Dreamquakes and ice skates

The earth was rumbling and shaking, bits of timber and glass were thudding and tinkling around me, I looked out the window and saw, rising over the Port Hills, a massive tidal wave..

... and then, I woke up. That was my night, I certainly hope yours was better! Over and over I'd fall asleep only to be awoken by a stunningly realistic apocalyptic nightmare. I'm trying to think why this might have happened; I've never had nightmares featuring quakes, even though I've been living with them for nearly a year. Therein may lie the answer, perhaps?

It's been nearly a year since Quake 1, which happened on September 4. Something about the time of year just feels the same, I guess, and my mind is giving me alarm signals (thanks for that, mind). That's my theory. It's the only one I've got. The Programmer said I'm probably having prophetic dreams and the whole world is about to go down the gurgler a la 2012. He didn't look that worried about it. He's a mellow guy.

I was hoping for a good snooze tonight but cranky mother nature just delivered a nice shallow and close aftershock half an hour ago while I was on Skype with Miss J. It was loud enough for her to hear it even with the low-quality sound that we had going tonight - you know Skype? Sometimes awesome, sometimes overloaded.

When my alarm announced it was yoga time this morning, I elected to roll over and do eyelid yoga for an hour. Then I headed off to do some earthquake stuff. I was meeting the EQC (Earthquake Commission) guys at our rental property to assess the damage. The worst of it is a big crack through the floor of the garage, which extends to the driveway on either side - it's a drive through kind of thing, a door at each end. This requires two claims: one to the EQC for the inside part, and one to our insurance company for the outside cracks even though it's part of the same crack. It's hurting my brain a bit just wondering how that is going to work.

The guys were cool in their orange jackets and it was enlightening to see how the young working people of today (our tenants) live.  I have never seen so many toys in one place - pool table, at least eight guitars, keyboards, wii, golf clubs, motorbikes, seriously nice stereo and enough alcohol to ensure the party never stops. At least the bathroom was clean and there were no dodgy stains on the carpet. We did see handprints on the ceiling. I have no clues about that. The hall cupboard showed evidence of a hasty clean up :D Busted.

On the way home I saw this bridge and was.. amazed actually. I'm not sure that the pic really does it justice, but so far this bridge is the best thing I've seen for showing visually how the Feb quake felt. The bridge has twisted as the banks of the river heaved, but unlike most things, it didn't just fall down. It seems to have absorbed the energy of the quake and transfixed it.

I would like this bridge to stay just like it is. I think it's like art. It has a kind of crazy beauty to it, in my mind.

Tonight, in spite of my sleep deprivation (which is digging in deeper by the minute - it's nearly midnight, so excuse any sleepy waffling), I headed off to the ice rink with a couple of friends, The Programmer and Mamasana. By some miracle of yoga-muscles, I did not fall, nor did I hug the rail for more than a few minutes while I got my 'ice legs' back. I wouldn't say I'm Jane Torville, but it was loopy fun (note: we went on 'teenage night', which mostly referred to the music choice, bwahaha) and it was fantastic to see adolescents out on a Friday, doing something active and not giving any attitude. The motto plastered all over the walls there is 'take it out on the ice'. Social psychology at work in the real world.

When I finally handed over my skates and felt my thighs weakly protesting at standing still, I realised that missing yoga today was no biggie. Ask me tomorrow how walking is coming along. I'm feeling apprehensive already...