Where were YOU 2 years ago?

[Smaointe]

It's already September 11 here.

When I woke up that morning, it was really eerie, because it was a gloomy morning, and nobody else in the house was awake. The rats were quiet (for once), so it was so quiet in my house, with just the news story playing.

I sat and watched for about an hour, before I had to go to work.

[sneaky ninja]

It was the second week of school, my freshman year. I was in bed. My roommate got a call from her parents at about 7:30 PST, which woke us up. But we were tired, so we went back to bed.

When we woke up again, we realized how bad it really was, and since classes were cancelled for the day, spent most of the morning watching TV. There are a lot of Americans at our school, so to keep everybody calm, my RA took us (my dorm, not the whole school) to the park and we just relaxed all day. I don't think it really sunk in until the next morning.

[elroy]

Was chatting on irc when my brother walked in the room and told me to turn on cnn. First i thought it was some advertizement for a movie or something, until i listened to what they were saying and realized it was real. I immediately knew whoever was responsible, there'd be hell to pay. And so, The War Against Terrorism started.

[furre]

Got home, watched the news with mom (who had been watching it ever since she got home apparently) for about half an hour. Went into my room and did something else for the rest of the day. Yes, yes I'm horribly insensitive, so sue me.

[Skorpion]

I heard about it in school, when I was waiting for a circuitboard to etch.

[MissCheetah]

I was woken by the phone that morning as a very close friend of mine informed me that he just saw a plane go into the WTC. He is a federal agent in NYC and works just next to it. I was thinking, small plane like in King Kong. I get in the car and hear about a plane going into the Penatgon. I have now concluded this is NOT a single engine plane issue. It sounded more like a Tom Clancy novel. I turn on the comp in time to watch the second plane go in. The office is deserted because my boss is in top secret meetings on the military base. Then the towers collapsed. I know that Scott would, and did, volunteer to be one of the agents that went in to help get people out. I waited all day until about 9:30 pm I get a call from him. H was so ...empty and drained, but alive. He spent the next days pulling body parts out of the rubble. Most people were just turned to fine pink goo. Intestines wrapped around rebar ..that was a big peice. I got the guided tour from him a few months ago. Very strange to have someone point out where the landing gear from a plane was, or where he stood/ran too as the towers collapsed. Quite a different view than those tourists milling around me.

For those who don't know, I used to teach HS and the father of one of my students died that day as well. I had only quit teaching that year so I still thought of them as "my kids".

This is the first time a tradegy has actually touched me. Most just seem so remote. I suppose it helped that I was about 1.5 hours from the Pentagon and had someone very close to me in NYC.

[Fael-Inis]

I was at home on a day off of work, listening to the radio and chatting via another forum and ICQ. Suddenly, the DJ came on the radio and read a news bulletin. This was strange, because the station I was listening to NEVER does the news, not even at 6 PM or anything. I ran to the TV and turned on CNN, and spent the rest of the day going back and forth between the TV and my computer in my room. I saw the LIVE footage of the towers collapsing. Both of them. I also remember MC being rather anxious, even though I had just met her online and we didn't talk a whole lot.

Watching the guy on CNN giving a report, and seeing the first tower start to collapse behind him was so surreal. He didn't even notice anything until he heard it a number of seconds afterwards, turned and saw a big cloud of dust.

I also remember the radio tributes, including a U2 song with news clips inserted into it. Being chased by a lightning storm down country roads two or three days after it happened, with that song playing on the car stereo was an odd situation that actually brought on some tears for all the victims and their families.

[StruckingFuggle]

I was in bed, asleep. Alarm was about an hour from going off before I had to get up to go to class, CST time.
"Chris, wake up and turn on CNN" my mom said. I turned it on, saw the smoke. Was going 'wtf' when I saw the second tower get hit, live.

'Wow. What a shitty way to start my birthday.' Yes, that was the first thought that actually sunk into my mind.

Funny thing is, it's not like Kennedy for the people who lived through that, for me. I don't have a clear recollection, like a snapshot.

[Lune [6 Option Mod]]

I was just out the door, heading to my 9:30 Arthurian Legend class. Freshman year when I was still at Allegheny College.

