[OT] Sep. 11th was the day that I...

Can you believe that it's been almost a year? I can't. A whole year.

Wow.

I used to listen to the radio every morning at work. Music, sports, whatever...something to keep me awake and focused. That morning when I walked into work the office was already abuzz.

"Dude, did you hear?!" said a coworker.

No, I hadn't heard. I'd been riding the train on my morning commute. I read the paper on the train.

By 9:00AM Pacific, an officemate had already downloaded and printed an image of an airliner plummeting toward a familiar skyscraper. The fuzzy picture, taken from a digital camera, depicted a jet-shaped shadow silhouetted against one of the towers.

I stared at that image for several minutes. It looked like Hollywood magic, but it was real.

Reports rolled in all day long, and I didn't get much work done.

But that night, I gamed. I'd be damned if I was going to let terrorists control my actions. Sep. 11th was the day that I gamed anyway, because the only other option was to sit around and stare at the TV in disbelief.

Sept. 11th was the day that I gamed.

Well, as long as I'm in the mood

I woke up earlier than normal, and for some reason, turned on the TV and watched the news right after I got downstairs. It was the first time I'd ever done that. When I turned on the TV, there was a lot of coverage on some sort of explosion in the WTC. I watched a little bit, and CNN had some people talking about what could have caused it, if it was terrorism, etc. At that time, they didn't know that it was because a plane was flown into it.

Anyways, they had a guy talking about the likelyhood that it was a bomb or terrorism, when I saw the massive explosion in the television screen. Before I left for school, they were showing clips of the second plane hitting the second building. I got to school and started talking to my teacher before school, and I asked him if he saw what was happening. He hadn't, so I filled him in and we watched the TV until school started.

Sometime around then, there was a school-wide announcement about what was happening, and they promised to keep us up to date (they didn't), but specifically forbid us from watching the TV. Well, in first period we... watched TV. Not a whole lot more than that. The next period my friend and I tried to come up with how many people were killed, and came up with around 2,500-3,000 (I look back on that now and think that it was in callous taste).

School went by as normal, and I heard rumors about the other towers collapsing and the Pentagon getting hit. I thought that the last plane was shot down when I first heard about it, before anyone knew what really happened. When I got home I watched the TV pretty much endlessly with my family. I called a few friends, and when I couldn't watch the TV anymore, I gamed.

Yup, gamed. I guess it's the default method of breaking away for a little while.

i was stuck at work all day. i was the first one in my section to hear about it, as my friend in another department was e-mailing me about it. at first i, like most of the rest of you, didn't beleive it and thought he was BSing me. i looked around at my co-workers, and none of them was acting oddly so i wondered how i should react. at some point, i wandered into the breakroom where a few dozen people were huddled around the small TV watching the news. no denying it now, all hell had broken loose. i went back to my desk, and maybe less than an hour later everyone had stopped working. we were all at least a little bit scared, wondering in some sort of shocked daze what was going to happen next. downtown chicago was being evacuated (a current fellow worker of mine was in one of those buildings, and went home that morning like everyone else) and we were told to keep working until we heard otherwise.

so i did, even though my heart was in it even less than usual. it was odd that the management didn't let us go home, especially as we later found out, that over 100 employees from our corporation died that day (and we don't get it off this year either - very very odd considering how big a deal the corporate heads made of it in the months following last september). i called my girlfriend (now fiancee) to see if she was ok, but i couldn't reach her and i was worried. i called my parents' house too, but they weren't home yet either. i had planned to go there after work, as my dad's birthday is september 11th (yeah, beleive it) and i wanted to see him. i wasn't going to let the tragedy stop me, so i went. it was pretty somber there - the usual 24/7 sports viewing was temorarily replaced by 24/7 news. i wished him a happy birthday despite everything. i called my girlfriend, and yes she was ok of course. her school had let out early just like many others had done that day and she just wasn't home yet when i called from work. after a couple hours at my parents' house, i went home and did my best to sleep. i guess, in the end, i had a pretty typical day - when you compare it to everyone else's in the nation, outside of NYC and DC. i was pretty depressed for awhile, but time heals all wounds i suppose. i think i'll go see my dad again this coming wednesday the 11th.

