http://www.ftci.com/memorial_book/lim_arnold.htm

Its been 4 years to the day… the pain and sense of loss is as fresh as the day it happened. September 11, 2001 the US witnessed one of the most heinous attacks on American soil since Pearl Harbor. The only difference is that this was attack on it’s citizens and not a military outfit.

I was just about to leave for work that day, already running late, leaving my house, about turn off the TV and then the North Tower was hit. I was shocked, glued to the TV debating whether or not to go to work. I called up Linette letting her know what was going on. I think time was going by really quick that day, because the next thing I know was that the South Tower was hit, running around looking for Arnold’s business card to try to give him a call to see if he was ok, but the lines were already dead. Still watching CNN and on the phone with Linette, the South Tower collapses and a sound that I will never forget comes from the phone. It was a combination cry, shriek, scream and yell, filled with dread that came from Linette, it’s hard to replicate how it sounds, but if I ever heard it again, I can tell you what it is. I just hope I never hear that again.

Watching the 4 year anniversary brings back a lot of memories of that day and the days that follow. Talking to my dad on the phone saying that I’ll pick him up from work and just trying to get from my house to the Grand Central Park and 164th st took almost an hour, which is normally less than 2 minutes to get to. Finally getting to the cross section I can clearly see the plume of smoke coming from Lower Manhattan. Decided to go home and watched the news the rest of the night.

The days following were spent in NYC helping Linette and her family going from hospital to hospital putting hope missing signs for Arnold as well as checking to see if he was checked in to any hospital. We were interviewed quite a few times by different news agencies with Linette being the spokesperson for us.

I remember first walking out of the 14th St/ Union St subway station, walking along 14th St towards 1st Ave and seeing NYS State Troopers patrolling the streets, one of the few sights that I will never forget, along with the sights of seeing the myriad of missing posters plastered at all the area hospitals. I hope this never happens again.

Arnold…. We miss you very much, I know that Linette does, although she’s your cousin, she thinks of you as a brother she never had.

We will see you again someday…

A little excerpt from The Return of the King. I thought it was fitting, giving us hope for those that has passed on.
———————
Pippin: I didn’t think it would end this way.
Gandalf: End? No, the journey doesn’t end here. Death is just another path… One that we all must take.
Gandalf: The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all change to silver glass…
Gandalf: …And then you see it.
Pippin: What? Gandalf?… See what?
Gandalf: White shores… and beyond. The far green country under a swift sunrise.
Pippin: Well, that isn’t so bad.
Gandalf: [Softly:] No… No it isn’t.

Summer is done and over with for me, and it couldn’t come any sooner.  This summer was pretty much uneventful. Two summer classes and nothing out of the ordinary happened, except for the short time Linette was here, and of course the US Open…. The day Andy lost his mojo… in my opinion, I think he’s overrated.

Now that Linette is back on St Kitts starting her 3rd semester there, I’m up starting on my senior year.  This semester I’ll be taking PHI 014 (Ethics), FIN 101 (Intro to Finance), HIST 105 (Ancient Egypt, Greeks and Hebrews), LEGL 020 (Intro to Legal Systems), and AH 003 (Gods and Kings).

Today was fairly uneventful, ethics was cancelled because of the freshman/ incoming transfer convocation, which left me with 1 1/2 hours of nothing to do, so I got some of my books during that break as well as the new parking stickers.  Seems like there’s a distinction between commuter and resident students now.  Only new thing is that the commuter students get their own parking lot, which is still fairly small.  I think they should expand the commuter lots into the area behind Starr Hall, and have the residents park on the north side of campus, since their dorms are there anyway.

Finance class was a bit interesting, Prof. Papaioannou… try saying that, seems like a fair professor, but I guess only time can tell.  The class is full, but I suspect that the class will shrink as the semester goes forward.

Final class of the day, was an eye opener. Prof John Walsh, for Hist 105.  This guys doesn’t look like you’re typical University professor. He walked in with a Hawaiian shirt on, ipod earbuds hanging inside his shirt and his bag.  I was like, this guy can’t be our professor.  In any case, the guy is pretty much straight forward with rules.  When class is in session, he talks, and when he stops.. He’s done.  If a student’s cell phone rings, he answers it.  At least he doesn’t kick them out of class, and marks them absent like my Calc1 professor did at Nassau.  Other things, no exams, and only 2 papers, but I think these papers need to be written really well to get a good grade.  Professor Walsh says he’s a liberal and believes that government should stop passing laws that interferes with people’s lives and that young people shouldn’t be allowed to vote.  He feels that young people doesn’t know enough of the facts and that it’s unfair that young people have the same voting power as he does.  So my guess is that he feels he’s knows enough facts to make informed decisions.  An opinion that I can relate to.  Too many decisions out there are made on half-ass information, which leads to half-ass solutions, which can lead to disaster.

I’ll try to be more up2date with this blog now that school is in session.  I have something I can bitch about now 😛