Where were you when it all went down?

I was watching a re-run of Gilligan’s Island when it was rudely interrupted to let us know that Elvis had died. I was six and the only thing I cared about was Gilligan getting off that island.

9/11 – I was at home, folding towels, watching the music video for Alive by P.O.D.
I still can’t listen to that song.

When the Challenger exploded, I was in school.

I was on my way to work when I heard that Dimebag Darrell had been shot and killed.
My sister and I called each other at the same time all hysterical.

March 15, 2003: I was standing at the refrigerator, with the door open, when I saw that we were out of beer.

i got better

@jonsblond Is that man of yours a comedian 24/7? lol

@jonsblond Sometimes I wonder if he’s still there… And about all those “guest appearances”...

@Katniss We never really forget the big stuff do we…

@Blondesjon LOL silly man. I really wasn’t very specific…

@DWW25921 Never!
I realize that to most people would disagree with me about Dimebag being a big event, but for Pantera and Damage Plan fans, it was pretty devastating.

I’m thinking that @Symbeline would agree with me.

@Katniss I have no idea who that is.

I was in the nurse’s office of my junior high when news spread about the Challenger explosion. I think it was 7th grade…? I remember some kid ran in and said “The Russians blew up the space shuttle!”. Considering we were still in the middle of the Cold War, this was a frightening thought. A few mins later I learned the truth though since my Spanish teacher had a television in her room and had tuned into local news.

I was in an AOL chat room when Columbine happened. I remember there were tons of people coming in and out of the rooms with names like TrenchCoatMafia, TrenchCoatKillers, etc. I asked one of them what the new trend was about and they suggested I turn on the television.

For the twin towers, I had actually called in sick during the night, so I was able to watch it all unfold on tv the entire next day. Saw both towers fall, live. I remember crying when I saw them fall. At work only the managers had internet access, so apparently one of them would yell out every time something big happened. Can you imagine being on the phone with a customer and having some insensitive big mouth suddenly yelling across the room “People are jumping from the windows!”,“One of the towers just fell!”, “The 2nd tower just fell!”. Unbelievable.

@Katniss I remember when Dimebag died. I had never heard of him before (not being a fan of Pantera) but could tell he was a major force in metal music by the huge number of news stories about him.

@FutureMemory Now our first thought… Terrorists! It was always the Russians growing up though. In elementary school we had nuke drills! Did you know that hiding your head under a desk can save you from a nuclear attack? They don’t make desks like that anymore…

@Katniss Ok I figured it out. I usually listened to nerdier things… Weird Al… You know, I’m one of those…

@DWW25921 Dimebag IMHO he was the best guitar player to ever grace this earth.

@FutureMemory He really was!
@DWW25921 I like some of Weird Al’s stuff. Nature Trail to Hell was pretty amusing. lol

@Katniss He wasn’t a comedian last night. we were out of beer

When Mickey died in Rocky III, I was sat at home on the sofa crying pitiful salty tears…sniff

I was in 10th grade when the Challenger exploded. I was in Chemistry class, and we were not watching the launch on TV. Around the time of the launch, the principal came over the intercom and asked for everyone’s attention. My teacher said, “Uh oh” before he even said any thing. Two years later I was reading Hamlet (Macbeth?) in my English 12 class. We were reading the section that says something about life is like a candle, and easily snuffed out, and our English teacher told us how her class of two years ago had been reading that same passage right when the principal had come on the intercom to tell everyone about the Challenger exploding.

I was in the bathroom.

When the towers got hit, I was in the office and a coworkers sister called to say a plane had hit one of the towers. We walked down the street to the brokerage where some of my clients and friends and s/o worked. The news guys were trying to get a handle on things and reviewing the hit. My golf partner at the time came in, he had worked in the towers. A few minutes later the other plane hit. We watched the efforts, saw the people jumping and hitting the awnings outside of the command center. Then the floors buckled, and the first one came down. Then the other. We just felt sick.

9/11: I was in my 6th grade geography class. They announced over the loud speaker that all teachers should turn on the news in their classrooms. Honestly, I didn’t think much of it because I had no clue of the implications. I believe I even went to the restroom and missed the second tower being hit. I didn’t realize until a bit later how bad it really was.

When the Challenger exploded I was…not yet born.

I had been at a job interview and came home made some lunch and turned on the tube when Challenger exploded. I was taking a kickboxing class and could see the TV over the juicebar when Columbia exploded.

My first ‘where were you when’ that I can recall was when I was in 9th grade on the phone with a friend listening to 102.7 WNEW New York when the DJ came on the air and announced that John Lennon had been shot.

The day Columbine happened, I was leaving Colorado after visiting a dear friend who lived in Boulder. The next time I flew in to CO, the Virginia Tech shootings happened. It makes me nervous to consider going to visit again…

9/11/01, I looked at the towers across the river as I did every morning on my commute. It was a perfect day – the air was crisp and cool and cloudless. I was nervous about a meeting I had with the Manager and Co-Manager of our department. It went much better than I could have imagined so I was feeling great and opened the door and the other staff said “a plane hit the Twin Towers”… I remember many details of that day as if it were last week. That truly changed me forever, but I was fortunate not to have personally known anyone who was lost that day. @Adirondackwannabe – when I heard that people were jumping, I walked away from the TV. I still have not watched any of the footage that showed that. I can not fathom being in a position where that would seem like the better option… Truly gut wrenching to imagine.

I was at work when I heard about the Oklahoma City bombing, and also the 2004 Tsunami. A friend was visiting Japan, and I have Japanese friends via social networks, so I learned about that earthquake and tsunami over the web from them.

@hearkat Do not watch it. It is not anything you need to see or hear. We happened to be there together and shocked by what we saw. But if you can avoid it do it.

When 9/11 happened, I was in the bathtub and received a freaked out phone call from my husband.

11/22/63. I was living in NY attending college and working for a newspaper. I was in music appreciation class listening to “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” when I learned JFK had been shot. I immediately headed to work, knowing it would be a day to remember. Obviously, it was.

9/11/2001. I was living in Austin. I had just stepped out of the shower and turned on the TV when I saw those first horrendous images. I could not believe my eyes.

I was five years old, in first grade, in the school library holding a copy of Oh the Thinks You Can Think when I overheard two teachers talking about how Dr. Seuss died that day.

First time a person I cared about had died. They had to call my parents. I was inconsolable.

@Adirondackwannabe – I can’t imagine that I ever would. I don’t know how those of you who witnessed it have managed to cope.

@Seek_Kolinahr – I remember when Jim Henson died in 1990 – I was 3 when Sesame Street went on the air, and 10 when The Muppet Show started – the man was a tremendous influence on my life and I still tear up at the loss. That was a year before I had my son, and a few months after he was born was when Dr. Seuss died… I was really at a loss trying to imagine raising a child in a world without those two men.

I was in the 3rd grade and we watched the Challenger launch live in class. Luckily I didn’t really understand what had happened.

Kip Kinkel.. I was a acquaintance with one of the kids he shot. The kid was in a band with a coworker and we used to party together.

9/11.. I was working graveyard at a photolab and I sleep with the tv on. Silence kills me. So I had been asleep for a few hours and I woke up to a dream that a tiny plane hit a tower. (think Cessna). I woke up a few minutes before the second plane hit.

I have stopped sleeping with the overnight news on. That shit seeps in.