Where Were You When 9/11 Happened?

[Roy Brooks]

I was sitting on the couch smoking a bowl. The phone rang. And the person who called me told me to turn on the TV right now. This was after the first tower was hit but not the second one. I finished my bowl while waiting to see what was going to happen next.

[Brandenburg]

on 9/11... I was BS'in with a gaming buddy on the now defunct MS Zone-Close Combat III server.. Ironically enough.. I was toying with the idea of making a new religion.. Brandanism. A religion based on debauchery and hedonism.. LOL

 

Some one said that the Germans attacked US soil in WW2.. need some sources for these alleged attacks or it just:facepalm:

 

Only attacks I am aware of was the very successful campaign by U-boats off the eastern seaboard.. Not on US "soil" but is in territorial waters..

 

Lets turn this is into debate on WW II or terrorism... nothing better to do atm..ehehhehheheh:blah:

 

I have a reasonable amount of knowledge and opinions on both:thu:

[Bookumdano2]

I was at One Trade in September 1988 on I dunno, 85th floor or something remotely considering a relocation job offer. I was in and out of there over a 3 or 4 day period and vividly remember the floors, elevators, feel of the building. I was actually driving a rental car out there between the area and out at JFK, so that was an adventure in itself.

 

I was back out there for other meetings for a day or two at a time in the 90's . Was over in New Jersey twice for something or other too. Always short, 2-3 day trips at the most from here in L.A . I could not get comfortable with the feel of the east coast. Dunno what it was, but I just didn't feel comfortable with any area I was in. Of course I often run into lots of S. Cal visitors who can not get into the idea of living here either, so there you go.

 

On Sept 11, I was running my company like any other day, probably ... certainly hanging out from time to time at Craig's OTHER board of those days .... and saw the news hit the tv and the internet about the same time.

 

I'm still iin shock over that day. I saw a History Channel prog last week called "102 minutes" or something and that is a must-see. Brings the day right back in a different light than just the newscasts. But the raw pit-in-the-stomach feel comes right back.

 

Anyway, a side effect of Sept 11 is that I am now so permanently spooked, I just won't ever go back to New York again for anything whatsover ... ever. at all. Not that here in L.A is any sort of safe haven, but that is simply the huge huge impact 9-11 had on me personally. I'll just never ever go back out there.

 

Oh man, and the part that I wasn't even thinking about when I posted above is that a guy I knew pretty well in the 70's was out in NY for a business trip and in the Marriott on Sept 11 when the first plane hit. He had called his wife to let her know he was okay and heading out of there. He was never heard from after that call and presumed killed when the North tower came down, crushing the Marriott. His name is on those lists you see online of the victims and I remember getting the news about him from family friends a couple of days after Sept 11 and thinking ... "why on earth would he have been in New York... much less at the Trade center area ???.

[rasputin1963]

Here, in Boerne, Texas, I had been loaned a POS, ugly 1970's EL CAMINO to drive.

 

At the precise moment of the NYC bombings, the El Cam just stopped in its tracks, exploding in a hiss of steam and smoke, never to function again.

 

It almost seemed to be reacting sympathetically to the NYC events... weird..

 

 

A few years earlier, I had had lunch--- a lousy, expensive, Yankee-style hamburger---- at the top of the WINDOWS OF THE WORLD cafe. I still have the photographs taken from that impossibly high vantage point in the clouds. Weird to think it no longer exists...

[Lukenskywalker]

^ Bookumdano, that's totally understandable...i've been all through Europe, North Africa, The leeward Islands, Hawaii, etc. and Never felt a twinge of uneasiness,or like a fish out of water...

A lot of my best buds from college in the sixties, military buds from the 70's, 80's all east coasters, moved to San Diego, San Francisco Los Angeles, etc and totally fell in love with the area and vibes and begged me to come out...

I came to visit but never fell in step, I always felt out of place...

It wasnt like it was a bad experience, I can't explain it...

 

I love NYC, while in College I wandered the streets of Greenwich Village while visiting my girlfriend who was attending the Cooper Union,

I love the venerable age of the old buildings, something that is hard to find on the west coast...

