I woke up and found a strange phone message from my mother. Why was she calling at 7:30am?

"I was watching the news about what happened and I'm just thinking about you and your sister. I love you both."

What was she talking about? I turned on the television and there was Manhattan under its grey shroud.

This is unfathomable. These things don't happen. New York doesn't look that way. The squat solid Pentagon is immutable. A cloud of fire doesn't bloom from the side of a skyscraper like that. Those grand spires don't collapse. Those people return to their families, don't they?, at the end of the day, on this, the blackest Tuesday with its skies gone quiet.

I am sick with rage and sorrow.

-Tom

As I wrote in the other thread my wife woke me up. I didn't really believe it until I came downstairs and I got there just in time to see the second plane hit the tower... live.

Later I watched the last building collapse. It happened right after Peter Jennings said "You're looking at what was once the Twin Towers, now the Single Tower"

The Pentagon just made it all seem too much.

And this just feels all wrong. We don't see things like this happen live on TV. This only happens in books and movies whose plots I find implausible, and therefore don't read.

-Andrew

My alarm clock is set to play a news station. As I was waking up, I couldn't yet make sense of the words, but I was curious why Dan Rather was on the radio, and had been talking for a while. As my sense of understanding returned, my sense of horror grew. I groped around for the TV remote, and turned on CNN to see the two towers in flames. I quickly woke up my wife, and just about the time she cleared the cobwebs, the first tower collapsed. We were both slack-jawed with horror, and I kept thinking this had to be a bad dream. Then, my five-year-old daughter came in, and we held her and tried to explain what was going on while we watched the frantic reports.

Brad

My mother woke me up at about 7:30, crying about how she needed to talk to me. It took a few minutes to get what happened out of her.

They had Tom Clancy on the news earlier, since he'd written a book more or less with this exact plot. He was apparently unable to complete a sentence. I can't even imagine what that feels like.

I was at a Metrolink station. I called my wife to come pick me up. She told me the news, which she had just heard minutes earlier. All she could do is tell me what had happened in the simplest of sentences. "Planes have crashed into the World Trade Center. They think it's a terrorist attack."

She cried off and on as we drove home and listened to the reports streaming in over the radio. It still feels unreal.

My wife and I were awakened by a phone call from her mother. She left the bedroom to take the call and came back to tell me. I was still half asleep, so all I heard her say was that a plane crashed into the Pentagon. After I woke up and went into the living room, I saw the Trade Center followed by footage of the first tower collapsing. I gather I'm severly affected by this, but I'm still unable to process it fully. The worst part is this feeling of helplessness. how does one cope?

I'm an opera singer in training and we were getting into costume for a 10 am production of The Three Little Pigs. Our director came down and told us. The thing is that we still did the show and we also did the 1pm performance. When I went out on stage, looking at those kids(pre-schoolers and home-schoolers), I had an instant where I realized that if we had cancelled this show, the terrorists would have had a greater- I don't even know what use to word- victory?

It was one of the most surreal experiences of my life. They were laughing at the show and smiling and for one instant, there was just nothing inside for me to give. Thankfully, the moment passed. I hope that everyone will find a way to persevere. Right now, it is the only thing that gives me hope.

Rama

MSNBC was the first page I hit on the web this morning. There it was... World Trade Center hit by aircraft. I was dumbfounded. This was the first crash...not the second. As I refreshed, suddenly the second crash was reported. I scrambled to find web news services throughout the morning until someone turned on the TV here at work. The BBC has been the most consistently easy to reach site... http://news.bbc.co.uk Everything was jammed by 9:20. I'm in Reading, PA...it's only 3 hours to NYC and an hour and change to Philly. This is too close to me.

I keep walking into the conference room where we have TV and shaking my head. People are working here like nothing happened in some cases. I just can't figure out how anyone can do that.

--Dave

I was in the car at about 8:15 (Central) on my way to drop off my wife on the SLU campus before heading out to Rolla. I had Y98 on and Guy Phillips was talking about planes crashing into "the Twin Towers." I didn't know what he was talking about until he called them the World Trade Center buildings. Then they said that the Pentagon got hit too.

When I got to campus, in one of the buildings, someone had put a transistor radio out in the hallway so that more could hear about it. Everywhere, people are either watching TVs or listening to the radio or surfing the news websites.

