So, what were you doing on 9/11/2001?
 

For me 2001 had already been a VERY rough year. In January 2001 I resigned my CTO (Chief Technical Officer) position with the largest hospital network in Texas, making more than most will ever see, because I had moral principals over huge money.

In April 2001 when I was primary design architech with the largest physician network software comapny in the country, I had a major heart attack, and was actually declared dead. I was revived to find that the corporation that I was working for, and paying huge amounts of insurance payments to, had lied to me and spent my insurance payments to the corporations top brass and their salary. To cover my medical costs, I quickly lost everything I ever had, and then some.

By July 2001 from that company, I found that they had defaulted on the stock they had guaranteed me on my signing, to the tune of $450K which I was liable for to the IRS.

In early August of 2001 the partners I had in which TexasDreams.com was a paysite had flaked out on their contract. GloBill flaked out as the primary billing. iBill was starting to flake out as the secondary billing provider, and a network of 4 other sites that I had set up and done all the design work for also flaked out in late August 2001. Also In August 2001, I had signed onto a consultant agreement with another medical software group, which also turned into a time with morons. I brought them the chance at roughly 8-million over three years, and they quickly fucked that deal in less than 30-days.

So, 11-Septemebr-2001. I got two calls that day. One from a good friend who I still help and cherish. They called to say at around 7am Central to say "Turn on the television!!!". And I immediately saw the terrorist slant. And then late that day from someone who I handed millions saying "why aren't you in the office" (to do all the work for nothing in return).

Go figure.

Kind of like our current adminstration in DC. Worthless bullshit speak with nothing really done as a solution.

I lost 3 friends in the Trade Centers. They deserved much better. :Oh crap

I was sleeping...my wife was sleeping on the floor in front of me and slapped me on the shoulder to tell me to watch the tv

We spent 3 days in front of the tv after that

oh, as for work and stuff....I was doing the same thing I am doing now, more music and djing then though

I was working for AT&T Wireless, and I woke up to get ready for work 1 minute before the 2cnd plane hit. My wife at the time was already up and had the news on of the 1st plane hitting.

My building was next to a national guard amory and when I went into work that day they had road blocks up, were checking ID's and were out in full gear, full weapons.

We were all sent home from work that day and they ended up closing our office for a few days.

posting at gfy

I had nothing to do, was only watching into the calendar

I was watching reruns of ER on TNT then flipped to CNN and said "uh, fuck"

I woke up on the couch after an all-nighter working. Checked my email and couldn't figure out why so many of them referred to the "unfortunate incidents in NY and DC".

Turned on CNN and *bam*. Glued to my couch for two days.

It was completely surreal. I called my best friend at the time to get him out of bed. All I could say was "Turn on your TV. Any channel." Over and over.

I'm from Montreal..used to work for UUNet at the time. I remember talking to one of our guys in NYC on the phone and he just went like: "WTF, a plane just crashed into the WTC". He saw it out the window and I was sure it couldn't be for real... but then cnn.com/msnbc.com wouldn't load at all and unless UUNet's network was down, it meant those sites were being hit hard

I was sleeping.
I saw both the first and second tower going down, no one expected it.

i was busy working... until i suddenly realized that the entire interweb was getting slower and slower and finally most news sites crashed....

i was asleep and my roommate woke me up - we sat on the bed and watched as the second plane hit - it was as if time stopped for me - I will never forget it - the feeling of dread that came over me when they fell...I'm sure a lot of people felt that...a very sad time

I was in my my bedroom, which was a converted in the office building we were based in (where I worked 20 hour days and lived there as well), it was actually about 11pm on 9/11 in Brisbane (Australia).

I was watching the "West Wing" on my little TV (one of my ONLY luxuries), when they cut to a news break and reported what had happened to the first tower.

Straight after "West Wing" finished they went to live coverage, and I sat and watched the 2nd plane hit and then the Pentagon shit and then the flight that crashed.

I rang a bunch of people, first my mother, got many of them out of bed and said, "You had better turn on the TV, this is all fucked up".

I sat in front of the TV for nearly 48 hours without eating or showering, absolutely transfixed.

Watching the peeps jump was by far the most horrendous moment, followed by the dust covered survivors emerging from the "mist".

I said it then and I say it now.....

It was all fucked up.

2c

Very well put. That describes exactly what I felt, but couldn't find the words. Thank you.

