9/11 Where were you?
Thread started by
ToddAlmighty at 09.11.10 - 6:34 am
I was on duty at LAFD station 15. I just came on duty when reports came in that the 1st plane hit. When the 2nd plane hit we realized it was no accident. When the 1st tower fell my heart sunk realizing that there were hundreds of firefighters just lost their lives and knew, if it were in LA that would have been me. Prayers go out to all those who lost their lives 9 years ago.
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At home and woke to the radio station talking about it just happening.
My first thought from then on was, "and the rest of the world goes down with it."
Too many lives needlessly lost, too much bullshit to follow after.
bentstrider09.11.10 - 8:02 am
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Surfed that morning in Venice. It was a really good day, nice 3-4 ft.waves, clear sky, tiny breeze.
ubrayj0209.11.10 - 8:14 am
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"Too many lives needlessly lost, too much bullshit to follow after."
That is probably the best quote to sum up the situation.
Foldie responding to a
comment by bentstrider
09.11.10 - 8:16 am
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I was playing a FPS called "Urban Terror" (sweet game BTW--it's free). I had been up playing online all nite until someone in the game chatted that we should all stop and turn on the news. Freaked me out badly.
petr0lb0mb09.11.10 - 10:02 am
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I was getting ready to leave for work to a print shop, when my sister called me and said Id better turn the TV on... and thats when i saw the second plane hit. soo crazy surreal.
The next day we were print american flag stickers. This day in 2001 changes a LOT
Migcycle09.11.10 - 10:10 am
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I biked to work as usual, took a shower and was eating my breakfast sandwich and reading the paper in the break room when a buddy came in and asked why I was reading the paper when the news was on the internet.
I didn't believe him when he told me.
I spent the morning on news sites and doing very little work.
Creative Thing09.11.10 - 10:40 am
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reading my pet goat to a classroom full of snot nosed brats and hoping my bosses plan goes well so i can get drunk and rail cocaine all day.
asparagus09.11.10 - 11:05 am
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I was in Tampa, FL, on my way to class my last year at USF. I heard a report that one plane had crashed into the tower and that it was a 747. I started freaking out because my dad was a flight engineer with a major airline on a 747 and was working. I ran into the building and went up to the professor's offices and started banging on doors to find a TV. My fellow students and professors and I watched on a black and white tv in a conference room as the 2nd plane crashed. We could see people jumping to the ground. It was devastating. I was frantically trying to contact my father but cell reception was awful at that time. Finally I got a call from him that he was grounded (along with every other airplane in the US) and he was in Dallas. He pooled money with some other pilots and airline staff, rented a car, drove home, and picked up every newspaper from every town they passed through on 9/12/01. He has saved this collection at home. It's an awful collection because the images in each paper...they're terrible. The St. Petersburg Times actually put a full page picture when you opened the newspaper up of the 1st tower before it collapsed and people jumping to their deaths. You could see bodies falling beside the tower.
I was grateful my family was okay (as well as my extended family in New York) but I second ToddAlmighty's prayer (even though I don't believe in God). My thoughts are with those who lost loved ones today and whose lives were changed forever.
Here's to hoping the bike revolution is the beginning to peace and tolerance on earth.
danceralamode09.11.10 - 11:22 am
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I was in the 6th grade. 1st period. Science class. My teacher cancels her lecture and turns on the T.V. for the class to watch at whats going on. She was crying because one of her friends was working there during the time and was one of the casualties.
godmode responding to a
comment by danceralamode
09.11.10 - 11:29 am
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I spent the entire summer in DC visiting family and I was going back and forth with my mom to stay longer but I had to start school September 8th... So my dad made me go back .... So I flew out of Dulles airport on a United airlines flight on September 5th .. the plane that hit the pentagon was the same kinda flight ... My mom woke me up and right as I turned on the tv the 2nd plane ran into the world trade center ....I was like FUCK ...
OsnapsonJC09.11.10 - 11:30 am
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Watching tv. Wondering why the U.S. would perpetrate such acts through the training of Osama Bin Laden, imperialism in the middle east and why the media was making such a spectacle of the whole thing. 9/11=fallacy
nicorete09.11.10 - 11:38 am
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i had just moved to america the month before. I was 7 years old. I woke up and saw what everyone saw. It fucked me up big time.
popsiclekid09.11.10 - 12:50 pm
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I was in college; didn't listen to the radio in the morning, didn't listen to the radio on the drive in. Got to class and my chemistry professor was ranting and raving about nuking "all of them".
Tom Ass09.11.10 - 12:55 pm
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I thought it was lame how all those Laker flags were replaced with American flags (manufactured in Asia no doubt) immediately afterward. Where was all of this patriotism before then? Now that it's in the past, I don't see American flags all over the place. Patriotism is just a fad for most.
petr0lb0mb09.11.10 - 1:03 pm
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Don't know if it was done out of fear or respect.
My stepdad always keeps a flag mounted over his porch, but after 9/11 happened, everyone on the block all of a sudden had one hanging in suit.
My exact words were, "Watch, in a few years or less, this will all get old for these band-wagon shits."
Sure enough.
bentstrider responding to a
comment by petr0lb0mb
09.11.10 - 2:02 pm
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Exactly. Although I have never been patriotic enough to tote the flag. I have always respected those who do. But those who started waving flags around and putting on "support our troops" bumper stickers (how, by purchasing a bumper sticker?) after 9/11 are a disgrace.
petr0lb0mb responding to a
comment by bentstrider
09.11.10 - 2:13 pm
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The flag and banner company I contracted to print out my company's banners was over run with people coming in and buying American flags. By 9/12, they had completely run out of flags, and had no source they could order more from, as they were all out too.
