Where were you?

Avid readers of my weblog would be aware that javaboy.blogspot.com experienced a hiatus around September to December last year. Indeed my final post prior to this period was a brief mention about the world falling apart. In the spirit of the stories floating around in our conversations and in the media today, I thought I'd add my own answer to that question, "Where we you on September 11th?"

September 2001 was an difficult time for me. I was dealing with my parents' separation, which had only just been formalised. I had just finished a two-year project at work, and my position had been made redundant - but at this stage I had not taken a package - I was essentially waiting at home (in Melbourne) while my manager sought out other opportunities for me within the company. I had a meeting lined up with the manager of one of the divisions in our Melbourne office to discuss the details of a position in one of his groups, so I'd spent most of the day at home outlining a potential compensation package, updating my resume, and generally pondering my future. In the early evening, I watched the movie, Fight Club, which for those of you who haven't seen it, is essentially about a schizophrenic terrorist who blows up ten office buildings in America.

After the movie, I made some dessert and settled down to the latest episode of The West Wing on Channel 9 - I can't remember what the particular episode was about, but around five minutes before the end, it was interrupted by a newflash from Jim Whaley stating that the World Trade Center was on fire, and that there'd been an explosion of some sort. I don't think he mentioned that it was the result of an aeroplane. They had a visual shot of the building. I think it was only two or three minutes after the actual event. They allowed The West Wing to finish, and then returned with a (slightly) more informed report, before switching across to the CNN and ABC America coverage. It was late at night in Australia, past 11 o'clock. My friend Anthony called me, to ensure that my eyes were glued to the television. We spoke for a while in interrupted disbelief as more news came in. I called my friend Saj, who was asleep at the time. He thanked me for interrupting his sleep for such an important event. When the first tower imploded, I was on the phone to someone, but I can't remember who - it was all a bit of a blur. I think I stayed up until around 4:00am that night, absorbing all the news and trying to make sense of it all.

The next day, I came into work and continued to watch the news via a webcast. Not much work got done that day. I did have my meeting, but the outcome wasn't good. For various political reasons, the Melbourne position wasn't going to eventuate for me, and on September 20 I ended up taking a package (but we'll save that story for next week).