I was driving into work (I worked for J. Stephen Hicks - Penthouse Photographer) and was listening to Howard Stern on the radio and they were describing what they were seeing as it happened live. When I arrived at work, everybody was on the internet watching live video feeds from the news sites. It was a very krazy day :(

I was in Dunedin, New Zealand.

As usual I opened up CNN.com first thing when I woke up - I have heard the expression "my heart sank" before, it really did... I felt it beat in my feet.

Then 2 days of panic - I had an uncle in St Petersburg who had heard all sorts of rumors that planes where heading for London - my family is there btw.

It was day 3 or 4 that it sunk in.

was starting my first year of college on that day. Didn't realise anything had happened until I got home and saw on the tv :(

Just got into the office and the phone rang... it was a close law agency friend in the US and who said an aircraft hit one of the towers. Told her to get off drugs - never thought it was serious.... but, she kept insisting I check TV - and sadly it was true.

After the second hit, the question was how many more there could be and where - by that time it was obviously not an aircraft "accident".

That was a big deal for me - It was a nightmare watching what was happening in NY but I was petrified that it was going to happen in London as well - at that point anything seemed possible.

As TD said, it was the jumpers that I found the hardest to deal with... Images that will never go away.

posting here..I heard on the radio that the wtc was on fire and started a thread about it here (under the name Sjayne). Of course I had no idea how it was going to pan out. That thread is an interesting read to get an idea of how people's emotions were all over the place when things were still happening.

I have read a few threads from that day - its actually quite amazing - real 'history in the making'.

I can see Canary Warf from my balcony and we are in the Heathrown and London City flight paths. When I went out that day to get something at the shop I felt so uncomfortable with the planes that were going over my head.

The real nightmare for me on the day was trying to get in contact with my sister. The phone lines were down from here to the States and my mom in the same state as my sister couldn't reach her either. She was going to school in the area where the plane in PA went down. I was able to get emails to my mom at the school where she teaches and somebody (maybe from GFY actually) managed to get through to my sister eventually. She had been on the road not to far from where the plane went down. She didn't see it but she heard about it on the radio and was really scared. It was just not knowing where was going to be attacked next. At one stage they had hit or had some contact with every major city in the Northeast except for Philly. So, I was bracing myself for that. Thank god it didn't happen.

I was doing some on-site tech work on some machines at Honeywell.

My point of contact ran up to me and said 'The towers have been hit!' and scurried off...

I was like, wtf? After working for another hour, I noticed many people leaving and a general 'disturbed' atmosphere....

I popped into someone's office and they filled me in... I couldnt believe it.

I'll never forget that day.

I was finally getting with a woman, whom I miss greatly. Having "our time" happen during WTC pretty much left both of us with, well, nothing joyful to remember that night.

Last we spoke was 9/11/02, reminiscing and wishing well for the families of those directly affected.

I'm one of these people that doesn't like to deal with reality,and the fact that my dad had just died a few months before 9/11 made that fact even worse. I was laying on the couch asleep when the first plane hit, my mom was always watching news at that time, so she had CNN on. I woke up and she told me that a plane had hit...didn't really think anything about it, except that someone in a control tower had screwed up...then I watched the second plane hit. Like everyone else, I freaked out. I was scared to death. Then the report of the third plane hitting and the last plane going down...I couldn't handle it. I ended up turning my TV to Disney and didn't change the channel for a week.

Nor will I.

You really have to wonder what these people were thinking (or not thinking, as it were). They hate "us" (i'm in the States). They killed many of our people.

But...what did they accomplish? If they were trying to cause racial disparity, it worked.

:2 cents:

I think I was finishing putting together some clips for a client, TV was on as always (I rarely watch it but something is always being recorded from it). I happen to glance over and see them talking about a building getting hit by a missile (I think that?s what they said). Watched just as the second tower got hit by the plane. At this point it was a pretty morbid feeling I was having. I didn?t really feel sadness per say, more like a ?shit happens? sorta feeling.

Then the third plane struck the Pentagon. Not quite sure what my feelings were then, if they were anger, disbelief, or what. All that kept going through my mind was ?what the FUCK??. I have no idea how or why the plane was not shot down by the Pentagon. ?Where are the fucking lasers? Where are the SHIELDS??. Yeah, that?s over exaggerated, but for the Pentagon to get struck that?s all that kept going through my mind is why wasn?t the plane destroyed?

