I was on I-10...listening to sports radio...listening to Ken Hatfield talk about Rice football...and they broke in reporting on the second tower hit....i called my mom to ask if she was watching...i was so frustrated i couldn't see what was going on...i was taking my son to a little church where he went to day care on Tuesdays...as more reports came in of planes falling from the sky, i remember feeling like the world was falling apart outside my car...dropped my son off at church and went into the office...i was the only one there...turned on the tv and not long after, the second tower collapsed. i was lost. my wife called from the school where she taught and was confused...she wasn't told what was going on but parents were coming in picking up kids...i left...picked up my son...grabbed some drive-thru lunch...went home and watched news coverage...eventually fell asleep on the couch....my wife got home and saw the day's events for the first time...we went to dinner at Pizza Roma...went to sleep with news coverage on that night... my God, what an awful day.
Read it on yahoo news while at work. They first reported it as a small plane (Cessna). Then more news came in and we all saw it for what it really was...an attack. Every TV in our suite was turned on to a news channel and everyone who works here started huddling around it. Needless to say not a whole lot was done that day workwise. Got home around 5PM, turned on the news, and started drinking like a fish.
I just read every post in this thread. I then went to the AIRPLANE CRASHES INTO THE WORLD TRADE CENTER!!!!!! thread that Mr_Oily posted and re-read that entire thread. It was so eerie....Looking at the times that the threads were posted...looking at the speculations that were either verified later in the thread or disappeared from dialogue as a rumor...reading ArtVandolet's post at 9:07 a.m. on September 11, 2001 where he assumes it was Bin Laden...The whole thing is chilling. It should be required reading. It's simply amazing. I never realized what a snapshot of time this forum provides. It's kinda magic. I feel so shallow admitting what I was doing on 9-11-01. I ran out of the office at 8:00 because John and Lance on 610AM (new home of the Rockets!) were going to release my Moochie Norris song coming out of the 8:00 commercial break. They ended the commercials a tad early and then John made mention of a second plane hitting the tower. He and LZ were saying how, 'Oh this is bad. This is real bad...' and then they went to national coverage. It was so awkward going from excited about my silly song getting airtime to worried, threatened, scared, sorrowful, so damn many emotions all at once. I hustled into the office and called my wife, told her I love her and I would be home as soon as i could. We watched Channel 2 news for a couple hours. Sometime during then the CEO of National Oilwell (my company) sent an email to every one of his 8,000 employees worldwide stating that all non-critical personnel were free to go home or to church or to mosque or synagogue or do WHATEVER they felt they needed to get through this. I thought that was about the classiest email ever. So I went home and camped out afront the tv. Chance
I was walking home from an early morning class. A couple of friends of my girlfriend's stopped me, and said that a plane had flown into the WTC. It might be terrorists, but it might have been an accident. I walked the rest of the way home, then turned on the tv. I got online on ccnet for a bit, then called my girlfriend, and we spent most of the day watching news.And getting in touch with all our family, knowing they should be safe... but just wanting to be sure and to let them know we loved them. My closest friend at college thought his estranged father was on one of the flights to Los Angeles. For a while, they thought some of the terrorists still might be holed up in Boston, and they had a hold-out at Copley Square, where my girlfriend works. That was frightening, too. It didn't really sink in for me, at least, until the night of the 12th. THe 11th was just unbelievable - I mean, for anyone born after the Viet Nam war like myself, almost nothing seriously bad has ever happened in the US. Then all of the sudden...
I was right here in Washington DC wondering where that guided missile was going to hit. I thank the passengers of that flight for possibly saving my life.
