I've never had a snowday, but I think I'm one of the few kids who has ever had an earthquake day -- earthquake days actually.

#000000; font-family: Calibri">I must say, the powers of that Mother Nature haven't ceased to amaze me. I'm a big fan of nature, but earthquakes? No thanks. I'd rather snuggle in my bed and listen to the familiar rolling of our Chicago thunderstorms.

#000000; font-family: Calibri">Even now, 21 years old, I'm sure I'd still race down the hall into my parents room at the first rocking of the floor. But it's true what they say: You can run, but you can't hide. Even our Windy City had a little dance last April, and I, for one, was hardly thrilled.

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Alyssa Urish
Alyssa grew up in southern California and willingly left the palm trees and warm winters for the capricious Chicago weather. She is a senior studying Journalism and Spanish at Northwestern University and no, she still doesn't know what she's going to do after college. She interned last fall at a daily newspaper in Boulder where she really tapped into her love for hiking, biking and farmers markets. Alyssa is currently on track to run her first marathon this October through the magnificent miles of Chicago. More