*Jeapordy theme*

From the_zaniak, who got it from stephanie_bean, although I see joee_girl has done it too:

These are the answers. To see the questions, leave a comment promising to complete the meme. I'll send you the questions and look forward to seeing your update in the near future.

1. the_zaniak, certainly.
2. Would saying zhurnaly be cheating?
3. Mmm ... hard, but maybe alun_clewe or wingywoof.
4. acesifda?
5. toya121!
6. Sorry, but I gotta go with nanakikun.
7. Wow. Um, ladibug21?
8. alchemi.
9. Several people - wyvr, perhaps?
10. annechen67, 'natch!
11. ailado.
12. Oh, cruel question! kadyg.
13. demiurgent, no question.
14. I object!
15. I ... object somewhat less! (Also, the_zaniak.)
16. happydog.
17. the_zaniak (again).
18. Ugh, another of these ... I'd say alchemi.
19. So many choices ... baxil.
20. majoru. No question.
21. ...what? *Googles* EeennhI'mnotansweringthisone.
22. Ditto, of course.
23. My literal mind refuses to answer this question.
24. Err, no.
25. ...what, five in a row?
26. Six in a row!?
27. ailado.
28. chanlemur.
29. bourgeoisify, but I don't want to impose.
30. Party on, dudes. Be excellent to each other.

...and that's all, folks!

Writer's Block: 9/11

What were you doing on September 11th, 2001? How do the events of that day hold meaning for you now? View other answers

On the eleventh of September, in the year two thousand and one of the common era, I was still taking classes at the Rockville campus of Montgomery College in the state of Maryland. I first heard rumors of the plane crash in the basement of the Macklin Tower (which may still have been the Campus Tower, then) near the phones at the bottom of the stairs where the vending machines were (there was an auto-mat-ish one with sandwiches and the like, or perhaps my memory is inaccurate), and dismissed them as unlikely. Shortly thereafter, I reached the classroom, where I discovered class was canceled and we were being sent home. Noncomprehending, I proceeded to the bus stop and thence home (I do not recall how), and came in to find people watching the coverage.

We rarely watch TV in our house. We were glued to the set all that day.

I remember when the footage of that guy on the street, his camera pointed to the sky, catching one plane enter one tower ... I remember when that hit the channels where I lived. I remember seeing them burning. I remember the people running through the streets with the dust from the collapse chasing them down. Odd that this is still topical, but I remember John McCain being interviewed - probably by telephone, the picture was of the towers - and saying we had to attack, go to war over this. (I'm sure it was the same day.) I remember Mom being disappointed with his response - I don't know why, because I disapproved from bullheaded war-is-evil simplemindedness that I still haven't wholly got over, but I think she expected him to be more thoughtful than that, more measured in his response. I remember the speculation about the fourth plane, and where it might have been aimed if the passengers hadn't stood up to the attackers.

And ... well, I don't remember much else. It was seven years ago, I was sixteen, and things in New York had little to do with me. And it still seems like an utter shock to me that people found this so ... well, shocking, that their lives and worldviews were torn up and left inverted because of it. Because I don't think I ever lived in a pre-9/11 or post-9/11 world, I lived in maths and sciences, in Prince of Persia on the IBM 8086 PC, and in books good and bad, and who ever thought 'America' was invincible anyhow? But tear things up it did, and somehow as a nation the U.S. still isn't over it.

I thought about what I'd say today, but I've nothing to say. Us us-ians lost two buildings, three thousand people, and our collective minds, and none of it did the slightest good to anyone ...