I was goofing off in my room yesterday afternoon, having just gotten up at 3pm after a good night's observing. Suddenly, the room began to rumble and shake. I looked out the window to see if there was some large truck driving by, and then I realised that I was at the top of a mountain with just narrow roads. There are no trucks up here.

This was an earthquake.

However, from the fact that I was still on my feet and things weren't falling off my table yet, it couldn't have been any more than 3 or 4 on the Richter scale, so I didn't bother leaving the room.

Still, it was my first direct experience with seismic activity. (My indirect experience came from the fact that a beach-side house I once lived in was hit by the 2005 tsunami).