I was at home working (I have business at home), and my brother actually came and told me. I thought "Some idiot grazed the building or something", then when I saw it I was numb. My father called me and we talked about it. Let me tell you, the minute I saw the disaster I knew it was a terrorist attack, as most people thought the same thing. Something just clicked in my head that it was, same thing with my father because that is the first thing he said when he called me. My mother called from work to, and my sister came home early because she works in a federal building. It was just surreal, it didn't seem like it was happening. I walked to the store to get something after looking at T.V., and it was the first time I didn't feel safe walking down the street. It just didn't seem natural. As for DrewP's story about his teacher, man that is weak, she should be ashamed of herself. I'm sure Drew and the kids were going bonkers, I know I was and I was actually WATCHING it! I remember when the Space shuttle "Challenger" exploded. I was going to gym (I was in elementary school), and my gym teacher told us what happened, and he brought a T.V. into the gym room and we looked at the news instead of taking class. He basically told us this was history, sad history, but history nonetheless.
I was headed up to North Harris College. I got to the school and they had T.V's in the hallway showing what happend. I couldnt believe my eyes. The explosions from the planes crashing into the buildings looked like something out of Hollywood. I was in NY in the summer of '98 and I remember how big those buildings were. You dont realize how big they are until you actually see it with your own eyes. Then I saw people jumping from the building at almost a quarter mile up and it sent a shiver down my spine. It was ridicilous. I also remember worrying about a possible military draft because I was only 19 at the time and in pretty good physical shape from playing football in high school. I knew I would be drafted if they decided to do so. I could go on and on but I'll stop here.
I was late to work, driving in listening to BBC News on 90.1. I tuned in just after the first plane hit, then I heard the second plane just before I got to work. At first (before the second plane), they didn't know what kind of airplane it was, and Bush came on and said it was an apparent act of terrorism. I was thinking "wow, that was fast that he could make that accusation", then about 5 to 8 minutes later, there was the second crash. I came into work and the word was just circulating -- people were tuning the classroom TVs to the station set up to broadcast the news (it's complicated, we have a closed circuit TV system). I went down the hall to make sure everyone had the TV on in class, and while I was doing that, the first tower collapsed. The second building fell during the change of classes, but we were all just sitting there, watching it. I was scanning the net for news updates and letting everyone in class know what was going on.
My wife and I were checking in for our kayak trip to the Fern Grotto in Kauai. I'm glad it wasn't cancelled like other events we had planned. Nature is so peaceful and calming, even though I thought we would be stranded.
Mississippi by Bob Dylan Every step of the way we walk the line Your days are numbered, so are mine Time is pilin' up, we struggle and we scrape We're all boxed in, nowhere to escape City's just a jungle, more games to play Trapped in the heart of it, trying to get away I was raised in the country, I been workin' in the town I been in trouble ever since I set my suitcase down Got nothing for you, I had nothing before Don't even have anything for myself anymore Sky full of fire, pain pourin' down Nothing you can sell me, I'll see you around All my powers of expression and thoughts so sublime Could never do you justice in reason or rhyme Only one thing I did wrong Stayed in Mississippi a day too long Well, the devil's in the alley, mule's in the stall Say anything you wanna, I have heard it all I was thinkin' about the things that Rosie said I was dreaming I was sleeping in Rosie's bed Walking through the leaves, falling from the trees Feeling like a stranger nobody sees So many things that we never will undo I know you're sorry, I'm sorry too Some people will offer you their hand and some won't Last night I knew you, tonight I don't I need somethin' strong to distract my mind I'm gonna look at you 'til my eyes go blind Well I got here following the southern star I crossed that river just to be where you are Only one thing I did wrong Stayed in Mississippi a day too long Well my ship's been split to splinters and it's sinking fast I'm drownin' in the poison, got no future, got no past But my heart is not weary, it's light and it's free I've got nothin' but affection for all those who've sailed with me Everybody movin' if they ain't already there Everybody got to move somewhere Stick with me baby, stick with me anyhow Things should start to get interesting right about now My clothes are wet, tight on my skin Not as tight as the corner that I painted myself in I know that fortune is waitin' to be kind So give me your hand and say you'll be mine Well, the emptiness is endless, cold as the clay You can always come back, but you can't come back all the way Only one thing I did wrong Stayed in Mississippi a day too long
