Sep 11, 2008
Posted by Perry
I just finished reading Scott McKain’s post about his memories of the terrorist attacks on September 11th.
I remember it vividly as I was working in the gaming industry at the time. I worked the “swing” shift and never got to bed before 3 am. I remember being woken up by a pounding on my door, it was my mother who was in a state of panic.
“Are you watching CNN?” was all I can recall her saying when she rushed in. After I replied in the negative, she just kept repeating “They’ve attacked us!” I didn’t know who, or what, was attacked or doing the attacking – just that I had my near-hysterical mom almost pleading with me to turn the TV on.
Once I got her calmed a bit and had the news on, she finally explained that the Pentagon and World Trade Center had been hit by airplanes. I remember numbly watching the coverage to see just how bad it was when I asked her (in a half-asleep stupor) where was the WTC as I suddenly realized that I couldn’t see it. She again got hysterical and wailed that it was gone – it had collapsed.
I looked at her dumbfounded and seeing my disbelief, she just pointed to the TV screen. “Just look” is all she had to say. Together we sat there watching the chaos and carnage unfold before our very eyes – neither of us saying a word until the phone ringing finally broke the silence.
It was one of my coworkers, Gary, saying not to come yet as he wasn’t sure if we were going to be shut down or not. He told me to stick by the phone and they would let me know what was happening. I hung up the phone still in a state of disbelief – there was no way this was happening to us, it couldn’t happen – could it?
Mom went back home to inform my grandmother and stay with her grandchildren. I stuck by the phone and watched the reports come in. I’m not a very religious person by any means – but that day I prayed like never before or since.
The phone rang again, it was another coworker, Sheila, who told me we were being closed and not to come in. We talked about what had transpired and how such a thing could occur. We did agree that closing was for the best, even though our job is to provide entertainment for customers, under the circumstances it just didn’t seem appropriate – not to mention we had no idea if something would happen there security-wise.
The rest of my memory of that day is very personal to me – I tried to go out for food, gas (which skyrocketed to over $3 by that time) and tried to make sense of it all. I shed many a tear that day for the people in NYC, Washington and Pennsylvania who were innocent victims of nothing more than pure hatred for our country and our way of life.
September 11th changed the way we think about the world – heck – it changed everything as we know it.
None of us will ever forget that day for the rest of our lives.
Sep 10, 2008
posted by Shelley
Have you ever really thought about all the things you do throughout your day on autopilot? Just like this guy — doing the same things, the same way…
How are you going to feed your brain and release the best of yourself to the rest of the world, if all you do is go throughout your days mindlessly doing the same things? It would be great if we could introduce new experiences and endeavors into our daily life — things that we actually can’t do on autopilot — but for some of us, there’s simply not time to put another thing into our already packed schedules. We can; however, become more fully engaged with even the routine tasks that we do every day.
Try making a list of five things you do everyday without even thinking about them. Things like where you put your car keys when you get home at night, or the process of making morning coffee. Maybe you watch the same TV news show every evening, or read the sections of the newspaper in exactly the same order. What I’m suggesting now is not that you should change those things. Only that you do the items on your list with more conscious awareness. Why? If your day is filled with a series of routines that can happen on autopilot, you’re going to sail along on autopilot unless you make a conscious decision to do something else.
Sep 9, 2008
posted by Shelley
When we were young, pretty much everything we did was a new learning experience. Each step forward was a new path formed. As we get older, instead of creating new paths, we often tend to stay in the ones that are already well worn. Now there’s much to be said for treading familiar routes, and so long as we still continue to make a few small detours, the pathways don’t have to become ruts.
I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve made many wrong turns and have failed to stop (much less yield) when I should’ve. On the other hand, I don’t make U-turns or backup in the middle of the road, and once I have a solid destination, I get there no matter what.
Sep 8, 2008
posted by Shelley
I received and email from my brother today with the subject line, “Guess who got into the laundry?” There was a photo included, but no explanation was needed. It made me smile, and I hope that you enjoy it as well.
Sep 8, 2008
posted by Shelley
I think we’ve already entered into the last dreamy days of summer. It was unusually chilly this morning — right at 60 degrees when I first rolled out of bed to start my Monday morning routine — and the fog blanketed the burg.
Now close to 10:00 am, the fog has pretty much dissipated and the sun looks like it’s trying to peek out from behind the clouds. The hummingbirds that frequent the feeder outside the office window are more agitated with one another of late, often providing some animated arguments as they vie for the best feeding spot. Their numbers are dwindling, as many of them have probably already hopped a ride south on the back of some squawking goose.
The pool that was enjoyed quite a bit this summer is closing today — looks like it’s not been used much lately anyway…
