Weekend in NYC, part 3.5/earthquake.

Some quirky and interesting moments of our weekend in NYC:

• §  Brian found it amusing that I constantly wore my backpack as a frontpack. I insisted that 1) we’re just lucky I packed so light and 2) this was much better for my posture as it helped me to arch my back and straighten my shoulders. Brian just laughed all the more saying that I looked pregnant. You think so?
• §  And speaking of being pregnant, I’m not. However I got a taste of what it might be like to have bizarre pregnancy cravings. Please understand that for me to have any cravings at all is quite unusual. I eat when I’m hungry and I stop when I’m full. If I find myself hungry I’m generally satisfied to eat whatever is most convenient. So imagine my surprise when during the bus ride back all I could think about was one thing: Teddy Grahams. Oh, how I wanted a teddy graham! Make that 100 teddy grahams! I found myself craving the size, texture, that glossy baked exterior… What? I haven’t had teddy grahams for what, like, a decade? What’s up with that? Exactly five minutes later the craving had evolved into mashed potatoes with cranberry sauce. I desperately wanted some sort of side dish to turkey, but not the turkey itself.  Strange.

Later as we made our way from the bus to the D.C. metro, Brian saved the day and surprised me by sneaking off and scoring a bag of Teddy Grahams!  I almost ate the whole thing on the metro ride home. And I didn’t even care that with every bite a seven year old girl was staring into my soul, judging me for breaking metro food rules.

On another note, we had an earthquake two days ago. That was a first for me. Fortunately for the client whose hair I was in the middle of cutting, he likes his style to be quite short; and it’s darn near impossible to be startled and accidently cut more than you mean to when you’re using guarded clippers.  There were no hair emergencies.

Living close to Dulles Airport, it’s not uncommon to hear planes flying overhead. Naturally as the ground started shaking and rumbling, I first assumed that a plane was flying low. Then as the shaking escalated, I was certain that a plane was falling from the sky and heading straight for the salon. Where’s the plane? What’s taking so long? In the time that five or six planes could have crash landed into the salon, the 20-or-so of us in there stood bracing ourselves and speculating as to whether or not this could really be an earthquake in Virginia. Almost as quickly as it began, it was over. Though the ground stopped shaking, my legs felt jittery for a good bit longer.

And all I could think about were my dogs.

Are they all right? Could they sense the quake coming? Are they barking, howling, scared and confused? Brian said that the pups barked for an extra long time when he got home that night. Wishing that I had been there, I knew that if I heard their tone I’d be able to differentiate if the hounds were testifying about their earthquake survival, were telling on each other or were just plain excited to have us home. Yeah, sometimes I think they’re telling on each other.