THE MORNING OF SEPT. 11TH: Where were you and what was the weirdest thing you noticed that day in your own world??

• HndsmKansan
  
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  Sep 11, 2008 2:59 PM GMT

  Well today is the anniversary... I'm sure we all remember it vividly, what you were doing, where you were at... how the day went.
  
  It was interesting watching MSNBC this morning as they reran footage of the TODAY show with the observations made by Matt & Katie.
  
  I know we have had threads recounting where we were at, but you might note
  the odd things of the day you experienced and any additional comments you might want to make.
  
  I think we can all say it was a horrible, awful day and for that time, we all came together, backed Bush in his initial actions and spoke with one voice.
  
  I was in Toronto seeing a friend after a weekend with other friends in Rochester. I was "locked out" until I could get back in after a train trip to Windsor, ON and immigration in Detroit. Didn't have a problem after that, but with only 10 passengers on the 737 to St. Louis, the whole experience isn't one I will ever forget.
  
  Parents.. I remember my Dad telling me he wanted updates on what was happening with me at least twice a day. I felt like I was 15 years old again...
  
  You?

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• shoelessj
  
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  Sep 11, 2008 3:49 PM GMT

  I woke up, as i always did, to sports radio. One of the hosts said something about not talking about sports that morning, "in light of what has been happening."
  
  I drove to my job at a B2B publisher in the suburbs outside O'Hare airport, and by that time i had heard what happened. Driving in listening to news radio, on the same highway that goes to O'Hare, traffic was eerily slow, and planes were still landing at O'Hare, and I was scared shitless whenever a plane would appear overhead.
  
  I got to work and e-mails were sent around saying that our offices in NYC, Penn. and other east coast locations, were closed. My boss at the time insisted on working, and all she would say about the events of the day were that they were somehow the fault of "the doves" in American society. She was a complete bitch in many other ways, as well, and not very smart at all.
  
  For some reason I stayed at work until about 2pm, with just a part-timer, because this bitch really frightened me, until HR started calling to say everyone is gone, we're closing the office now. Strange when i got home, too, that it seemed everyone was out on the street and people just wanted to talk to each other, even to strangers; no one, it seemed, wanted to be alone.

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  Sep 11, 2008 4:18 PM GMT

  I immediately called my father who is in the oil refining industry. And it was spooky because it took a while for me to get through his staff to get to him when normally it's no problem. The reason being, and this is the "weird" part, but the refinery was in lock down mode. They've had plans in place for years for these type of situations when a threat was high that they could be bombed. So, even here in the heartland there was major impact so early in the course of events.

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  Sep 11, 2008 4:25 PM GMT

  I am glad you put this up. I was about to put up a 9/11 remembrance topic.
  
  I was at work in the office. Someone mentioned they heard a place flew into a building. We started looking on CNN for the web video. I remember the whole internet jammed up that day .. and I was at a telecommunications company!!
  
  When I heard, I remember thinking .. there is no way they will bring that building down with one airplane. Boy was I wrong.
  
  Here is a "hymn for the fallen"
  
  

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• CuriousJockAZ
  
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  Sep 11, 2008 4:27 PM GMT

  I was sound asleep in bed living in Los Angeles. My mom called me crying. She said, "Honey, are you watching the TV? We're being attacked"...I turned on the TV just as the first World Trade Center tower was falling. I couldn't even comprehend it at first because I was still sort of bleary-eyed having just woken up. I sat there glued to the TV the entire day and night, never leaving my house.

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  Sep 11, 2008 4:41 PM GMT

  You asked for weird, so here goes. Amidst everything going on that day, all I really clearly remember was noticing how fantastic one of my classmates' boobs were. I suppose that was my mind processing the surrealism of it all - or refusing to process it at the time, maybe.

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  Sep 11, 2008 4:45 PM GMT

  Well I was at work and remember the shock and fear that people were experiencing. I also remember the anxiety of one of our senior executive's whose son was working in the World Trade Centre (he got out fine).
  
