(no subject)
hi.
i got a phone call at about 8 am yesterday morning. it was the cable guy. he wanted to come at 9 to fix my cable. i get up and get in the shower. the phone rings again. i think it's the cable guy, so i hop out of the shower, covered in suds, shower puff in hand, and grab the phone. it's dad. he says "how are you doing?" i say "fine, but i am in the shower. i'll call you back in 10 minutes" and i hang up and finish my shower. while i am in the shower, i realize that dad was using the "plane crash voice". he's a pilot. there have been a few times in my life where people have called me or pulled me out of class or something to tell me that there has been a plane crash, but that my dad is ok. they always use the same voice. it's the same voice that a friend who doesn't want to be pregnant but is pregnant uses when they say "i have to tell you something" you know that they are pregnant before they say anything. you know that a plane has crashed before they say anything. i finish rinsing and call dad back. sure enough... "there has been a plane crash, but i am safe".
my first feeling was one of joy. dad is safe. then he starts telling me the details. he tells me that two planes have hit the world trade center in new york city and one plane has hit the pentagon. it just happened. i go into the living room with him on the phone and turn on the news. death. destruction. fire. chaos. smoke. blood. people running and screaming and covered with ash. and it's not over yet. there are still planes in the air and nobody knows what will happen next. he tells me not to go to work. he doesn't want me near downtown or any tall building or any government offices. he tells me not to go to the post office or to pay a traffic ticket or anything today. i ask where my mother and sisters are. they are all accounted for. they didn't know the airlines involved yet, but they called the family friend who flies for american out of boston and he was ok. i tell him that i love him and that i need to make some phone calls.
i call my boss to tell her that i am not coming in. i call ellen. i try to call steve, but the circuits are busy. i talk to coworker matt. he invites me over to watch the news. i change out of work clothes and into jeans and head to matt's. he lives on my block. we watch news. i use one of his computers to get online. my computer is locked up at the office. things are crazy online. everybody is watching a different channel and everybody heard a different rumor. there are car bombs and lots of missing planes and the white house is under attack and nobody knows where the president is and people were blaming bush, people were blaming arabs, people were blaming china, people were blaming american psychos... it was difficult to sift through all the hysteria.
then one of the towers collapses. hundreds of the police officers and firemen who were helping evacuate people and rescue the injured are buried alive. i felt like yacking. i still feel like yacking. then they said that a blood drive was being organized downtown. matt and i decide to go. i call mom and she says that she had been trying to drive through town for hours and traffice was stopped. we call around and find a blood bank in our part of town. they say that they have a big lunch crowd, so we should come by at 1. matt and i pick up coworker chris and we head over to grab some food before donating. after lunch we get in the line. the line is very long. all the restaurants and stores in the area were donating drinks and sandwiches and cookies and donuts and candy and fruit. 3 hours later we got up to the front of the line and signed the sheet. they told us to come back in 2 hours. we went back in 2 hours. they told us to come back in 2 more hours. we went back in 2 more hours, waited another hour, and then gave blood. they only took maybe 5 people after me, and i was there at 1 pm.
i was really amazed at how many people were out there. we listened to radios and read magazines and talked to each other. everyone was in good spirits. it made me feel so much better to be doing something worthwile. it also helped to be out in the sun and with other people. i felt really good about it. at the end of the 9 hour blood donation ordeal, coworker chris and i decided that we needed drinks. we went to a bar that is a block from where we lived and got drunk in the way that only blood donors can. i ran chris to his place and then went home. i tried to sleep, but i kept waking up every hour. i woke up at about 4 and couldn't get back to sleep.
i finally got out of bed at around 8 and made myself some oatmeal and turned on the news. they had found a few of the buried firemen and police officers alive. i don't know what condition they were in, but they were alive. there were also trapped survivors who were able to call out on their cell phones. i hope they have good batteries. i finished getting ready and headed in to work around 10:45.
i read through livejournal. it was really weird seeing people comment on what they are seeing and hearing after the fact. then i started to write about my own experience. it's taken a few hours. i keep getting distracted. but i think i am caught up to now. i keep reloading cnn.com. there is nothing new. no news of more survivors.
the weirdest part of today is how calm everyone seems. in my head i am running around screaming in the streets and tearing out my hair and crying. but i am just sitting here in front of my computer at work like today is just some normal day.
my stomach is in knots. i need to drink some water.