I was in Costa Rica believe it or not. My parents took me and my girlfriend as a graduation present for the both of us. We were staying at a place called Lapa Rios on the Osa peninsula at the time (www.laparios.com -- if you go to costa rica, go here.) We had gotten up early and gone out hiking. As we were returning to the lodge, the manager greeted us at the door, which isn't strange in and of itself, but what he said was quite odd. He said to the 4 of us in his costa rican accent: "I've got some very bad news. There's been a tragedy in the United States."

At this point, I thought that perhaps there had been an earthquake or a plane crash or maybe something had happened to the president or something, just by the way he said it. Then he started telling us about the planes. It was a shocking feeling.

Normally, there are no TVs anywhere in Lapa Rios. However, for this occasion, the manager had violated the rules and brought his personal television up to the lodge for everyone to watch. We all sat there all day and watched the news. In spanish, of course, switching between a Costa Rican station and a Panamanian station. Occasionally, we'd ask the staff to translate what the newscasters were saying. Mostly we could just watch the pictures and recognize words like "Casa Blanca" and "presidente de los Estados Unidos."

Of course, we eventually made it back to San Juan in preparation for our leaving where we were able to get CNN in english and get on the internet. But until then, we were very clueless as to what was happening. If i remember correctly, our flight was scheduled to leave to return home on the 14th. And we actually made it. Ours was the first flight back to the states that they had not cancelled.

Upon returning it was strange to learn of all the things that we had missed while out of the country. Everyone here seemed to know so much more about everything than we did. It took us all some time to catch up. We all had someone to worry about. Not too many people didn't know someone in either NYC or DC.

Anyways. Just my story.

I was sitting in one of my Comp classes that day. One of our students came into class a little late and said something about a plane hitting one of the World Trade Center towers. My first reaction was "What a dumbass!" I figured some idiot in a single engine had flown off course and slammed into the side of the building. (Its happened before with the Empire State Bldg).

A few minutes later the director of the school burst into the room and said "They just hit the other tower." Then I knew it wasn't some goof in a single engine.

Me and one of my fellow classmates cobbled together a cable hook-up and spliced into the cable lines in the room next to ours (apparently those classes paid off ) and we turned on the news.

All the students gathered around from our room as well as a few other rooms nearby and even the Admin peeps came in and sat down.

The room remained quiet as we heard "A plane just hit the Pentagon." And then "A plane has gone down in PA."

We all were thinking and some of us even said "Jesus Christ! How many friggin' planes did they get?" We all waited to see if the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Bldg, Sears Tower in Chicago, White House, or LAX were next.

When we saw the first tower fall, some people in the room started crying (I think I was one of them- I had friends and a cousin that worked in or near the towers).

We watched as the second tower went down. Nobody knew what to say. Nobody said or did anything. We all just sat there..not believing what the hell we just saw.

Not too long after that, school was dismissed and I went straight to my house to check on my loved ones. I also called my brother (in Chicago) to see if he was OK.

We spent the day with my parents trying to figure out what the hell we saw and what the hell just happened in front of us. My dad (retired, 20 yrs in the USAF) said "Somebody picked the wrong country to f**k with today."

I did find out later that my cousin was near the buildings when they were hit. I also found out that one of my friends that worked in the towers was actually walking in the buidling when it was hit. She said she heard a roar and felt a tremor like an earthquake. Well, she said (to us later on) her dad said if she heard something like that in any place BUT Los Angeles to turn and run like hell....don't even look back...just run...and she did. And she made it.

I live in Washington, DC. I won't discuss the 11th in this thread.

On September 8th, I met a girl. We made plans to see each other that Thursday, September 13th.

"Out of bad things, baby, good things sometimes come."

