*When September 11th happened, I was living at home to save money while I was working as a bartender at a golf course. I didn't have the most rigorous schedule, so I woke up late. When I did, my mother told me that the Twin Towers had collapsed.
I told her that was impossible. Having worked as a temp a few months previously at the Sears Tower in Chicago, I understood that buildings this size weren't just buildings -- they were cities of people, each going to work everyday, most of them with jobs that were boring as hell. I couldn't grasp a city falling from the sky, much less two. But that's what happened.
I had a dentist appointment that day, to get a root canal, I believe. I called to see if it was canceled, and they asked me why. I told them about what had happened, and they said things would go ahead as planned. When I arrived at the dentist, a good three or four hours after this crap had gone down (I remember the Pentagon had been hit before I left home, and the Pennsylvania flight had crashed as well), no one seemed to act as if anything was different that day. In fact, when I sat down and the chair and told the dentist what had happened, he acted mildly bemused.
"Whoever it is," he said, "I hope they don't have anything against dentists."
That might have been the most poorly timed joke I have heard. I have not been back to that dentist since.
*As I said, I worked at a golf course that summer, as a bartender. You'd be amazed how many people still went golfing that day. The manager of the restaurant and I kept sneaking off to watch events on TV, but the customers were streaming in. By the time I started my shift, the attacks had started nearly 8 hours before. There were lots of dicks that day who wanted to keep their tee time, which was annoying. But what was more annoying was how many of them acted like nothing had happened that day.
*Osama's dead now, I hear. Bully for us. I'm as thrilled as anyone. But I'm not inclined to call it a Democratic victory. There's some things that, by politicizing, you show yourself to have no tact or appreciation for their significance. Let's just says it's an important event, give our neighbor a fist pump, and move on.
*I think Obama was right not to release the photos of Osama. I'm sure they would have been gruesome, and they wouldn't have proven anything to those who are not inclined to believe it.