"I am sick with rage and sorrow."

My thoughts exactly.

I woke up to the news this morning. Not being a morning person, I use my television as my alarm to keep me from reaching for the snooze button.

Bryant Gumble was speaking in the background. The morning groginess still heavy in my head, it was all just mumblings to my ear.

I turn around to face the television squinty and blurried eyed just in time to see an object fly into a building and a ball of flame erupt.

The voice of Gumble seemed even more distant as the first image in the morning was something I would only think that Hollywood could produce.

I sat up, reached for the remote and turned up the volume. I couldn't believe what has happened. I start listening to Gumble now. The emothions haven't hit me yet. I just couldn't believe it.

I've since made it to my work now. As I rode here on my bicycle, I kept a vigilant eye on the downtown federal and state buildings where I work at here in Tucson, AZ. Half expecting to see it to light up in flames. The other half wanting to turn around and stay home.

My little town is very far physically from the atrocites that have befallen New York and DC. My small town with little to no signifigence in the grand scheme of things. But... my heart cannot be any closer to those innocents who have lost their lives or to the shattered lives of those that lost someone they care dearly for.

I write this tearry eyed. My prayers go out to everyone.

I got into my car this morning and was listening to the news. At first they were talking about firefighters, and I thought it was just another particularly bad forest fire. Then they mentioned the National Guard. It didn't really settle in until they mentioned that they had locked down the airspace around New York City. That's when I started to get this queasy feeling. I didn't get the full effect until I got to work and saw the news footage.

Part of me is incredulous that something this surreal could happen. Part of me wants life to go back to normal, to mitigate the paranoia and fear that accompany terrorism. I can't help but feel sorrow for the tens of thousands of people whose lives have been disrupted.

- Alan

It is surreal. Ron Dulin, Erik Wolpaw and Bruce Geryk have been staying at my place the past several days, for the Toronto Film Festival. Bruce went home yesterday -- Ron and Erik were preparing to go to the airport when everything happened (and are now obviously staying at my place for a few more days. Heard the news from the radio station when my clock radio went off, and the three of us turned on the coverage just in time to see the second plane hit the tower while the cameras were running live -- horrific.

Like many of you, I'm sure, I have a lot of friends in NY, including an acquaintance who was in the first building when the accident occurred, and called shortly after and left a message on a friend's phone stating that she was stuck on the 40th floor and couldn't get down. I presume she's dead now, but no one knows. Just a terrible, terrible day.

Stefan

I heard at work after the first crash. After the second crash, we went to an office on our floor that has a TV with cable. We were watching ABC, listening to Peter Jennings and someone else talk when the first building collapsed. They didn't mention it. I don't know if they weren't looking at the monitors or what. We just sat there in disbelief. It was surreal.

-David CPA

PS...I never thought I would see a day worse than Oklahoma City. I am so sad that I was wrong.

You cope by accepting that what is done is done. Accept that you will live with the consequences forever, but that life will continue.

I surfed to Voodoo Extreme this morning and saw a blurb about it at the top of the page. At first, I thought it was publicity stunt for a game (like Red Alert), knowing the stuff VE posts. Imagine my horror when I surfed to CNN...

I was at work. I'd already checked CNN's site--the biggest news at that time was Michael Jordan probably coming back to the NBA as a player. Then someone (my boss, I think?) came in and said something about a plane hitting the WTC... he then got a phone call from his wife, and I could hear his shock as he got details. I couldn't get to CNN, but I managed to get to the BBC via the 'net. Shocking. I work at a military installation, and it didn't take long for things there to get tense.

I was in the middle of negotiating the sale of a new car last night. My wife and I stayed up late juggling numbers, coming up with a buying stategy. We both got up early this morning (7am pst). I saw nothing on the web.

I went to the dealership at 8 am and the salesman wasn't in yet. When I called him on his cell, he immediatly asks me if I had seen the news. He tells me this fantastic story about plane crashes, hijacks, etc. I'm thinking this is some really weird ploy to throw me off. I completely ignore everything he tells me and continue to negotiate. He tells me he'll meet me in half an hour. I feel like such a fool.

Call my wife and ask her to turn on the news. She gasps and I race home.

My three-year-olds want to know why mom's crying. She tells them she's sad and so she's crying. We haven't let them see the news coverage on TV. I stayed home from work to be with my family. I can check e-mail from home. My boss sent everyone home today.

