I must say, that was freaky.  I had just finished watching YouTube videos of the quake back east and came back to read more of this thread.  I felt the house "bump" and then I could hear things moving, almost shaking.  The house creaked, and then BUMP, and the shaking started.  I grabbed my desk (That's sad...the earth shakes and the first thing I think of is to save my computer.  To heck with me, but save the computer.)  Within a few seconds, it was over.  Looks like it was the Hayward fault or one of the smaller ones in the East Bay.  I'd estimate it was about a 3.5 on the Richter scale.

As someone said here or in another thread, oftentimes, by the time you realize it's an earthquake, it's over.  Thus, it was kind of a thrill when my brother and I were little.  If the quake lasted long enough for us to realize what was happening, we'd look at each other, our eyes wide, and we'd smile and say, "OOoooooo!  An earthquake!"  And that's how it was for me for years and years.  I was the one that always felt the tiny ones and I'd go around to family members saying, "Did you feel it?  Did you feel it?"  While it lasted, it was a surreal, wondrous experience.

Until 1989.  I was in the gym in an office building.  The shaking began as usual and then, I'll always remember this, it was as if the earth shifted gears.  This was not shaking now.  This was violent lurching from side to side.  I could see myself in the mirrors.  I had to squat down and hold onto the drinking fountain to keep my balance.  The weight stacks rocked back and forth.  The blinds swung out and then came back to slap the windows.  The door I'd propped open closed by itself.  An entire rack of dumbbells hit the windows and then tipped over onto the floor right where I'd been doing some stretching one minute before.

Now when there's a quake, there's just fear.  I just hold my breath and ask God to make it stop.

LOL.  Once when we were little, there was a quake and my brother and I were amazed and I looked up at the sky and said, "I hope it gets bigger!"  And it got SO BIG!  We went down on our hands and knees and screamed, "Okay!  Okay!  Okay!  Big enough!  Okay!"