Creative Thing09.11.10 - 2:21 pm
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i was in highschool. when i got home i watched the huge column of smoke drift across the horizon from a hill around the corner. it was bigger than in 93.
i hate how this day has been used by others to justify their means.
newarkhouse09.11.10 - 3:40 pm
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woke up to a phone call from a friend in england -- went to the roof of our brooklyn apt as the second plane hit and watched that tower go down -- then later the first one came down. took a picture, haven't been able to look at it since. i still think of those lives lost in that hour... and all of the hours since. been very sad and and angry about how the event has been exploited by our own government, war contractors, and oil companies. i fear that we as a country have yet to learn anything of value from it.
PeterR09.11.10 - 4:19 pm
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I think the thing of value we can take from this is that there will always be entities out there which will co-op any event of this enormity and use it for their own agenda.
Creative Thing responding to a
comment by PeterR
09.11.10 - 5:11 pm
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I remember waking up and seeing the world trade center burning on t.v. Seriously, my first thought was "what movie is this for?" That whole day was so surreal. I was in 9th grade and we had to go to all of our classes like normal as everything was happening. I think I was in 1st period biology class when they told us the towers collapsed.
Velocipede09.11.10 - 5:33 pm
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Woke to to girlfriend screaming on my answering machine "WE ARE UNDER ATTACK !! WAKE UP !!". So i wake up and turn on the tv as the second plane hits the trade center. I figure the missles have been lauched against the US and its just about over. I take a big bong load and go back to sleep............................
shotgun_mike09.11.10 - 5:37 pm
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I was in my 5th grade classroom back down south and as I was getting ready for school the breaking news came across the screen. I and almost every other kid came in 30 mins. late to school. The principle came onto the intercom and told all the teachers to turn on the T.V. to the local news channel and watch because this was an important part of history. That shit was a trip and kids didn't come to school for days.
Peace and respect to all those who lost there lives and those who knew them.
louisiana09.11.10 - 5:45 pm
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yes, perhaps we can, but how can we influence these entities to work in the interest of 'our agenda'? i.e, the quality of life in the cities we live in? Maybe one way we could do this is by reducing our dependence on oil -- both foreign and domestic. And of course we really ought to invest in public transportation and biking infrastructure. Ultimately to make cities and communities 'places we all want to live in' as opposed to 'places to drive through'. For suburban communities, the answer lies in high speed light rail. Hate to say it but gas prices might have to go sky high, like they did in '08 -- and then maybe then we could gain immediate and widespread support to put these ideas in motion. We just have to be ready to do it, practically.
BTW I am saddened that our country's media discourse seems to be stuck with whether or not we should allow an Islamic center to be built near ground zero. To me this argument is a no-brainier on the level of whether or not we allow gays to marry. Come on, what century are we in??
PeterR responding to a
comment by Creative Thing
09.11.10 - 5:53 pm
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I was in a rehab cen. trying to sober up and get clean.There was no tv so I just heard it on the radio.I wanted to leave and brake out to see my family and friends.I thought it was the end.
Huey55509.11.10 - 5:59 pm
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Sedona, Arizona. Wondering how I was going to get home and if LA would still be there when I did.
dave09.11.10 - 9:39 pm
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It was a weird day. School was cancelled. I remember I waited for my mom to pick me up. The MTA buses stopped running the whole day. When I got picked up I remember walking in the desolate streets of Hollywood. Everyone around the US was staring at their tv screens. It felt like some sience fiction novel. I thought LA was going to get attacked, so i stayed at the next 2 days.
palucha6609.11.10 - 10:14 pm
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the architect of the world trade center was scared of heights.lol some japanese dude
Huey55509.11.10 - 10:26 pm
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Thanks to all the replies and for giving this thread some respect, and especially PeterR your response left me speechless. It also amazes me home many of you all were back east and had to deal with it first hand.
ToddAlmighty responding to a
comment by PeterR
09.11.10 - 11:39 pm
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I was in 5 th grade when that happen it was trip....
Pnut9000509.11.10 - 11:49 pm
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I was on a plane, taking the redeye back from a work trip to LA with my boss. We must have been just starting descent into St. Louis when the first tower got hit. My boss had told me I could take the morning off if I wanted, so I just went home to take a nap. I had no idea anything was happening at all until I came back into work at noon. The TV was on, of course, and the talking heads were saying that maybe 15,000 people had just died. There was this tremendous uncertainty hanging over everything for such a long time afterward.
Taking off from LAX that morning, I'd had an exit row seat with this tiny little porthole of a window. It had this kind of fisheye effect going on that made everything kind of dreamy and distant, and I remember looking out that window at the baggage carts snaking around on the tarmac and thinking how perfect it all seemed - that everything fit together so neatly.
Whenever someone says "9/11 changed everything," I'm usually wondering what kind of cynical, authoritarian crap they're trying to sell us this time. But I'm also thinking of the view through that tiny window and how it was like taking off in one world and landing in another.
nathansnider09.12.10 - 12:00 am
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I was living in mid wilshire area at the time. My friend called me at 7:30 in the morning to tell me the world was ending. Flipped on the tube and there was video of the planes over and over. I think the towers had already fallen. It was pretty insane. There was an email list going of about 50 people who all got laid off at this company I used to work for. Used to be a seldom used party announcement list... I posted the question "what did America do to inspire such hatred?" the flame war that followed lasted 3 or 4 years through the invasion of iraq and beyond.
I didn't know shit about US foreign policy and the history of the middle east but I do now. It's a dirty, cruel history made even dirtier by the response to 9/11.
Roadblock09.12.10 - 8:08 am
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