Q 'n' A per se.

[Guest]

 

[Eilan]

My students were silent. High school students silent?! That doesn't happen very often ~ trust me. It was the same solemness that my 7th grade history class reacted with the Challenger explosion; my college class responded to the Oklahoma City bombings (and tears shed); and of course, those high schoolers on 9-11.

I was teaching on 9-11 (college classes, though). I had two classes that morning. The first class went from 8:30-9:45; it was after I left that class that I learned what had happened. One of the media center employees went around to all the classrooms and turned on all the TVs. I kept my next class until just after the towers fell; at that point no one was able to concentrate.

One of my students piped up, "Where's the World Trade Center?"

 

[EJFan]

i was in college during 9-11 and it was a very odd day from the start.

my clock didn't go off because we had a brief power outage that night apparently so i overslept until my back up alarm (the timer on the stereo) went off. the morning DJ had nothing to say about anything going on in NYC or anywhere else... god bless the morons in rural america for being slow on even the important shit.

so i was going to miss my first class no matter what i did at this point. i got myself ready and went to my office in our student union. when i arrived there i saw the thing on the news. at that point we had no idea there was a plane involved or what was going on... just smoke coming from the building. i saw the 2nd plane and everything else started piling up from there on.

between the time we realized that there was a significant attack going on and the time the university opted to close down i was running around frantically trying to put televisions in meeting rooms and anywhere else that had cable jacks. it was an antiquated tv system that hadn't been used in ages but we had to try to remember how it worked and how to get things hooked up. the public areas that already had tv's were overflowing with people and this was our only solution.

finally we closed the university that morning and took all the wiring apart that we tried to assemble for the tv's. the whole thing was really surreal and i remember the first thought i had was that we have to fight this battle, however it materializes, without sacrificing our civil rights. well... bang goes that idea.

 

[Guest]

 

[SweetErika]

<snip> the whole thing was really surreal and i remember the first thought i had was that we have to fight this battle, however it materializes, without sacrificing our civil rights. well... bang goes that idea.

Hubby and I had a really interesting experience on 9/11. Our first class was Masters-level International Business, and over 50% of the students were Vietnamese on an exchange our prof. had arranged. Another 20% were from Chile, Bolivia, China, Mexico, Uzbekistan, Burundi, and a wide variety of other countries, so we had quite the mix of perspectives.

It was a few hours after the planes hit, and we were glued to the TV. Our professor muted it for a few minutes, and asked, "So, what's going to happen now?" Almost all of the students replied in unison, "You're/We're going to bomb someone."

Hubby and I knew and said it too, but it was such a shock to hear that collective, overwhelming response from 'the rest of the world.' The professor asked why people had responded that way, and the thought was, "That's just what Americans do... something happens, and they attack, justified or not." Most of the Vietnamese explained they understood the intent of 'The American [Vietnam] War' well, but felt the US government is unnecessarily intrusive, violent, prone to knee-jerk reactions, imposing its ideology on others, and thoroughly enjoys getting even, right or wrong. It gave us a little bit of a taste of the reality of how we're viewed in the world, and some understanding of why we were being attacked.

 

[Quoll]

Would you eat this?
Hufu

 

[Eilan]

Would you eat this?
Hufu

LMAO!

I could serve this the next time I hosted my book group. After all, it's vegetarian/vegan friendly.

 

[Quoll]

LMAO!

I could serve this the next time I hosted my book group. After all, it's vegetarian/vegan friendly.

I think Ms. AR would become Ms. Anally Empty once you told her, better put the plastic sheets out first.

I actually thought this would be the perfect product for Bi, it not only encompasses her vegan beliefs, but also solves her cannibal dreams too.

 

[EJFan]

i have a question for pleasteasme... and it's been rattling 'round in my head for months...

where are the E's?????