  Also I remember my partner telling me his boss worked right through the whole thing, didn't seem to be phased by it. I found that really weird.
  
  And finally I noticed the eerie silence in the skys due to the grounding of all aircraft. On September 18th I took a business trip on a 37-seat commuter plane. I was one of six passengers on the aircraft (it would normally be full). I realized at that moment the airline industry was in deep trouble.

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  Sep 11, 2008 4:48 PM GMT

  zdrew saidYou asked for weird, so here goes. Amidst everything going on that day, all I really clearly remember was noticing how fantastic one of my classmates' boobs were.

  
  
  And here I thought Sedative was going to take the first stab! Although, that is very weird that you noticed your classmate's boobs.
  
  I myself was in bed when my Mom came into the room saying that the Twin Towers were hit. I too was glued to the TV until we had went to the mall. Unlike shoelessj, no one was out. The city seemed to be a ghost town. The mall had even turned off it's overhead music system which drove home the eerie feeling.

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  Sep 11, 2008 4:55 PM GMT

  We watched the Today Show live feed via the tvs where I worked until the first tower fell. Then I called a co-worker who was driving back from Rhode Island that day. After that, I went back to work.
  
  The weirdest thing I noticed that day was the absence of war planes shooting those things out of the sky and my realizing the world could end in a heartbeat, so I'd better lose my virginity before it was too late.

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  Sep 11, 2008 4:59 PM GMT

  This is hard to write for me.
  
  I live in Boston. I remember taking the Red line into South Station, as I walked above ground I was noticing how blue the sky was and how I was wishing that I didnt have to get to work.
  
  I worked for verizon and was in my office on a large conference call w/ our office in NY, Arlington, Tampa. The NY office was across the street from the Twin Towers. Then someone screamed from the NY office saying a plane had hit the tower.
  
  I was iming my partner who worked in the Pru (NE highest tower building). We both thought it was strange that a pilot couldnt see that he was flying into one of the towers.
  
  Then, we heard the NY office again say another plane hit, then the Arlington office reported seeing a plane hit the Pentagon.
  
  Our world changed at that moment. We changed our conference call to an emergency line to get word out to employees.
  
  I started recieving calls from our employees who were on the ferries in NY harbor going to work crying about what they saw. Then talking w/ co-workers who were having to flee through the streets of NY. They reported what they saw or were steping over to get out of the area.
  
  Our Boston office evacated along w/ other offices in Boston. I waited inline to get back on the subway at South Station. No one was talking, and everyone was making room to get as many people on each train as possible. Once I was on a very very crowd train it was quite the only sound heard were the people who were crying.
  
  My partner was to walk from the 38th floor of the Pru and help those who were out of shape walk down. It took him well over 4 hours to get home.
  
  After the 2nd plane hit I called my family on the west coast and woke them up and to let them know we were ok.
  
  I try not to think to much on this day and just work. I dont go to any of the memorials, as I only want to get through the day.
  
  

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  Sep 11, 2008 5:01 PM GMT

  I woke-up to reports on the radio of one of the towers "on fire" - when the reality of what was happening hit I called my boss to let her know. We had a major client and good friends in Tower 2. I can still remember the total numb, shrinking in the pit of my stomach feeling as I watched everything unfold on TV - and wondering if my friends were OK. When I finally made it into the office - it was like a tomb there, no one was talking, no laughing, no sounds. I opened-up my e-mail and saw an e-mail from my client/friend which was sent 30 mins. before the first plane hit - and I broke down right there because I knew he was in the building.
  
  Later that afternoon one of his co-workers was able to call the office and ask if we had heard anything from any of her coworkers (the lines in NY were jammed and it was chaos). She said that she saw the first plane hit - and turned around and went home. Though-out the day and into the next we were trading phone calls trying to get information - NY was in an information "black-out" and no-one really knew what was going-on.
  
  I didn't hear from my friend until later the next day and he gave me a full recap of what happened and the heroics of average people. People helping each other down the stairs and away from the fire, smoke and raining debris. He said that his last memory was of running away from the building as fast as he could just as it was collapsing, almost being overcome by the smoke and dust.
  