My day started out normal. At around 7:30 on my way to school (college), my brakes slip in stop-and-go and I rear-end a Ford truck. The first wreck of my life.

The woman gets out, looks it, gets back in her truck and tears down highway away from me.

I go home, scream, think I'm having a horrible day. Tell my mother that I need a ride to school, that I need to take my car into the shop.

While waiting for her to get dressed and ready, I pop on the net to find my instructor's # to leave him a message.

Around 7:50 I call him, let him know I'll be late. I skip to Yahoo! for some reason, and see the lines in the news section "Plane crashes into World Trade Center"

I go to it, and see one single line, the time was 9:01am EST. It said something along the lines of the generic message,

"Plane crashes into World Trade Center. No more details yet. Will keep you posted."

I shrug, thinking maybe it was just an accidental crash, loss of control on the plane's part. I was still upset by my first fender-bender, and wasn't thinking anything about it.

The thought never crossed my mind that it could've been terrorists, or even the fact that the plane could've been purposely crashed.

I refresh Yahoo again to see why it took so long to load the first time, and I see a couple more lines, explaining more on the crash. The second one had not happened yet.

I turn on the news, and watch the footage showing the first crash. The next thing I know, a second plane crashes into the building. I flip channels, not knowing what is going on. The news channels show it from other angles in the next few minutes.

Finally it caught up to me and I realized that my day was perfect compared to the people on those plane's and in those buildings. I realized that I'm lucky because I'm alive.

"I am sick with rage and sorrow." No one could ever say it better, Tom.

I was doing morning situps when the BBC broke in to the radio that a plane had crashed into the first tower. It was weird that the BBC was breaking into NPR, but whatever. I figured it was a Cessna or something and I'd see the video later, like that parachute guy that ended up on the Statue of Liberty just a little bit ago. So I went for my morning walk.

I walk about three miles every day, and I occasionally see this older gentlemen in a panama hat with those giant sunglasses that let no light in to your eyes at all. I've said, "Good morning" to him in the past, but not much more. So I said "Good morning" and he replied, "It's a bad morning for the country."

"Oh yeah, I heard a plane crashed into the World Trade Center."

"Not just there. All over the country! Planes are crashing into things all over!"

Now I'm thinking he might be a little confused, because he starts telling me that at the turn of the century, during the Opium Wars, the King just lined 'em all up against the wall and cut their heads off with a sword. That there was another guy who killed five people and only got twenty five years in jail. This time that's not going to happen, I should mark his words!

I've been walking backwards for all this, and I tell him that I'm getting dizzy and that I've got to pick up my pace or I'll be late for work. He turns un-crazed again and wishes me a nice day.

I get home, turn on the TV and they're saying that a plane has crashed into the Pentagon, two into the WTC, and one of the towers has collapsed. I see the video of the tower collapsing and think to myself, "Wait a minute, where's the other tower that's still there?"

Then I see the LIVE marker, and the anchor says, "Oh my God."

Ugh.

Dean

9:15 Central Time. I was at school trying desperately to get 7th graders to write...about anything. An administrator-type shows up at my door. I walk over.

"Two planes were crashed into the World Trade Center in New York. Another was crashed into the Pentagon. There is a state of emergency. The principal is going to go on the intercom at 9:30."

Dumbstruck, I ask, "OK... Can I just ask? Is this some sort of a crisis management drill or did this really happen?"

"No, it really happened."

"Oh."

I never saw any of the video until I got home at 4. No TV's at school.

Carl

8:00 a.m. Central Time I borded my commuter train to downtown Chicago. A friend I sit with regularly always listens to his radio on the way into town. He had just sat down when he reported the first plane hitting the World Trade Center, and we were about half-way to downtown when he reported the second, and everyone realized it was a terrorist attack. All very surreal.

My normal walk to work from the train station takes me past the Sears Tower. By the time my train arrived downtown, it had been evacuated and thousands of people were in the surrounding streets. The law school where I work is across the street from Chicago's federal building complex, and, of course, all those buildings had been evacuated too. I was at work for about an hour when it was decided to shut the building down and send everyone home. Fortunately, I was able to call my wife on her cell phone, although it took a few tries. Chicago's cell system, of course, wasn't overwhelmed like New York's was, but it was very, very busy. Anyway, Metra, the Chicago commuter railroad system, did a great job of getting the trains lined up to haul people away from downtown as soon as each train filled up. I was home in about 2 hours, which under the circumstances was pretty remarkable.

