Where Were You When....

Where Were You When...

Boy, you jump online to look up Lou Ferrigno's birthdate, and you get distracted by stuff over on Sheila's blog:

1. Where were you when you heard that Ronald Reagan died?

Watching baseball on Fox at my folks' house. They broke into the baseball game. I was kind of selfish. I got irritated that they kept talking about it, all while baseball was being played. It's not like he could have died MORE. Yeah, I'm a selfish sumbitch like that. No lectures.

2. Where were you on September 11, 2001?

It was my second day back at the old job from vacation, so I was kinda depressed at having to work for a living. Add to that I'd just found out that one of my guys I supervised was calling in sick, and I'd have to go work a donation trailer.

I was pissed.

It all drained away to that weird shock I got after I'd turned the channel from Sportscenter to see the first tower with a huge gaping hole, with smoke coming out of the hole, all on the Today show. My mind asked if the picture was for a movie somebody was promoting. It wasn't but a few seconds later that the second plane hit.

Weird day? I worked a donation site for nine hours, and saw one person that whole day. With nothing to do but listen to radio coverage of everything that was going on.

3. Where were you when you heard that Princess Diana died?

That was another weekend I'd visited my folks. I'd just gotten in from visiting with friends from my hometown. We'd gone to a movie, and I think it was Beavis and Butthead do America, but I'm not sure.

I remember watching for a longer time than I'd have thought.

4. Do you remember where you were when you heard Kurt Cobain had died?

No. I must have been the only teenager in American who couldn't have cared less.

5. Take one for The Gipper: What’s your favorite flavor of jelly bean?

The black ones.

6. Where were you when Magic Johnson announced he was retiring from the NBA due to AIDS?

I was in high school. We had Channel One, that 12 minute news show they showed to get kids interested in the news. And they sent out a special report. I was in one of the science classrooms, so I was either in homeroom or going to biology or chemistry.

7. Where were you when Reagan was shot?

I was four. So I was probably fighting evil.

8.Where were you when the Challenger exploded?

At the home of the lady who took care of my pre-school age sister. We had a snow day from school. I've blogged about it.

9. Where were you when the 0J verdict was announced?

I was living in Gracy Hall at MTSU, and I was waiting to go to lunch with friends. I remember the whole process being drawn out, and hearing the resident advisor, with whom we shared a bathroom, yelling from his room for Ito to hurry, because he was late for class.

I remember laughing in disbelief, but it was nothing compared to neighbors next door. They went absolutely ballistic, screaming and yelling with a vitriol that would have made you thought they were related to Nicole Brown.

I was the one who delivered the news of the verdict to the lunch crew.