  To this day I will never forget what happened...

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  Sep 11, 2008 5:01 PM GMT

  HndsmKansan said
  I think we can all say it was a horrible, awful day and for that time, we all came together, backed Bush in his initial actions and spoke with one voice.
  

  
  
  No, I definitely do NOT think we can all say that. I never backed Bush's post-9/11 actions, along with many others New Yorkers.
  
  Anyway, I was in class at college, after the towers had been hit, and my English professor walked in and said "I don't know why we're even here today. This all seems very unimportant right now."

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  Sep 11, 2008 5:13 PM GMT

  I was working at JFK airport sitting in my office. Could not beleive what was taking place. Then as I watched as the first tower fell I actually got so mad and angry I started punching the walls and my desk
  
  As the District Manager , I had ordered everyone to leave the office for the day. JFK airport was closed down
  
  Lost a couple of friends that day
  
  Born and raised in NY. Ironically the Twin Towers were built the same year I was born. Still devastated by it
  
  
  Found this 9-11 dedication page online.
  http://www.groupnex.com/profile/extended.php?profile_name=911tribute
  
  

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• VinBaltimore
  
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  Sep 11, 2008 5:17 PM GMT

  I went into work early that day because I had to review the final proofs for a book that was supposed to have been printed days ago. I remember a coworker coming in and telling me a plane had just hit the WTC. At the time we thought it was an accident and come to think of it, there was no sense of panic in his voice or anything. He went to go onto MSN again and couldn't even get on the page, I guess because of web traffic. Then he said it was actually two planes and might have been a terrorist attack.
  
  I was still in the closet at work and couldn't really tell anyone I was dating someone that was working in the WTC that day. We had just started dating so it wasn't like I was frantic, but I was concerned and couldn't really talk to anyone about it. No answer on his cell after several calls. Did eventually get his voice mail. He called me back. Turned out he was also dating someone in NY and was at his house at the time, far from the attack.
  
  Once I heard about DC I was worried about my sister because she worked near the White House, which was another potential target. I still have the email my sister sent me about how her company was one of the few that was NOT evaculating.
  
  I remember leaving work and I had my car windows opened. It was so oddly quiet. Everywhere I looked no one was talking and everyone was glued to the news on the radio.

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• DJZ77
  
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  Sep 11, 2008 5:19 PM GMT

  Wow... 9/11 stands out so clearly to me. I can not only recall the day, but the smell of it too.
  
  The day started out like any other for me, I was still in college at the time and school's main campus is located steps away from the Brooklyn Bridge (Brooklyn end). The morning was super bright and sunny and there was a crisp coolness in the air already. I got ready and went off to class, as I was leaving, a special report came on the radio saying that a plane had just crashed into one of the WTC towers. Granted, I was shocked, but I as many at the time thought it was an accident. So off I went to school, as I was getting to school I got a call from my parents telling me that a second plane crashed into the other tower and wanted me to go back home. Kinda too late being that I was already there and figured I should just stay and see what was going on. I get to school and the TV's in the cafeteria were tuned into news channels. By this time, there was news that another plane had crashed into the Pentagon and something was clearly wrong. That's when I started getting worried and decided to get the hell out of there as fast as I could. As I was coming out of the building, I saw something similar to that of a mushroom cloud, to the effect of the atomic bomb if you will. The first tower had collapsed. I ran back in and sure enough the first tower had fallen. A few minutes later droves of people were coming across the bridge from Manhattan covered in soot and some were obviously injured. Before they even crossed over you could smell smoke in the air and pick out pieces of paper coming across the river to Brooklyn. Bits and pieces of paper that came across from offices that were once inside the WTC. My school was basically taken over by the red cross and was where most of the people were headed to. I decided to leave and go home, but sure enough the NYC Mass Transit was shut down completely. I lived about 2 miles from school and just walked it. Not only that, but by this time the second tower had fallen and local news stations as well as mobile phone providers had lost all communication. This being that most of the networks were transmitting from the WTC. So I had no phone service, dead air on the radio and NYC looked like a war zone. I finally get to my parent's house, but I still did not feel good, even after being there. I remember that night, my parents and I slept in the living room because we were all somewhat scared because of what had happened that day. The following morning, just seemed surreal and I just stayed in the entire day. It took about a week for things to go back to somewhat normal. It's like the saying goes "We will never forget", especially those of us who lost friends during these attacks and who witnessed it first hand. I fortunately did not lose anyone to these attacks, but my heart and deepest sympathy goes out to all of those who did.
  