Hmm....I don't know if I could keep that promise. (btw, if you don't know, I was born on 9/11/86, so this is a joke.) Before the planes hit, I was sort of saying "Its my birthday." a lot. I only got to say it for about an hour, because in my second period class, Spanish II, my principal made an announcement about the tragedy. He scared us to death because he started out something like this, "We are under attack," which made us think our school was attacked, not our nation. Our teacher started freaking out, but I don't think the class was as freaked as her. We stopped class, I think, and watched TV. I can't remember what we did 3rd, but I think we just discussed it or did work. In activity period, we got to read a update on the internet as well as some pictures, I think. After that, I had lunch, but I don't remember much about that. In my 4th period class, my History class, we watched the TV again. It was pretty quiet the whole period. I think we did work in our 5th and 6th classes, and we worked out in 7th, my athletics class. After I got home, I turned on the TV and was just about glued to it all night. I talked some to my parents, but not much. That was about all I can remember at the moment. ( I think I had a party the weekend before, so I didn't get cake or anything. )
I was getting dressed for work when my grandmother (she watches my daughter) asked me to turn on the TV she heard there was a fire in the WTC. I was putting on my shoes when I saw the second plane hit. All I remember thinking was Holy **** over and over. I watched for a few more minuets and then drove quickly to work. At work everyone was in a confrence room watching the TV. Watching the towers tumble to the ground almost made me sick. Everyone took the rest of the day off. I'm a easy going guy and even death of a close relative didn't effect me the way this attack did.
I came downstairs and found my mother watching the news. Within moments, the second plane hit. I was running late for school so I didn't get to see much more coverage. In my sociology class, rumors were flying around- the Pentagon and White House had both allegedly been hit. The incidents were mentioned only briefly by our instructor before she went into lecture mode. After class let out, there were TVs set up in the hallways all over campus. I joined a crowd gathered around one. They had begun showing footage of the towers collapsing. It was the most horrific thing I had ever seen in my life. I decided to skip the rest of the day. I hurried to my car and cried all the way home.
I was working at my computer. A bit before 9 AM, I called a friend of mine in Boston. She was frantic. I could hardly understand her concern. she assumed I had seen or heard the news. Turns out she has a son who flies to NY a lot and she was unable to locate him. Of course, the targeted planes were not NY bound flights but we didn't know that at the time. I turned on the news in time to see the second plane hit the other tower. Then my mother-in-law calls and wants to know if we had heard from her son, Jack, who lives in our area. He is an executive in the furniture industry and travels by plane to NY quite a bit. It took an hour of phoning to determine that he was not involved in the tragedy. That was a pins-and-needles morning though!!
Vescey - those are some incredible pictures. Your brother got way too close to those buildings, he is lucky to still be alive. Just amazing pictures.
I was in Rome on my honeymoon at the time. We had just visited the Coliseum when someone on the street asked us if it was true what they had heard. I thought it had to be a small plane, or something. It was around 4:00 p.m. Rome time. When we got back to the hotel, we saw on the TV what was happening. There was an English speaking CNN channel in our hotel room in Rome, so we had 24 hour coverage of the incident. It took me a while before I could really comprehend that the towers had collapsed. My wife and I were supposed to fly back to the states on the 12th, but obviously that did not happen. We did not fly out until the 15th, and we were lucky to get out on the flight (our travel agent in Rome knew someone at the ticket counter). When we landed in New York, everyone on the plane gave the crew a standing ovation. We spent the night in a hotel in New York on the 15th, and flew back to Houston on the 16th. We could see the smoke on the plane as we flew out from New York. The pilot asked for a moment of silence as we passed by. The people in Italy were so supportive. When anyone would hear that we were from the U.S., they would bow their head and say they were sorry to hear what happened. The extra stay in Rome was not that bad, considering the circumstances - there are worse places to be stuck. It was an uneasy feeling being out of your country when something tragic happens and not being able to get home right away. The terrible loss suffered by many at home put a damper on our honeymoon, but it gave us time to reflect how lucky we are, and how we took our freedom for granted. Our honeymoon was the land leg at the tail end of a Greek Island cruise. For what its worth, the cruise company, Costa, was wonderful. They reimbursed us for our four nights of extra hotel stays, around $800.00, even though they were under no obligation to do so (we did not purchase the travel insurance).
