Was it quick or long? If it was quick and a 4.5 then it was pretty intense. The magnitude is based on energy so it is both intensity and length. The shorter the length, the more intense for the same magnitude.
I live near the last big one in San Luis Obispo county. It was something I hope not to experience anytime soon again...
Here it started out as a sharp jolt, then it built up in shaking, up and down and side to side, and it also built up in intensity. The direction of the shaking in this quake, and the intensity of the shaking was strange.
It was beginning to seem as if the intensity was going to continue increasing and I had just wondered how bad this was going to be, that feeling of “uh oh, this one is going to be a bad one!” and suddenly the shaking stopped.