i forget which quake it was in california, maybe northridge, but back in the 90s i was sitting here in phoenix az at my computer, which was built into a rolling (300lb) rackmount tower on bakelite wheels on a linoleum floor, and i was on a rolling/spinning tall computer chair. i felt a sort of vertigo, for a few seconds, and realized it was that both i and the tower had moved, relative to each other and the room--not much, probably millimeters...but my brain was telling me "it shouldn't have happened at all".
my oldest sister had been asleep on a rolling couch in the living room (also a linoleum floor), and she fell off the couch and woke up (i assume she was already on the edge of it or something) at the same moment.
some time later i found out it was a big earthquake in california, and that it had actually done damage even here, with cracked driveways and other such things---nothing like at the epicenter or nearby, but that it did anything at all this far away captured my mind, and i've spent time ever since then soaking up what i can find about earthquakes, tectonics, vulcanism, etc., and related topics.
