Open thread for thoughts. Hard to believe it has been seven years.
Here is last year's thread.
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Wednesday Whining is a weekly blog with rotating hosts. Whines and Anti-Whines, both big and small, are welcome! Our purposes are mutual support and sharing a few laughs along the way.
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The Wednesday Whining Community is diverse, and strives to be safe, welcoming, and supportive. To this end, comments that are personally abusive or otherwise disparaging [regarding race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation] will be deleted by moderators, along with spam and self-promotion.
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A: The Whiner's Ball commences no later than Tuesday, and ends when Awards are given (usually Thursday in theory, but definitely before Monday).
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A: Yes, really. Traditional awards include Style [music, poetry, etc.], Old Skool [piddly little whines], and Elevated Risk of Mullet [funniest line in a whine], but other hand-crafted awards may be granted at the host's discretion, and nominations from commenters are encouraged.
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Q: How did this all get started anyhow?
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Q: What was the first prize ever awarded?
A: The Playdough Violin
A: The Whiner's Ball commences no later than Tuesday, and ends when Awards are given (usually Thursday in theory, but definitely before Monday).
Q: Awards? Really?
A: Yes, really. Traditional awards include Style [music, poetry, etc.], Old Skool [piddly little whines], and Elevated Risk of Mullet [funniest line in a whine], but other hand-crafted awards may be granted at the host's discretion, and nominations from commenters are encouraged.
Q: Can I whine about someone who just does not "get it"?
A: The Cluestick Posse is on hand for persons in need.
Q: Is there a mascot?
A: Ralph is the mascot.
Q: Are there other traditions I should know about?
A: The passing of virtual refreshments is appreciated.
Q: How did this all get started anyhow?
A: Phantom Scribbler was our muse and host for two years.
Q: What was the first prize ever awarded?
A: The Playdough Violin
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9 comments:
I posted some thoughts over here.
((( sue ))) been crying a little before responding to your excellent post.
liz also has a post up: http://mysterymommy.blogspot.com/2008/09/just-another-day.html
i didn't lose friends that day. my sister did; her friend's parents were on one of the flights. but as someone who grew up during the cold war, remembering bomb drills, thinking we might all blow up in a nuclear attack -- this was the most frightening day.
i live on the west coast, and read about the first plane on the internet, before anyone else was up. and then the second plane hit, just as i was getting the kids ready for school -- that's when i realized it was really bad. when the first tower collapsed, i was driving my daughter to school. we did not want to scare the kids, thought they'd be better off in school as usual, but the tower collapsing was beyond imagination.
i was just about to leave my long-time job, but called in to say i was staying home. my job was across the bay, and there were rumors of other aircraft having been hijaked, rumors of nationwide threats. i did not want to be stuck on the other side of the bridge, away from my kids if the worst happened. almost nobody went in that day. we were all glued to the TV and internet, watching the crashes and fires and collapses over and over.
my daughter and i spent so much time together those next weeks, just talking, or visiting a nearby impromptu memorial. we made origami cranes -- that is what we do, facing the unthinkable and hoping for peace. we brought candles. we read messages that people wrote. we hung out with strangers, because we didn't want to be alone.
It was a beautiful day and I walked from daycare to my office, because the car was getting an oil change or something. It's a marvelous walk, not too long, over a footbridge across the river where you might see crew boats and a stroll through the meticulously maintained grounds of Fancy Pants Business School.
I crossed the street and approached my building, giving a big smile to the person coming out the door -- during my pregnancy the year before I had discovered the habit of smiling at everyone I saw at work, whether I knew them or not. The person gave me a strange, unhappy look. Hmm.
Walking through the building I passed a conference room where people were watching something strange on the news. I hurried down to my department and into the well of "what is it? How many? One more, two more?"
One of the flights left from our airport and was a flight many of us took to an annual conference in March. My boss was at the airport, waiting to board a flight to DC. He says they turned off all the TVs and told everyone to leave but didn't tell them what was going on. Another co-worker was on a flight to DC. They landed but didn't taxi to the terminal. They were kept standing outside by the runway for hours. He managed to rent a car and drive home a couple of days later.
I think part of my regular headline-checking these days is to avoid the sense of surprise I got that morning, when I was smiling and no one else was. I don't want to be the last to know if something happens again.
In the face of this, awards seem out of place. I'll post them tomorrow.
I wrote about it here.
(((( uccellina ))))
go see what she wrote.
We were living in the Bay area, and my friend Claire called me right after the first plane hit and woke me us screaming "We're under attack...go turn on your TV." So I ran downstairs and turned on the TV in time to see the second plane hit. My kids both woke up and came down and we watched it until it was time for them to go to school.
At school the other kids didn't know and the teachers told the kids that did know not to discuss it, so they didn't know until the afternoon how bad it was.
I found out that afternoon that a friend and former colleague was on Flight 11. He had newborn twins and his wife was devastated by Rob's loss. I was so saddened to hear of his death, and I think of him so often.
I then learned that my friend Nina was in NYC that day (She tells about it on her blog today http://ninaspace.typepad.com/my_weblog/ ) and the tale of how she got home was amazing.
I think it was later that night or the next day that I found out that the terrorists had slept the night before in a motel in my town, which has since been torn down. I think that was seriously difficult to hear. OUr town lost 9 people on 9/11. It was a huge loss to our community.
7 years later, my clearest memories are of the days after. The beautiful blue cloudless skies with not a single plane flying. No contrails. No thundering engines.
Silent blue skies.
I still think that 9/11 should be the day no planes can fly.
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