  -D

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  Sep 11, 2008 5:19 PM GMT

  I realized it early today when I made a post in another forum and noticed the date on it - Sept. 11.
  
  I was still in high school at that time. I remember waking up and watching the news on tv, by that time, both towers were burning I think. It was surreal. I kept thinking this has to be some kind of movie or something.
  
  I didn't go to school that morning, went in the afternoon and found out that classes were suspended anyway. I remember telling one classmate who wasn't aware of it since he commutes from quite a distance and hadn't been able to watch tv. He really thought we were joking.
  
  Later on when they showed footage of people jumping, I couldn't stomach it anymore and just turned the tv off.
  
  And no, *smacks HighVoltageGuy* I was completely sober that day. Heh

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  Sep 11, 2008 5:28 PM GMT

  in college. i got a call from my family telling me to turn on the news. my roomates and i watched the tv nonstop all day scared shitless about what was coming next. it was so weird to not have airplanes flying over my campus and i remember when planes first started flying again, we would all be walking across campus and stop and just freeze because it was nerve racking. creepy.
  
  on a lighter note, this was also the day the Glitter soundtrack came out. i had planned to go into the city to get it, but sadly i wasnt able to cuz the subways were closed down due to more pressing issues. i eventually got it that thursday LOL.

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  Sep 11, 2008 5:31 PM GMT

  PS Recommended movie of the day: WTC View

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• germanguy888
  
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  Sep 11, 2008 5:35 PM GMT

  i was in my 7th grade math class (yea i'm on the younger side) when they made an announcment but we continued after the announcement since the announcement wasn't that spicific. (i was in north west jersey at the time about an hour west of the city). But at lunch time there were NO planes in the sky which was odd (i later found out that one of the planes flew right over my town) another thing that really stood out in my mind was my spanish teacher was sitting outside one of the doors on her phone crying which made me realize that something major had happened. after i got home my mom gave me a big hug and told me that my uncle (who worked for a french bank in NYC) was ok and that my other uncle (who lives near DC) was ok but his daughters' school was on lockdown but were planning on letting them out soon.
  
  I found out later that week that a few of my classmates lost parents in the towers and that a teacher from the middle school in the next town over was on board one of the planes (i believe flight 93).
  
  thats my story which isn't as sad as some but in 7th grade it was a lot to take in all at once.
  
  (i should mention it was wierd that no planes were going over because i lived on one of the major approaches to newark {EWR})

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  Sep 11, 2008 5:50 PM GMT

  I was in Elementary School and my friend A.J. drew a crappy Onyx pokemon but I said it was pretty good anyway. Also I was mad that my mom didn't pick me up from school and I had to walk home... o.O

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• acrojock10
  
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  Sep 11, 2008 5:50 PM GMT

  I was in my 20th century international relations class... Talking about religious extremism tied into terrorism... next thing I know the WTC and pentagon are on fire.

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  Sep 11, 2008 5:57 PM GMT

  As I had been laid off the previous Wednesday, I had planned on just relaxing that week and woke up just before 9 a.m. I got a call from my then-partner that "a plane had hit a skyscraper in New York City" and that I should check the news. I was watching when the second plane hit the other tower and was watching when both buildings came down. I had already planned to go into my church to help with the Tuesday Meal Program to prepare dinner for people, so I went in at 11:30 and did that. It was good to have something tangible to do, and I got to talk with some other people.
  