the end.
i got a phone call at about 8 am yesterday morning. it was the cable guy. he wanted to come at 9 to fix my cable. i get up and get in the shower. the phone rings again. i think it's the cable guy, so i hop out of the shower, covered in suds, shower puff in hand, and grab the phone. it's dad. he says "how are you doing?" i say "fine, but i am in the shower. i'll call you back in 10 minutes" and i hang up and finish my shower. while i am in the shower, i realize that dad was using the "plane crash voice". he's a pilot. there have been a few times in my life where people have called me or pulled me out of class or something to tell me that there has been a plane crash, but that my dad is ok. they always use the same voice. it's the same voice that a friend who doesn't want to be pregnant but is pregnant uses when they say "i have to tell you something" you know that they are pregnant before they say anything. you know that a plane has crashed before they say anything. i finish rinsing and call dad back. sure enough... "there has been a plane crash, but i am safe".
my first feeling was one of joy. dad is safe. then he starts telling me the details. he tells me that two planes have hit the world trade center in new york city and one plane has hit the pentagon. it just happened. i go into the living room with him on the phone and turn on the news. death. destruction. fire. chaos. smoke. blood. people running and screaming and covered with ash. and it's not over yet. there are still planes in the air and nobody knows what will happen next. he tells me not to go to work. he doesn't want me near downtown or any tall building or any government offices. he tells me not to go to the post office or to pay a traffic ticket or anything today. i ask where my mother and sisters are. they are all accounted for. they didn't know the airlines involved yet, but they called the family friend who flies for american out of boston and he was ok. i tell him that i love him and that i need to make some phone calls.
i call my boss to tell her that i am not coming in. i call ellen. i try to call steve, but the circuits are busy. i talk to coworker matt. he invites me over to watch the news. i change out of work clothes and into jeans and head to matt's. he lives on my block. we watch news. i use one of his computers to get online. my computer is locked up at the office. things are crazy online. everybody is watching a different channel and everybody heard a different rumor. there are car bombs and lots of missing planes and the white house is under attack and nobody knows where the president is and people were blaming bush, people were blaming arabs, people were blaming china, people were blaming american psychos... it was difficult to sift through all the hysteria.
then one of the towers collapses. hundreds of the police officers and firemen who were helping evacuate people and rescue the injured are buried alive. i felt like yacking. i still feel like yacking. then they said that a blood drive was being organized downtown. matt and i decide to go. i call mom and she says that she had been trying to drive through town for hours and traffice was stopped. we call around and find a blood bank in our part of town. they say that they have a big lunch crowd, so we should come by at 1. matt and i pick up coworker chris and we head over to grab some food before donating. after lunch we get in the line. the line is very long. all the restaurants and stores in the area were donating drinks and sandwiches and cookies and donuts and candy and fruit. 3 hours later we got up to the front of the line and signed the sheet. they told us to come back in 2 hours. we went back in 2 hours. they told us to come back in 2 more hours. we went back in 2 more hours, waited another hour, and then gave blood. they only took maybe 5 people after me, and i was there at 1 pm.
i was really amazed at how many people were out there. we listened to radios and read magazines and talked to each other. everyone was in good spirits. it made me feel so much better to be doing something worthwile. it also helped to be out in the sun and with other people. i felt really good about it. at the end of the 9 hour blood donation ordeal, coworker chris and i decided that we needed drinks. we went to a bar that is a block from where we lived and got drunk in the way that only blood donors can. i ran chris to his place and then went home. i tried to sleep, but i kept waking up every hour. i woke up at about 4 and couldn't get back to sleep.
i finally got out of bed at around 8 and made myself some oatmeal and turned on the news. they had found a few of the buried firemen and police officers alive. i don't know what condition they were in, but they were alive. there were also trapped survivors who were able to call out on their cell phones. i hope they have good batteries. i finished getting ready and headed in to work around 10:45.
i read through livejournal. it was really weird seeing people comment on what they are seeing and hearing after the fact. then i started to write about my own experience. it's taken a few hours. i keep getting distracted. but i think i am caught up to now. i keep reloading cnn.com. there is nothing new. no news of more survivors.
the weirdest part of today is how calm everyone seems. in my head i am running around screaming in the streets and tearing out my hair and crying. but i am just sitting here in front of my computer at work like today is just some normal day.
my stomach is in knots. i need to drink some water.
the end.