My "Where Were You?" Answers...

[acroyear]

1. When John F. Kennedy was shot (11/22/1963)
Wasn't around yet, but I know where Dr. Who was...

2. When John Lennon was shot (12/8/1980)
No solid recollection. I know I was in Chula Vista, CA, but beyond that I recall
very little of day to day stuff as I didn't follow the news or culture at all.
Dad was overseas a lot during that time and mom didn't watch TV much except
watching Star Blazers with me in the morning. The day's proximity to the Pearl Harbor anniversary kinda hides it each year, as both my parent's parents were there in Honolulu at the time (before my parents were born, mind you).

3. When Mt. St. Helen's blew (5/18/1980).
probably @ school...again, no solid recollection.

4. When the space shuttle Challenger exploded (1/28/1986).
Getting my hair cut at Act II in University Mall (Fairfax, VA). We were so
distracted by it that we forgot to go to an orthodontist appointment later
in the day.

5. When the 7.1 earthquake hit San Francisco (10/7/1989)
Chandler Hall TV Room, JMU, witnessing it because I was watching the world series
game at the time. Most of the coverage was coming from the game because the
networks hadn't set up the other choppers to film the rest of the city and
damage, so they didn't really know the extent of it for about 15-20 minutes.

6. When the Berlin Wall fell (11/7/1989).
College. Sophmore year. Didn't really follow it all that much.

7. When the Gulf War began (1/16/1991)
Working at Ponderosa Steakhouse. We rush-job closed the place when 9pm hit
so we could all go home to watch the coverage. That saturday's SNL had
Wayne's World going "We've got all three networks here, ABC, NBC, and CNN;
we didn't even both with CBS because, well, their coverage sucks.". I tended
to agree.

8. When OJ Simpson was chased in his White Bronco (6/17/1994).
Not giving a crap, probably at a restaurant somewhere. Continued to
not give a crap over the next 2 weeks of coverage, watching my own
HBO and video collection a lot.

9. When the building in Oklahoma City was bombed (4/19/1995).
No solid recollection. At work at Autometric, but recall nothing after that.

10. When Princess Di was killed (8/31/1997).
At my parent's place, following the updating Reuters and CNN headlines at yahoo. The first time I learned of a soon-to-be-historical event solely through the internet.

11. When Bush was *first* announced President (11/7/2000).
Followed the election a bit (including the premature Florida call for Gore)
during the Shanty Pub Sing @ the Royal Mile, but fell asleep rather than
keep watching and found out about the reversed call and recount stuff
the next day.

12. When the 6.8 earthquake hit Nisqually, WA (2/28/2001).
No idea it happened.

13. When terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center and crashed into the Pentagon (9/11/2001).

Woke up at (now) wife's place, was going to take it easy in getting over to work, but had sudden urge to turn on the TV. She called about 10 seconds later.

Was @ starbucks parking lot in Burke listening to wtop, about to get coffee. Watched a woman leave the starbucks, walk to her car, sit down for about 10 seconds, and then walk back inside to tell them of the pentagon hit that was
announced in exactly that 10 second span. Called work and said i'm bagging it,
at which time the HR rep said the office was already closed by the pres.

We (cyd too, once she got to my place) spent the rest of the day being rather useful, as we had cellphone coverage, we were relaying IM and email messages from people in NYC and Jersey who had 'net access to their families that they couldn't reach by telephone.

Comments

[dawntreader]

We (cyd too, once she got to my place) spent the rest of the day being rather useful, as we had cellphone coverage, we were relaying IM and email messages from people in NYC and Jersey who had 'net access to their families that they couldn't reach by telephone.

that must have been nightmarish for you guys.... knowing all those people in those places. and being so near one of the other places. eesh.

[faireraven.livejournal.com]

What really oogies me out is recently finding out just how many of my high school friends were within spitting distance of things happening... I have been checking out several alumni from my high school, and even ran across the web page of one of them... he was four blocks away (the subway made everyone get off four blocks from the WTC, they didn't want to come any closer), watching, when the first building fell... And only 12 blocks away when the second one went down. His wife had already been evacuated from the 34th floor when the first one went down, and his office was on the other side of the WTC from where he lived...

At the time that it happened, I was almost numb, but I still had to do something (hence getting online and getting people in touch with relatives). I think the only thing that really wigged me out was when they said the Salomon Smith Barney building fell (building 7). And that was because I knew my ex-boyfriend worked there. Got through to his mother on the phone and she said he was fine, and in the NJ office... But it scared the living shit outta me. He and I still talk (he was at the wedding with his wife).

[cozit.livejournal.com]

What hadn't occurred to me was that there were actually more than a handful of parents of kids who were in high school with my sister, west of Philly, who worked in the Towers, commuting there by Amtrak every day. IIRC, there were two in the school district unlucky enough to actually *be* there and not come home.