It was a really shitty day at work afterwards, eventually boss let us all go home and told us to pray (he was positive they had a nuke planted somewhere in the states and were going to detonate it later that day). And yet that thought of WHY still remained, and remains to this day. The White House has some AA equipment. The Pentagon.. doesn?t? One of the major nerve centers of our country is essentially powerless..? I was awestruck and still am.

THEN fast forward five years later. Has anything changed? Airport security is still abysmal (and yet they still practice scare tactics to make you think their shit is working), the twin towers STILL haven?t been rebuilt after five years (they haven?t even started!)? it?s still a very shitty feeling I get thinking about 9-11, with so many questions still left unanswered and a government whose ineptness CONTINUES to grow (Katrina). It sucks =\

Since I have a tendency to work late into the night/morning on my web sites, I was jarred out of my sleep by my wife who said that a plane had crashed into a WTC tower.

I immediately suspected foul play, having researched the WTC bombing from a decade earlier.

I watched in shock and awe, the second plane crash into the other WTC building. Such a bizarre act could not have been choreographed better. All of the eyes of the media and the world were focused on one of the WTC towers engulfed in flames, and then BAM! - the other tower is hit, in front of our eyes.

I noted right away that the media was rampant with false information.

Understandably, the nation, and much of the world, were united in their outrage and desire for retribution.

However, in the years to come, I feel that the leadership in our government has failed miserably in dealing with the catastrophe that was 9/11.

They have exploited a tragedy to enrich the military industrial complex (war profiteering corporations), totally destabilized the Middle East, and built an entirely new National Security infrastructure absent the traditional checks and balances.

Instead of destroying the bogeymen that they blamed for the destruction of 9/11 (remember how the Bin Laden family was granted safe passage out of the country even as domestic flights were all curtailed), the leadership of this country has created even more enemies, by following an agenda that has less to do with stopping terrorism than it does with establishing a dangerous, almost fascist, new world order.

How many more body bags and lies are you prepared to endure?

Less than a year ago, the President, the CIA, Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleeza Rice were telling us there were no secret CIA prisons. Now on the eve of the anniversary of 9/11 they acknowledge the prisons without explaining that they once again brazenly lied to the American people and the world about such important matters (no WMDs, etc...etc).

As a military veteran, I say, enough is enough.

The neo-cons had their chance. They have proven unequivocably that not only do they not have solutions to world problems, but that they are in fact a part of the problem.

Therefore, I say it's time to put an end to the madness and kick these criminals out...

ADG Webmaster

I was in Rajasthan, India. It was 10:00 at night, and we were eating dinner. A British backpacker came running in and yelled "America's been attacked!" Most of us figured she'd drank too many hashish shakes like the rest of us, so no one paid attention until we went to the internet cafe and looked up the news on the internet.

I spent the next four months in Asia staying with Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim families alike, having conversations and discussions with people that no one in America wants to hear about. I watched America's reaction to the attacks through media, and discussed it with travelers from all over the world.

America definitely changed that day, but I wasn't there to change with it. I had/have a completely different perspective on the whole event. And it's part of the reason I don't live there anymore. And I'm sorry to say it, but I dont think America as a society, and certainly as a NATION, has learned a damn thing from that day.

"We are all inclined to judge ourselves by our ideals; others, by their acts." - Harold Nicolson

I was sleeping when the planes hit. Then I woke up and did a shoot.

Sophmore in high school! Holy shit that doesn't seem so long ago.

I was at english class then-i remember some friend of my english teacher called her and say"world war has just started"

Same here, except I was up and dragged my g/f out of bed by her ankles :1orglaugh

2-3am NZST

having a wank

when finished turned of the porn

saw on tv that a plane crashed in to the towers (before every one knew what it real was ) few min later the 2nd one went in

I was helping my dad clear out his attic ready for my parents moving - my mum was at work... she phoned me up told me to get the TV on there and then... we sat and watched the news all day :( all week.

finalizing the merger between HP and Compaq and their shareholders

i was studying some shit, till i heard what happend on tv

I was aboard AF-1 urging the president to stay underground at SAC Headquarters for a couple days while things cooled down. Pointing out how stupid it would be to return to DC so quickly. There was real concern for the safety of Cheney as we all knew he was a target sitting in the White House.

That was obvious bullshit.