 

 

I am a total aficionado of Art Deco, and Ken's photo's of the buildings in LA are almost enough to lure me back should he volunteer to take me on a tour...Dinner on me Ken, should you agree...

 

I have been spending almost every weekend in Philly Chinatown . taking amatuer shots of the old Chinese building facades, a laundry bldg that dates back to 1865, the first Chinese restuarant...1867.

 

Chinatown philly has Malaysian, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Japanese, restaurants in legendary numbers...my current favorite is the Vietnamese PHO restaurants...love that soup.

 

If you feel uncomfortable on the East Coast, you definitely have a valid reason...

I'm thinkin' of Papa John Phillips when he wrote 'California Dreamin'.

 

Paraphrasing some old dude...

'East is East and West is West, and never the 'twains shall Meet.'

[adsxoom]

was in aisa

[Lukenskywalker]

 

was in aisa

 

 

Is that anywhere near Asia?

[Lukenskywalker]

 

I just turned the TV on to watch the news and drink my morning coffee. The CNN anchor was discussing a plane that crashed into the WTC. I called my brother to find out what was going on because he worked about 3 blocks over. He had no idea a plane crashed. He told me he would be right back. 30 seconds later, he gets back on the phone with an urgent calmness stating that another plane just crashed into the other WTC and he was ordered to evacuate. I looked at the TV and watched in slo-mo as this other plane came crashing in. Crazy... At that point, I knew something was completely wrong and jumped into my car to get to my wifes school. For some reason, that seemed like the best place to go. The crazy thing is that as I get there, theres an Police Officer stationed outside the school but he has no idea whats going on. I tell him and he gets on his walkie-talkie. I go straight to the Principles office, tell him whats going on and hes like, what do we do? I don`t know what took over but I just told him he had to lock down the school: no one in, no one out. I think he knew what he had to do but he just got paralyzed, it was understandably shocking to hear this the first time and honestly, its the reason why I never got on GWs case for waiting 7 minutes. I think the brain needs time to wrap its head around stuff like this and then you need a calm mind to decide whats best. I then ran upstairs to my wifes classroom and you could see the WTC from her window. I warned her that what I was going to tell her was crazy and not to show any shock but I told her what happened and then to look out the window. She turned around and could not believe it. She had a classroom of 24 six year olds so it was important to act normal. I went back downstairs and for the rest of the day I directed traffic for parents picking up their kids. Somewhere around 10:30a, I called my mother up to see what was going on because there was no access to any TVs. My mother told me that one of the towers fell. I had to ask her about 3x to repeat herself. I simply could not believe that was possible. My wife and I drove him later that day and 9 miles away from ground zero we were picking up papers from the towers in the middle of the street and you could clearly see the smoke rising in the sky 9 miles away. For the rest of the day we sat in front of TV, hardly eating or speaking. We lit a candle in the evening and since then, that candle has been lit. It was a day I`ll never forget, as cliche as that sounds. A month later, I finally went into the city to return some shoes that I had purchased over the summer. The strange thing:I was planning on returning those shoes on 9-11 and I would have had to past the WTC on my way there. Something just told me to go another day. Amazingly enough, I knew a lot of people that worked in that area and no one perished.

 

 

Wow, Ernest, somehow I missed this post... astounding, yet predictable of how a New Yorker might expect his day to be....anytime, anyday;)

 

Dude, you handled yourself admirably. taking care of your loved ones, putting in your volunteer time with your wifes classroom kids and parents...and then ending your saga with the comment about returning your shoes a month later...

A tribute to the resolute heart and 'business as usual' of a 'Garden Variety' New Yorker...

That's why I love NYC and it's 'peeps'

 

I'm also sure the West Coasters would handle themselves with the same dignity and aplomb should any catastrophe of this magnitude befall them.

[leftajarandy]

I just came in from school and was about to go meet my friends for a game of footy (or soccer as you guys refer to it as!) and it was on the news, I thought it was a movie or something!!