I didn't think to get online until well after noon... I was pretty much glued to the TV and trying to get through to my Mom whom it belatedly occurred to me was going to worry about me being in downtown Boston at work -- and of course the landlines were by then really screwed up. In fact, it was damn hard to get a call into the MidAtlantic states at all, because IIRC some communication hub in NYC was down by then. I finally got a hold of her at my Aunt's down the beach near Seaside Heights. They could see smoke from Manhattan on the horizon there... and it was at least 60 miles away.

The most vivid thing to me was how beautiful a day it was in Boston (not unlike today, in fact, but it was warmer), and in the early shots from New York (later, of course everything was covered in billowing clouds of debris). We got sent home before 11 am, and I remember walking to North Station in a daze with lot of other people walking around in a daze.

I don't think I was here, yet. I spent the day at Polgara's, because I didn't want to be alone in case of rioting. Weird, right?

Weird, right?

No.

So I was there for whatever else they were playing (googling tells me it was Beethoven's 9th), but hearing that piece is seared in my brain. So very moving. And I do remember thinking that it would not be easy to perform, so kudos.

It was written to be performed with the Beethoven 9th, so we are also doing that. (The fact that the chorus is sick sick sick of the Beethoven 9th is an aside.)

The most vivid thing to me was how beautiful a day it was in Boston

Part of the lyrics in the Adams piece are "It was a beautiful day."

I spent the day at Polgara's, because I didn't want to be alone in case of rioting. Weird, right?

No, it makes perfect sense, in my mind, to find a reason, any reason, to be not-alone in times like this.

[Edited to remove a not-so-relevant memory.]

later we sat together to watch "Buffy", of all things

Over the course of the day on 9/11, almost every TV station -- meaning all the 100+ cable channels -- switched their programming either to a news feed, or simply put up a message that said "Out of respect," blah blah blah, "We have suspended programming for the immediate future."

Except Sci-Fi Channel, who I really ought to send a thank-you note to. They maintained their regular programming.

All day, and well into the evening, I watched coverage -- or listened on the radio -- nonstop. And finally, during an interview with someone who was recounting how they had to leave behind a co-worker in the Towers, I hit emotional critical mass. I couldn't watch any more coverage, but I also didn't want to sit in silence. Music didn't appeal, because I needed something visually flickering before me.

Sci-Fi Channel was showing Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. I was never so grateful to see William Shatner's overacting as I was that evening. It was exactly the diversion my brain needed.

What's grimly amusing to me is how many people I know who, in talking about it later, said "Yeah! I watched that movie that night, too!"

I was going to spend the day babysitting my friend's two kids while she had meetings in DC. She arrived pretty soon after it all started, and they all ended up spending the day with me. It was good not to be alone.

It's not weird.

When the plane crashed into the Pentagon I kept thinking "It's a Tom Clancy novel!!" And then there were reporters in front of the building interviewing evacuees and I was freaked out and so sure that someone was going to start shooting the people leaving the building.

What's grimly amusing to me is how many people I know who, in talking about it later, said "Yeah! I watched that movie that night, too!"

I remember how I kept telling Buffistas to stop watching the news if they feel like they can't watch anymore, how they should switch the channel or put some tape inside the VCR. I kept repeating that it's OK, that it's not disrespect, that it doesn't mean ignoring what's going on or trying to delete it, that it's just preventing a short-circuit in the system.

In the recent war here, I tried to watch a full news edition at least once a day, but not more than once a day. One channel put old re-runs (and, surprisingly enough, "The Inside") on at nights, which was a very good decision, too.