I was scheduled to do a securities arbitration tomorrow for NASD Dispute Resolution, a part of NASDAQ. Needless to say, it's been indefinitely postponed. I was talking to NASD's Chicago scheduling attorney on the phone when the second tower collapsed. NASDAQ is headquartered at One Liberty Plaza, close to the World Trade Center. Here she was talking on the phone to me while, for all we new, a lot of her coworkers, some she knows very well, may have been seriously injured or killed. God knows right now. I'm just sick, angry, and empty.

My wife and I work the midnight shift, so I was asleep. She's been on vacation, and getting more sleep than me, so I guess that's why she heard the phone ringing -- it was in the other room, because we don't usually want to be woken up -- off the hook. It was her dad. We got up and watched the reports all day. Poor Peter Jennings -- as I write this, he's been reporting for about twelve hours or more, and he's still there.

You guys are right, and my wife said the same thing. The only word for it is surreal. This is without a doubt the most unbelievable thing that's ever happened in my life.

I live in Tulsa, so people I know were much more directly affected by the OKC bombing, as everyone here knows people in OKC. I don't know anyone in New York, yet...

This is just so much more overwhelming that anything that I have ever imagined.

I live just north of DC. A friend of mine heard the initial reports, and called me to make sure I was okay. It took her about 20 tries to get me; the phone lines here have been jammed all day. The initial reports where she lives were very confusing. They were saying things like the Capitol and the White House were burning, that a plane had crashed in Pittsburgh, that we were at war.

I turned on CNN shortly after the Pentagon section collapsed. The commentator was talking about Pearl Harbor and Oklahoma City, and all I could think was that no, no, this is much worse. Such a master of the obvious I was.

All day low-flying jets, F-15 and F-16 jets, have been buzzing low over my house, low enough that I could sometimes make out their markings. They were escorting single blackhawk helicopters, maybe ferrying congressmen? They would always come in low, rattling windows and booming loudly overhead. somehow, that was what made it real for me. Pictures on TV left me numb, but all those fighters and blackhawks flying over my house slammed it home. It really did feel like, what? Not war. more like the first Terminator movie. The all-powerful machines racing out to fight, and me just standing on my deck watching them-one little man, with no way to help.

My brother came into my room shortly after the first crash, woke me up and said, "You gotta come see this. A plane crashed into the WTC."

I went down, and then the second plane crashed. It's sick. Seeing that happen live just made it seem all the more tragic.

This morning I got up... felt something was really amiss... I dunno, but it was enough to call off work. So, I passed back out and didn't wake up until about 5pm. Had an ICQ message waiting for me "Did you see the news yet?" from the other contractor who didn't get his contract renewed this year. Hrm... Ok, so the post office reorg has hit hard and something stupid-assed happened and I'm out a job after all. No wonder I had premonitions of dread this morning.

Then I went to CNN to see if there was some blurb about the postmaster general reoganizing the districts like we've speculated all last week. The first thing I see is the world trade center with a big burning hole in the side and "Two planes crash into WTC in terrorist attack!"

Well... my first statement was "I seem to have awakened on a different planet than I last went to sleep on."

I woke up and showered, and came downstairs. Karen, my wife, told me that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. As we watched, the second plane crashed. That's when we knew it wasn't an accident.

I had just gotten off the phone with erik. I was pissed my phone was acting up and the headset didn't work so i had to use speakerphone. After erik I tried to call a client with my cell phone and I couldn't get thru. So i tried the speaker phone again, pissed that it seemed broke too. I thought our client was going to be pissed.

Our client is in NYC. My girlie called and told me to turn on the news. Aaron brown was just watching the second plane slam into the building. I thought it was a movie. Her school closed early and we watched together. After updating and watching thru most of the day I took a nap around 3, when i woke up I was so sure I dreamed it.

Just spent 30 minutes around midnight getting gas for both our cars. $1.65 from BP. The marathon less than a 1/2 mile away was charging $2.79. Bastards. People were just driving by it beeping, flipping off the guy working and yelling.