I didn't see anything on TV at first. I first learned about it on AOL News, when I was scanning articles before heading out. It was something like ...

------------------
AOL NEWS: Airplane Crashes Into World Trade Center

NEW YORK (Sept. 11) - An airplane has reportedly crashed into the World Trade Center, exploding on impact with one of the two towers.

More news to come as events unfold.
------------------

I didn't understand the full impact of things until I got back from class. Between going to class and returning to class, the second plane hit, and both towers had ben destroyed.

I had simply assumed that it was just a small plane. A privately owned one, and a real bad accident. I mean, you read about planes crashing all the time. And commercial planes you read about, 9/10ths of the time they crash in oceans.

... ...

I lost one good friend, and four acquaintances. Maplewood is a suburb of NYC. Pretty much the majority of members of the community work in NYC during the day, including my dad.

I still get bothered when I hear the distant comments made by some people (furre), but I've learned to get used to it. I was affected on a grand scale when compared to some stranger across the world, or across the country as well. NYC is my backyard, and where I go when I am home.

[Blaze]

I was in my third hour. Marketing.

Somebody said something about they heard somebody ran a plane into the World Trade Centers or something. "Meh." I thought. They set a bomb off there a few years back and only killed a few people then. Some people are just stupid jerks.

The hour after next, I went to lunch, where they had all the TV's in the cafeteria on to the news. Then I found out what really happened. That afternoon, in Adv. English 12, we wrote what we were feeling and presented. I wrote a poem that ended up published in both our school newspaper and one from the next district over. I didn't even submit it to either!

4 days after that I was 1 year away from joining RLF.

[Jamie Bond]

I was in a trailer on an island in the middle of nowhere.

[Felan]

I was in my calc I class when it happened. By then we did not know what really happened. Our professor had come in saying that one of the airplanes hit the trade tower. But it was just in as he was leaving to come to class, nobody knew at that time it was a terrorist attack. Class went on than normal.

I didnt find out what was happening till I went to the cafe after class during my break between classes to find out what had happened. Standing around tvs were crowds of students all trying to find out what happened. It was still sketchy by then what truely happened at that point, but it was right when the tower finally fell.

After that point everybody was distressed. They ended up cancelling classes around then. Nobody could even think, professor couldnt even teach without his mind wandering.

I went to work. My supervisor pouring her tears out sitting next to the radio. Despite being at work, nobody wanted to do anything. Essentaly me and my co-workers talked about it the entire time we were at work. The occasional random customer only came in to finish their errands, most of their energy and minds spent on the ordeal.

[Accer]

The school year hadn't started yet, and I was asleep. My dad woke me up after the second tower fell, but unfortunately I wake up very slowly. He said something about the towers falling and New York City being covered in clouds of debris. I wasn’t really awake and thought something like, “Oh, it would like a spectacular movie scene if that happened.” Then about 5 seconds later, as my dad was insisting it was important and I actually woke up, I said, “Wait… what did you say happened?” After that I hurried downstairs.

I think I spent the day just worrying about the people that probably awaiting rescue, and really worrying about the US breaking out into a hotheaded war, and about all my military friends that suddenly had their hands full. I don’t know anyone in New York, so that was the only way I was directly affected personally. I remember that day my only plan was to go up to Miramar (you know, where Top Gun took place) and sign up for archery lessons, but needless to say I didn’t go.

I made sure not to be sad until they announced that there was no chance of rescuing anymore survivors… It was over-optimism, to be sure, but I guess for a little while I wanted to hope for the people possibly, miraculously still alive than mourn for the people who died (or rather, the people they left behind). And of course, in the meanwhile watching all that video on TV was beyond sickening and frustrating.

[Jamie Bond]

Ug
I was working at a video rental store at the time

And for some reason a WHOLE bunch of people kept asking to rent a specific movie where the WTC was destroyed... I forget what it was called. A cheapo sequal to an already cheapo action movie I beleive.

Kind of disturbing that tons of people were trying to rent the movie.

[Kirstie]

I was sitting in my room, on the phone talking my friend out of killing herself, TV playing in the background, then all of a sudden the new came on with 9/11
the only good thing about that day was that my friend changed her mind about suicide...