 

[silverwhisper]

scalywag queried
what food requires absolutely no willpower in order to avoid?

for me: okra. it's disgusting.

sassygirl: thanks! i'm not sure which series you want to see continued but if you're asking about beth, you should see chapter 2 later this week. :>

eilan queried
do you remember where you were and what you were doing on january 28, 1986, when the challenger exploded?

i was in 10th grade, either in an art class or just hanging out in the art classroom. some kid came by and said the shuttle exploded and i thought, jeez, that's just not funny: i thought he was trying to be funny.

ed

 

[Eilan]

I think Ms. AR would become Ms. Anally Empty once you told her, better put the plastic sheets out first.

That would interfere with her bowel movement schedule.

 

[EJFan]

That would interfere with her bowel movement schedule.

*starts rethinking concept of own schedule*

 

[Guest]

 

[silverwhisper]

one cat, bogey, a domestic short hair of 2 years. he's mostly black except for the odd white hair in his coat and he weights 15-16 lbs. he's affectionate by cat standards, but does tend to like weaving between your legs, usually when carrying something heavy/very hot.

ed

 

[Guest]

 

[EJFan]

Question for all:

Do you have pets? If so, what? If not, is there a particular reason?

i have recently become pet-free... but have almost always had a dog in my life (save the time i was in college) and will probably have one again next fall or winter. i love dogs. it's that simple. the training and bullshit during puppy-hood kinda sucks but once that's over with there's nothing better. they give companionship, unconditional love, encourage exercise, make you laugh, keep you warm and attract women. what else do ya need from life?

 

[Quoll]

Two dogs, one border collie, kelpie cross and her daughter who is a mix of her and probably one of the above mentioned breeds (the little slut).
One cat of approx 17 (I generally like cats but she is one of the whingiest fucking cats I have ever known) When her time comes we will probably replace her as having a few cats is necessary for mouse and snake control.
Tropical fish and that's it at the moment have had goats, chooks, ducks,sheep, budgies, canaries and peacocks in the past. If I was a bit more patient I wouldn't mind having a ferret or two, but having just got one child through the two year old stage I'm not sure if I want animals that are permanently like that.

 

[Guest]

 

[Eilan]

Do you have pets? If so, what? If not, is there a particular reason?

We have five cats. The three outdoor ones are a giant yellow tabby (Tigger), a gray tabby (Cosmo), and a long-haired black cat (who's technically an unnamed interloper).

The indoor cats are Sagwa, a seal-point Siamese (with a very non-Siamese disposition, BTW) that someone dumped in our garage 2 1/2 years ago and Shadow, a gray short-haired cat that was hanging around my husband's old workplace. One of his co-workers took her home and had her spayed and declawed, but we agreed to take her when this guy and his wife split up.

We also have two German Shepherd-Border Collie mix puppies named Murphy and Emily. They'll be six months old on Friday.

 

[Quoll]

Snake control? We had one in our garage last summer, but if I needed snake control, I'd have a fucking army of cats. I don't like snakes.

btw, what are chooks and budgies?

I don't mind snakes I find them very fascinating, but I don't need them around my house or kids, especially the venomous ones that we have.
Chooks = chickens.
Budgie =budgerigar, I think you guys call them parakeets, did you know they are native to Australia and all the wild ones are green. (interesting but pointless info)
Have to head off to work, hope everyone has a great day.

 

[EJFan]

btw, what are chooks and budgies?

this is a phenomenal fucking question!

 

[Quoll]

this is a phenomenal fucking question!

Did you know that speedos are affectionately known as budgie smugglers?

 

[Eilan]

Snake control? We had one in our garage last summer, but if I needed snake control, I'd have a fucking army of cats. I don't like snakes.

You should've seen the four foot long black snake that had wrapped itself around the grill of our storm door a couple of years ago. The fucking cats were too busy sleeping to care.

 

[EJFan]

Did you know that speedos are affectionately known as budgie smugglers?

*weakly attempts to sound knowledgable*

pfft. hell yeah. who doesn't? i have several pairs myself... which i affectionately call "jelly-belly smugglers."

 

[Guest]