Erik knows, while I live in a nice neighborhood, I border the ghetto and have to go to the ghetto for anything like beer and gas. The mood at the gas stations was really weird. People weren't happy - yet their was a weird vibe, people being super friendly even though the lines were all screwed up, everyone talking to everyone but no one talking about anything in particular except, 'what a f'ing nuts day'. The atms and atm/pumps were down and people were just giving people without cash money to pay for gas. Occasional person just screaming and yelling about something and everyone else just laughing. odd.

It's a bit of a wartime atmosphere, kind of a "let's all pull together" feel. Really, it's unprecedented for just about all of us, I'd guess. None of us are old enough to remember WW2 or even the Korean war. The Viet Nam war didn't seem like a threat to our nation as much as a political engagement. There's really been nothing like this in my lifetime.

I've heard that people in Kansas are charging over $4.00 a gallon for gas. Fucking vultures. They should be deeply ashamed.

In Tulsa, most of the chains have held steady prices, though there have been a few isolated incidents of prices hitting four (and in OKC, five) bucks a gallon.

But they keep telling us that there will be no shortage, and we shouldn't form mile-long lines -- everything will be okay. At least, around here.

'Well... my first statement was "I seem to have awakened on a different planet than I last went to sleep on."'

Yeah, one were apparently Tom Clancy is responsible for writing the narrative of the world.

I have the television wake me up each morning with the morning news cast. I'm a fairly heavy sleeper once I finally manage to get to sleep, so it takes me awhile to wake up. I have disaster nightmares every now and then--a few weeks ago I actually dreamt of being in a highrise, looking out the window, watching as a passenger plane smashed right into the building. So for the first half hour or so this morning, as I was waking up, I was sure I was dreaming again.

"I've heard that people in Kansas are charging over $4.00 a gallon for gas. Fucking vultures. They should be deeply ashamed."

They should be, but I know some of the mom and pop gas stations were spooked that they wouldn't get any new gas for weeks and thought they needed to charge a premium for it. I'm probably being too kind, but that was one of the rumors going around earlier today.

"a few weeks ago I actually dreamt of being in a highrise, looking out the window, watching as a passenger plane smashed right into the building."

You and Wong are freaking me out with your dreams. Can't you dream of a naked Ashley Judd or something? :}

I was up watching TV in Aus at 11:08pm when The West Wing got interupted by a newsreader saying that apparently the WTC was on fire and that we were about to go to a live feed from ABC. The Screen changed to the feed. There it was, the first tower with the top burning and then after about 15 seconds in came a plane and the second tower blows up. My brain went from 'thats a severe looking fire' to 'that was a plane' and I thought the world has just taken one of those irreversible changes in direction. After about another 30 seconds the mewsreader came back and said it looks like the fire may have involved a plane ('no #### sherlock') and returned us to the show promising more details later. the show appeared to finish quickly, I can't remember due to the shock but I think they cut the adds to finish it quicker.

We then got the feed again 15 minutes later and stayed with it for the next 3 hours until I went to sleep. By then the whole story was more or less over from a news viewpoint and it had become analysis and speculation.

I didn't sleep well.

My most deep felt sorrow for your nations loss and my condemnation to the perpetrators.

It's breathtaking. I didn't see it live, but have seen the replays of the people watching the burning building, and hearing their responses as the second plane hit.

Unbelievable. Surreal.

The answering machine picked up this morning at eight am. It was my sister-in-law.

"Wendy and Christien, if you're there, pick up the phone."

We snapped awake and my wife grabbed the phone; her sister never has that level of command in her voice. I immediately thought someone in the family had died.

Wendy listened for a moment, then said, "Turn on the tv. Amy says America has been attacked."

The television has not been off since.

-Amanpour

I know what you mean. My wife was on the phone with her dad, and she just kept saying "Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh." I was worried about the family. I had no idea how bad it really was.

I'd stumbled in to work, eyes bleery from a long night of Shattered Galaxy but feeling a glow of victory. We'd had a good night.

Slow day and I drifted past my coworkers who were rivetted as usual to their computer monitors. Sat down to fire up my own PC and check out the gaming news as my production run took care of itself.

My boss comes up. "It's going to be war."

I peer up at him expecting another political debate on some obscure issue. "What?"

"They flew a plane into the World Trade Center. It's an act of terrorism. Must be. It'll be war."