9/11 was the day that made me hope I never have to experience anything like it again. I work in a NYC hospital between 5 and 10 miles (in a straight line) from "ground zero". I didn't have to be at work until 11:00 AM, so I dropped my daughter off at day-care around 8:45 and drove back home. On the way back, I heard on the radio that a plane just crashed into the World Trade Center. I remember the "personality" I was listening to say "It was bound to happen will all the civilian air traffic around Manhattan... stupid drunk pilot".

I got home and turned on the TV to see what was happening. I couldn't believe my eyes. I saw a gaping hole in the north tower, then I saw the second plane hit and the south tower explode. I immediately called my mom to let her know what was happening - she retired from a brokerage firm located on the 85th floor of tower 2. Her firm would end up losing thirty people.

I put on my scrubs and headed into work 2 hours early. All hospitals in NYC and the surrounding areas were put on disaster alert. My hospital was set for a "code major" - a major disaster with greater than 50 people injured. I got into work to see that stretchers and gurneys were lined up along the walls in the hallways ready for patients. Our ambulances were heading into the city with physicians to assist. A minor league baseball field close to us was set up as a makeshift morgue. I remember someone saying "A plane crashed into the Pentagon, and another crashed in Pa.". I remember wondering what was happening? Who is doing this to us?

People had started showing up to give blood. The hospital's trauma team was waiting on the ambulance bay outside for any causalties that came our way. I was screening and taking the vital signs of prospective blood donors. During a lull, I'd run to a TV or to the top floors to try and see what was going on.

The most horrible thing about the whole day? Knowing that we weren't going to see many casualties after watching the towers collapse. My hospital received around five patients from the attacks. Our sister hospital in Manhattan got around a hundred.

(edited for grammar and syntax)

Honestly, Sep 11 was the day that I knew that overweight, ignorant-to-the-world Americans would be breaking out their "Patriot: Scud Buster" T-shirts again.

Yes, I am bitter, for our country has still not realized that we are hated because of jealousy, not for some religious rage. Just plain jealousy, disguised by political leaders as a movement. The people who hate us cannot emulate us, even though Israel can, with rule of law and democracy. So, their leaders push this hatred of the west and Jews on them.

Why is this so, and why would a humble EN board fan know this to be certain? Because I see it every day.

I was in Kazakhstan at the time, as I am now, and, of course, it was evening for us.

We were on high alert, and I saw the Israeli embassy militarize across the street. Once we realized it's scope, we stood down some. One thing I will never forget is that the Russian/local news was claiming all sorts of wacked-out crud, like 10 planes were still missing at EST noon and such.

Since, I have seen the US pump even more millions into this area as foreign aid. You would be ashamed how it is spent! Neither creating democracy nor rule of law. I have watched FOX news commentators (I get cable) write on maps John Madden-style and misname countries apparently because they can't read an atlas. I have heard the same commentators say rediculous things like "Afghanistan and other Arab nations."

And, attack me if you will, I am glad that I will not be in my great country during the one-year anniversary. Just can't take the jingoism.

The "War on Terrorism" is an ephemeral idea, yet it is as ideological as the eastern front of WWII. It is the Lexus and the Olive Tree finally coming to blows.

Looking back...

September 11 was the day the American people began to allow their last shreds of freedom to be torn from them, not by a foreign invader, but by internal parasites pretending to serve them.

On this day, my boss called my from a train he just boarded, he had caught the first glimpses of CNNs report at the station in Frankfurt and would be on this train for at least 3-4 hours but he wanted to know what it was that he just saw...

I tried to get to the usual news sites but must of them were already down, due to the enormous amount of hits they took from people worldwide who wanted to be as informed as they could.

I called my mother at home and asked her if the tv was already reporting and she called me back a few times, every time with some more horrible news...

Meanwhile some coworkers gathered and clung to my monitor as I tried to pry as much information from a rapidly dissolving internet as possible (more and more servers went down).

ENWorld was one of the prime resources I got, with people putting up every bit of info they were able to get to. (Thanks TrippleH and everyone else who put up info)

Even here in Germany people were shocked and quite afraid, as noone knew what would happen next...