...and where were you?

Despite all the coverage in the papers and on TV, it says something about me, I suppose, that I didn't immediately post something about the event of five years ago.

I was just on the phone and the subject came up. Where was I? Well, I had just moved to Japan 12 days earlier and had spent the better part of that Tuesday dodging the raindrops & puddles of Typhoon Danas - 400mm/16" of rain - while looking for a place to rent ("dana" means "to experience" in Tagalog; however, the Japanese don't name storms, so this was Storm 15).

I was sitting on my bed in the Kanto Lodge (the 'hotel' on Yokota Air Base), trying to dry out, eating a late dinner and channel surfing when I turned to CNN seconds after the first tower was hit. That was 9:48PM. I didn't get to sleep until well after 3AM.

Whether or not one is a supporter of the US military, or any military for that matter, there is something to be said about an organisation trained to react to certain circumstances. By the morning, the base was a different place. Cherry pickers were parked along the inside of the base wall, overlooking the highway running past. Military personnel were inside the camouflaged bucket, armed with serious fire power. ID checks were everywhere, and not only to get on base.

Before 9/12/2001, I was never required to show ID before then when entering a bank, hotel, grocery store, service station or Burger King.

running the gamut

Computer on the fritz...injured wrist...the avocado incident...all these conspired to keep me from posting. Of course, I must not be that compelled to blog if I didn't find another computer from which to post. Be that as it may, perhaps I'll be more diligent over here in the land of ntycement in the future.

Live long & prosper. Nano nano.