"You're joking?"

Ya'll know the rest of the story. We scrambled around to find newsites that weren't jammed. One girl brought out a radio into the hall and we huddled around it, silent, like folks from 1941 listening to a report on Pearl Harbor.

Nobody was looking at a monitor and keyboards gathered dust. My computer games, so important to me, seemed pitiful.

8 hours of nervous humor, fear, bravado, and other emotional contortions later and we somehow did enough work to go home. But not a one of us was really there.

One thing is for certain. I'm the biggest dove there and there are no fanatical hawks among the lot of us. We all admit that serious, harsh, permanent steps must be taken against whomever did this. It has to stop here. Now. Our world has changed. We've ready.

I got into the office around 8:30 Eastern or so and, after a bit, went to CNN on the web like I usually do. I saw the pic of the first hit, with no details, and figured it was an unlucky SOB in a Piper Cub or something. Then Ben Sones comes in and says "We're being attacked by terrorists, dude!" I say "yeah, right," but then we start getting more info. We have a TV but no cable or antenna, and one of the guys uses Ethernet cable and the AC vents to rig an antenna so we can at least get ABC--mostly audio, some video. And we have a few radios.

Pretty soon that's all we're doing, listening and wandering around in shock.

I was taking a nap. My wife came in and said, the towers in New York are burning, have you heard? I said, What?? you must be mistaken. I look at Yahoo, which is still open on my desktop, with the page from 4 hours ago loaded. Top story, Michael Jordan's return to the NBA. I tell my wife, look, there's nothing about it in Yahoo, still not awake. She said, turn on the TV if you don't believe me. I do, and the first image I see is a tape of the second plane crashing into the tower. I am shocked, speechless, dumbfounded. Then I think, what's wrong with Yahoo, why haven't they picked it up yet? Then it hits me. I hit F5. The page changes, radically. I read that a plane has crashed into the Pentagon as well. Behind me, the French news guy is saying that one of the towers has just collapsed, and that they have footage. It was just too much to take in, all at once like that. I felt personally threatened, like the world had gone out of control.

Those poor innocent people. Their families and friends. I have no words. My thoughts and prayers are with them.

DeanCo--

I woke yesterday and it started like a normal day. I showered and was getting ready for work, when my wife, watching the portable TV in the kitchen, announced the first crash. Like some of you I thought, "Terrible accident." But later the news of the second plane came through, and I thought, just "Terrible!"

I woke up about 7:00 shortly after I hear my parents yelling and telling me to get in here! So I came and sat with them and watched the news for about two and ahalf hours. I came in right after the third plane crashed into the pentagon. I heard reports of maby the top of the first tower falling then watched live as the second crumbled the hole picture was pretty much envoloped in dust after a few moments. Two thoughts the one I didnt see the other tower standing. And two that I just saw a few thousand people die.

All this I just took in I didnt get really emotional I'm not like that. But when they showed those (palistien?) children dancing in the street waving there flags and cheering that made me cry a bit. I dont mean to be melodramatic but that was really fucked up I can't even keep thinkin about it so I"m done for now.

I walked in to Pre-Calc class put my stuff down and feched my grahping calculator. Then a freind and classmate said that two planes had just struck the World Trade Center. At first i was like yhea right, then i remembered he had that beeber thing that gave him special news reports and realized he prolly wouldnt risk exposure (beepers not allowed) for such a joke. I sat in shock for a few minutes wondering at the chance of two planes hitting one building at the same time. It occured to me that it wasnt an accident about the same time another math teacher came into the room and anoucned that the towers had been attacked by terrorists. Class went on (didnt pay much attention) as i tried to grasp at what this would mean. At the end of class the guy said that a civilian airplane had crashed into the Pentagon. This I still refuse to belive. Noone gets near the Pentagon unless invited and i cant reason out why they would let somone get that close. My next class had the TV (first time the school has used the tv's) and while we only get poor reception i saw the second tower fall. Rest of the day was spent watching it TV at school then at home. The guidence dpt ussualy packed these days was a gosht town the office was packed with parent pulling thier kids out of school (this is in CT town with no logical targets)

Waiting for ammerica to "Drop the hammer and dispense some indiscriminant justice!"
Shining One

America needs to drop the hammer on some writing classes.