Had a business meeting and we decided that we couldn't change events so we went ahead with it. Nothing got done, cause all were freaked by what was going on in the world. The rest the day was spent watching TV and trying to prefare for the worst. Extra gass, water, food etc. Checked in with relatives.

When Bush did head for SAC head quarters, it scared the shit out of me. I was thinking maybe there were worse things just around the corner.

I lost everything in 1999-2000 got injured at work, lost all my bennies, my retirement . . . emailed atk in 2000 and asked 'how much do you pay for pics?" Kim replied . . . was shooting pussy on 9/11 more 'n likley .. . I do NOT watch TV . . have never seen the coverage of the towers and do not want that in my head . . what I see stays in my head, no back door to get rid of it . . seen enough death. -bmb

found out about the 'event from the 'net being mostly down . . some severs went out when the towers fell onto a few buildings that had servers

i was at school, no shit. got home off the bus and dad told me some planes had crashed at the airport, wasnt listening to him properly so thats what i translated it as, forgot all about it.

then turned on the tv later on at night and boy then it hit me, fucking hell.

I was watching CNN and posting right here on gfy in 2001 and this year I will be here on gfy, probably watching CNN, same as every year.

I was working on my sites, checked GFY and read about a plane hitting the WTC ... I was like wow, how the hell does something like that happen.
It think it was after I've read a second plane hit the towers I turned on the TV to watch CNN ... didn't leave the screen for hours.
I'm not sure i've seen the 2nd plane hit the towers live, with all them re-runs and stuff.

I had arrived early to a Final Cut Pro class given to working professionals at an Apple computer shop. Since I was early I ran across the street to the little gas station for some cigs and a coke. The guy at the counter was watching one of those shitty little black and white 6 inch tvs and we saw the first tower smoking. In black and white it looked like cinema or something - unreal. Returning to class well of course everyone just stood around watching the monitors dumbfounded. When they talked of commercial planes being hijacked and we're not sure of the flight numbers or routes, my mind immediately raced to the well being of my girlfriend who had a flight out of NYC to Helsinki THAT MORNING. I felt pretty bad becuase I had just broken up with her and felt like great now she'll be in one of those planes too-like I have caused enough pain-you know. I find out later that night she was doing last minute packing when she heard explosions come from outside the window and was ok.

I was at a doctor's office for my son, He was born 3 days before, and i was in the waiting room watching it on TV. I asked the lady if that was a movie or for real? It was very disturbing.

I woke up and logged onto the 'net, as I do every morning. The two towers had already been hit by then (I'm on pacific time, and woke up around 8am PST). I read the story online and immediately went to the TV. I woke up Paul (my business partner at the time) and had him come watch. I believe I woke Belinda up too. The rest of the day we watched the news. It was very surreal.

I was living in Palm Beach Florida at the time working with a company that purchased lottery winners future payments for a lump sum of cash. I was at the gym when the first plane hit one of the towers. I have a lot of friends and family that live in the city. It was a sad day for all.

Mr. Romance

i was working in a prepress company and heard it on the radio, i think.
i managed to get a livestream from BBC in the size of a stamp on my laptop and watched that for the rest of my working hours.

i had Linkin Park tickets for that evening and no one was able to say whether the concert will happen or not. so i went there in the evening with some friends, but they had cancelled it.

so we went to a bar at the Reeperbahn in Hamburg/Germany and whoever was there before knows, that the Reeperbahn (Europes largest redlight district) is always busy. But that evening it was completely empty - never seen that before or after again. Not even hookers on the streets.

I woke up turned the tv on and was stunned. I went and woke my wife up and we sat and watched all day in disbelief..

was working late the night before, went to bed some time around 4am or so. woke up on 911 around noon to my clock radio saying america is under attack. thousands of horrible thoughts quickly run through my head and then i turn on the tv and see the devistation.

feeling completely helpless to do anything about the situation i decided to do what i had planned to do that day. go out and buy a bedroom set. i figured i wouldn't let terrorists upset my life as that is just what they wanted to do. it was a very strange day, very surreal. i didn't sleep at all that night. got my bedroom set delivered the next day, people talking about it, i didn't even know how to react, what to say.

Actually, I was on my way to class... one of the few days I actually went. I think you then called me and told me. When i got to the college, I was only there maybe half an hour and then it was announced that school had been let out for the day. Came home and watched the news.