I was eating a heavy Jollibee dinner last night in Makati when I felt a bit dizzy (my inner ears tell me that I moved, but my eyes tell me I didn’t). I thought Renz, who stood up at that exact moment, pushed my chair or something, except that I was very sure that he didn’t push it at all. Of course it was just the earthquake [Phivolcs]. People in the restaurant looked at each other. Then many people remarked, “lumilindol.” The conversations shifted to earthquakes instantly.

This is the second time I felt an earthquake. The first time was a few years ago during a class in college. I never experienced the July 16, 2000 earthquake, since I was in a moving vehicle. I also missed last month’s quake since I was asleep. The most interesting story about last month’s earthquake was that a couple of people just recently watched Exorcist: The Beginning when the earthquake occurred. Waking up at 3 am with your bed shaking and with your last lucid thoughts being demonic possessions is definitely not good.

Last night’s quake was weird. It felt as if you’re swinging on a rocking chair for about 20 to 30 seconds. Because the frequency of the shaking was very low, I knew that the epicenter was far away (the earth acts a a low-pass filter). But to feel it at that intensity, the quake must’ve been moderately strong (it was a magnitude 6.2).