  My church decided to open up for anyone in Harvard Square who wanted to just come in and meditate/pray/be somewhere quiet, and I remember sitting there in the afternoon wondering "What bad things could have happened to these people that they would consider doing such a thing?" I soon discovered from the news reports and other things that I heard was that many people's first reaction was just to bomb everyone all over the world, because they did this to us. The weird thing for me was to discover how differently people thought about this, as it was a big reaction to the event, instead of thinking about why it happened.
  
  There was a big vigil that evening at one of the churches in Harvard Square, where all the other churches congregated. Other than that, I just remembered walking around in a daze, not sure what to do.
  
  While I didn't loose anyone I knew, I know people who did. As two of the planes came from Boston, it was mostly people who were on the flights as opposed to in the WTC.

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• swlaman82
  
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  Sep 11, 2008 6:03 PM GMT

  I was in class and had no clue that anything had happened until I got in my truck to leave campus and all I heard on the radio was talking. After flipping through all of my pre-set stations I realized that it was news I was hearing and not commercials so I just listened as I drove to work. At work we all just sat in front of a tiny TV and listened while we tried to decide what would happen to our upcoming football game that Saturday and how we would get to it (we were supposed to fly).

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  Sep 11, 2008 6:09 PM GMT

  I was in my Telcom & Networking class when one of the guys comes in late and yells out what was happening. I still remember him saying "A PLANE JUST CRASHED IN TO THE WORLD TRADE CENTER!" I jumped up and ran to a computer to see CNN and if it was true. Took forever to load. Our class didn't have any cable TV because of some BS so there we sat waiting and couldnt see anything on the net. I stayed there thinking about if my then fiance had gone to work or not and if he had if he was there already.
  It wasn't until 2 hours later that I got to my next class to see what was happening only to see a replay of the north tower collapasing when my teacher told me they were both down. Then my cell phone rang and its like I already knew. He was then and is still missing. its been a long and hard seven years but I think now i've begun to feel like It's okay to move on. Last seven years have felt like something out of a Tom Clancy novel-based movie that I haven't been able to accept. Partly I think because I never saw all of it happen on TV like IRL. Last year I watched the entire replay of that day on MSNBC and I think then is when I was really finally able to be like okay. Feels odd this year because I feel like I have someone new in my life that I could have something with. I've been single for almost 5 of the last 7 years. Today i find myself questioning if it is okay to move on. This new guy has been very understanding. i just try not to forget the memories we had and think what would he want for me.

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• treader
  
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  Sep 11, 2008 6:29 PM GMT

  
  If you believe it, I was at an army conference with the Surgeon General of the military down in Florida. Our Boston research lab was demonstrating a prototype trauma simulator to the military the day before (Sept 10th). The demo went well so we were celebrating late into the night. (We were suppose to meet the military the next day to talk about moving the prototype into production - it never happened.)
  
  As a result, I woke up late on Sept 11th. The conference hotel seemed like a ghost town. No one was around. Everyone was gone it seemed. Then I found everyone packed into one of the restaurants all watching the TV. One of the twin towers was on fire - an accident with a plane. Then the second plane hit. Everyone just froze then panic set in. Military personnal were running around with their cellphones. One of the army guys who helped us with our project told us that this was an attack and that the army had special planes to evacuate military personnel. Then he got a phone call and he told us he was being sent to Afghanistan.
  
  Then I realized that the planes that hit the Towers were from Boston. I called my mom and friends to let them know that I was OK. I wasn't on those flights.
  
  Then of course, we all realized that we were stuck in Florida. There was no way we were going to get anywhere near an airplane with our trauma simulator with its custom electronics and fake blood. We had one alternative - drive all the back to Boston in one of the rental vans that we had borrowed for the conference. We dropped our suitcases and boxes off at FedEx and drove for the next two and half days up the east coast.
  
  We stopped in DC late Sept 13th. Passed by NYC on Sept 14th. Eeire not seeing the towers. Hertz never charged us anything extra for the van.
  
  They just opened a new memorial at Logan airport here in Boston the other day. The first memorial is in the Public Garden. I walked by it from time to time.

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