You Have GOT To Be Kidding Me

There we were. 10 minutes to go on the first set of three questions during the California Bar Exam. I was diligently typing away about the 4th Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and a business' reasonable expectation of privacy in financial and personal records of its customers... when.... all of a sudden.... much to my shock.... much to my horror.... EARTHQUAKE. That's right, I said earthquake.

In. The. Middle. Of. The. Bar. Exam.

I had earplugs in (as many bar examinees do so as not to hear the incessant typing, possible hyperventilating and other random noises of nearby examinees) so it took me about 10 seconds to discern where exactly the great rumbling sound was coming from. However, the earplugs did not at all prevent me from feeling the ground begin to shake and roll beneath my feet.

For a flash second, I thought, "wait, what am I supposed to do in an earthquake? I learned this in school... is it stop, drop and roll?" Then I remembered that's what you're supposed to do when you are on fire. It quickly dawned on me that I was supposed to be getting under my desk, along with the other 1,500 examinees.

Before crawling underneath my desk for cover, I glanced up at the ceiling to see what could potentially fall down on us. There were large hanging lights and an open-type ceiling with bars and piping. As I grabbed hold of the leg of my desk during the shaking, I had only one thought: please, do not let anything happen to my laptop.

I looked toward the front of the convention center as the ground continued to roll about. Some people were running. Most were under their desks with a shell-shocked expression on their face.

I looked toward the back of the convention center to see what was going on there. There was one guy near us who remained in his seat peering down upon those of us who were balled up under our desks. He had an overly smug, self-impressed look on his face as he looked at all of us. I imagine, based on his expression, that he was thinking something along the lines of: "Stupid peons. It's just a little shaking." He continued to type away. With that smug little smile on his face.

But the fact is that it wasn't just a little shaking. I was born and raised in California. I felt the Northridge quake in the 90's. Never have I experienced an earthquake quite like that. My test taking location was about 20 miles from the epicenter and, to be honest, it was quite a shake-up. Then again, I'm sure the sound and vibration of 1,500 examinees pushing their chairs back and dropping to the ground didn't diminish the shaking feeling.

Nonetheless, after seeing Mr. Smug continue to type, I decided that I could not lose valuable time for a natural disaster. I crawled out from under my desk as the girl next to me said, "Wait, it's not over."

At that point, I believed that the worst of it was over and it was time to press on. Then I watched about 1,500 people crawl out from under their desks and quickly, almost manically, resume typing. It was like a scene from a weird movie... like where all the people are possessed by aliens or... their laptops.

Later that night, as I was describing the days events to my ever-supportive mother, I told her the irony of the earthquake was that I had prayed for it. She looked at me with a puzzled expression.

I explained, "Well, I prayed for an act of God during the bar exam. But that wasn't exactly what I was hoping for."