However, if we had an earthquake right now, as soon as I grabbed Annabel, rode it out, and made sure Dylan was OK, the first thing I'd want to know was which fault it'd been on and the magnitude, and even while I was trying to work out the structural integrity of the house and decide whether it was safe to stay, my mind would be whirling to put it in some kind of scientific and historical context compared to other quakes in Seattle and around the world. That's just the way I am.

That's pretty much how we dealt with the Nisqually quake at work.

Well, after all the Californians stopped shouting out their best guesses as to the magnitude and we'd evacuated the building, that is. (Yes, I sat next to Engineering.)

Of course, when I finally got home (knowing I wouldn't see Paul, who still worked in news at the time, much for several days), I dealt with it by applying a the contents of a bottle of red wine to self while watching a scrambled Eminem concert on Pay-Per-View.

I find both approaches soothing when under stress.

The emotional factors and the academic elements are not the same thing.

Definitely not. They're coming out of different areas of the brain. But, they don't preclude each other. Just, not too many people can be both simultaneously. So, yeah, definitely have to be careful where we step during ongoing emergencies.

Man I hope so. Pity they couldn't have shown any competence for Katrina in the first place. Wonder if FEMA will have to fill out forms in triplicate to the completely inept DoHS overlords on this one?

They'd better not. Once when it came as a surprise was awful enough, but if the country's populace saw similar fucked-upedness and lack of concern for human lives in the face red tape for the second time in a month, we might not have to wait until 2009 for a new administration.

I dealt with it by applying a the contents of a bottle of red wine to self while watching a scrambled Eminem concert on Pay-Per-View.

We went to our friends' house and had life-affirming junk food.

No doubt lives will be saved because of all the media about Katrina.

I hope so.

why court the reaction from thoes affected if it isn't immediately needed?

Well, I'm not trying to court it--as I said in my edit, the way I look at these things comes so naturally to me that I'm still surprised on the (relatively rare) occasions it causes misunderstandings. You'd think I'd have learned after 9/11, when I walked into misunderstandings right and left for a few days there before I realized that Dylan was literally the only person I could be honest around, since being honest meant analytical ("Why is everyone rushing to support the president? This changes nothing about his competence.") and a bit pugnacious ("Dammit, let's play football this weekend to show the terrorists they can't make us stop living our lives! And I notice none of these people who want to call off the rest of the baseball season play for or root for contenders.").

Just, not too many people can be both simultaneously. So, yeah, definitely have to be careful where we step during ongoing emergencies.

Yeah, I think the reason I sometimes put my foot in my mouth is that I can do both simultaneously, and I tend to lean on the academic elements. I mean, I'm worried about our friend Chris, but there's absolutely nothing I can do about it other than pray for his safety. So I turn to analysis, and find comfort therein.

I dealt with it by applying a the contents of a bottle of red wine to self while watching a scrambled Eminem concert on Pay-Per-View.

I chugged a bottle of Pomerey champagne the night of Loma Prieta, as if it was soda. Only occurred to me afterward that that's what left me miserable for days; at 5:17, when the quake hit, I'd been home from having a cyst removed from one breast and I was tanked up the gourd on painkillers. It was REALLY fucking surreal.

So I turn to analysis, and find comfort therein.

This is me. My daughter was in a car accident once and called me to tell me so. When I didn't immediately freak out she got pissed and said I didn't care. I told her, "You're calling me, right? So I'm guessing nothing is majorly damaged or you 1) wouldn't be calling me or 2) would be calling from the hospital." She calmed down, but it took her 3 or 4 years to come to grip with it and understand not getting freaked is not the same as not caring. But I put the energy into freaking where it is necessary, not where it isn't.

But there are different kinds of analytical, surely? I crawled across a living room and dodged falling bookcases to get to a phone to call my daughter and make sure she was okay; my brain was telling me that the phone lines would be jammed solid once the quake stopped, so I'd better get Jo on the phone now. And while I crawling, I was also remembering where Alan's phone was, which was on the wall next to his solid wood kitchen table. (edit: she'd been taught to clear everything off the top in case of a quake, and slide under it, within reach of the phone, and she did just that. I was very proud of her.)

My brain, at the moment, neither freaked out nor gave a rat's rectum what the scale was. It analysed what was likely to be happening realworld - in this case, my ten-year-old alone across town - and went for it.

So yeah, we all define and respond differently.

The thing is, I do have a freaking-out side to my personality, as anyone who's been on Bitches for any length of time knows, and one that I've literally been battling to control since I learned it was a problem at the age of 6. And I'm always so damned proud of myself when I manage to get through the kind of situation that stresses me without visibly freaking out. I just wish I knew how I'd ended up wired to freak out when you're not supposed to, but to be calm when it'd be more socially acceptable to let my emotional side show a little bit. But this is probably the wrong thread to discuss this. Suffice it to say I'm pulling for the storm to weaken and for everyone who needs to to have the means and willingness to get inland.