Very early this morning (it’s still dark), I’m in bed. Sleeping.

All of a sudden: I’m shaken awake. I look at the clock by my bed. The digital readout says 4:42.

What the heck was that, I ask myself. Damn! If that’s someone slamming a door in another apartment, they should be more considerate!

Then: hmmmm…I wonder if that’s what an earthquake feels like.

How am I to know? I’m new to the Bay Area, and have never experienced a quake anywhere else I’ve been.

I keep thinking. It didn’t exactly seem like a door slamming. It was more as if the Jolly Green Giant slammed his foot down right outside my bedroom window, with the whole building rising a couple of inches then settling back down again. All in the space of a second or so.

It was early morning, though. These thoughts did not last long. I went back to sleep and pondered them no more. In fact, I had totally forgotten the episode until I turned on the TV before breakfast. Then, I heard the news:

SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- A magnitude 4.2 earthquake shook the San Francisco area Friday at 4:42 a.m. PT (7:42 a.m. ET), the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

The quake left about 2,000 customers without power, said David Eisenhower, a spokesman for Pacific Gas and Light.

Under the USGS classification, a magnitude 4.2 earthquake is considered "light," which it says usually causes minimal damage.

"We had quite a spike in calls, mostly calls of inquiry, none of any injury, none of any damage that was reported," said Capt. Al Casciato of the San Francisco police. "It was fairly mild."

The quake was centered about two miles east-northeast of Oakland, at a depth of 3.6 miles, the USGS said. Oakland is just east of San Francisco, across San Francisco Bay.

An Oakland police dispatcher told CNN the quake set off alarms at people's homes. The shaking lasted about 50 seconds, said CNN meteorologist Chad Myers.

According to the USGS, magnitude 4.2 quakes are felt indoors and may break dishes and windows and overturn unstable objects. Pendulum clocks may stop.

One might say that my initiation to San Fran life is off to a shaky start.