5.4 or ' The Longest 20 Seconds"

In case you haven't heard there was a earthquake with a magnitude of 5.4 in Chino Hills on Tuesday at 11:48. This is my personal report of the event.

It was a slow morning at Scrapbooking Heaven and I had just said goodbye to the owners of the store as they were headed inland for a product show. We had one elderly customer working in the back and I was writing a note at the front counter. The room started to move. I yelled 'Helen head for a doorway" (she was close the the back door and I was close to the front). As I'm standing under the front door frame I realize I'm surrounded by glass windows so I step into the parking lot where the good looking guys, who work at the Karate studio next door, are standing. "I've lived here all my life" one guy says, "Don't stand in a doorway, head outside if you can." I'll remember that next time I'm scared spittless.
The whole thing lasted 20 seconds and you could feel the "wave" for, maybe another 15 seconds. It's a very strange, almost a rolling motion, where everything around you sways slightly. The best way I can describe it is if you take a large pot of water and shake it back and forth for 20 seconds and then hold it until it settles back down. Now imagine you're able to stand on the water. Call me a geek but I just tried this and it's a pretty accurate description.
My personal "after shock" was my hands shaking and heart pounding for about half an hour. This was calmed by Helen, a native 80 year resident of this crazy state, telling me it was all fine. She figured the best thing she could do was to stay seated and hold on the the table! If something had fallen on her head I would have felt guilty forever. A few things fell off the shelves and a small paper rack tipped over - nothing dramatic. When my boss called I answerer the phone 'Scrapbooking Heaven, we're still here." She instantly knew everything had returned to normal.