2002-07-04 - 3:31 p.m.

>>>>>[ Independence day. July 4th, 2002 ]<<<<<

>>>>>[ Ma and Pa Astordroid come back from the European wasteland today, I pick them up from the Dropship unloading point later today, see how the trip was, and then we go our seperate ways. ]<<<<<

>>>>>[ Problem is, I am a worrisome astrodroid. And in leiu of that, and the Shooting at LAX not an hour ago, I'm a little tense. ]<<<<<

>>>>>[ Yeah. Shooting. Airport. CNN running interference : This is a normal shooting an an abnormal place... Terrorism? Fear most certainly. Ticket counter. middle eastern airline. El Al, Israli national Airline. Security was low. roving police force. no real security measures until the first check point. 2 dead, 4 (?) wounded. shooter one of the Dead. ]<<<<<

>>>>>[ I'm hating this. Check this shit: Parents supposedly touched down an hour ago. Were supposed to call me when they got on US soil. My parents are never late. Never ever ever. Shit they are generally set to go a good 6 months in advance of anything.]<<<<<

>>>>>[ So my microprocessor goes back to the eleventh of september. Sitting at the local coffe shop when my hthen boss show up late, ashen faced. It's like 0915 am."Have you heard?" He asks? "No, what?" we say. "plane flew into one of the world trade center towers, thing's on fire..." And all I can think is 'Man, some air traffic controller is gonna be crucified'. We have our meeting and chat about utterly mundane things and then head into the office, having dismissed the whole thing as more' breaking news'. Cause you see, at that point, the second plane hadn't crashed, and the pentagon hadn't gone up and the flight outside pittsburgh hadn't put a crater in the fback 40 of and old aquaintance of my parent's friends. God bless the poepl on that flight, able to do something in the face of what I can only imagine was an utter nightmare.]<<<<<

>>>>>[ So we roll into work, and I go to check CNN. The office is silent. And I see the second tower lit up like a couchburning. We find a television and I'm watching it as the second tower collapses, drops like so muh concrete, steel an glass, and a wall of dust, smoke and debris thuinders up and across the field of vision of the person unlucky enought to be holding a camera as the thousands of people fates were sealed.]<<<<<

>>>>>[ It was a hard day. I wept a lot. Sometimes uncontrollably, sometimes just a little, and sometimes I just shook. I was able to get in touch with a friend in the city, he was fine thank god. Phones were tied to shit, hard to get through. I didn't find out untill weeks later about my friend who was in Building #7 and got his office out just before the second tower fell. Saved lives, that man, probably the only true hero I know. Terrifying story, not for now.]<<<<<

>>>>>[ Yeah, so it's independence day, and I'm scared. Fucking shitstorm propelled by the media and people and stories and uncertainty and negative energy all pushing down on this nation and it's people and you and me.]<<<<<

>>>>>[ And I'm just plain sick of it. ]<<<<<

>>>>>[ Yeah, well the droidette is home from work. Yeah, even astrodroids need to make a living, eh? So I'm gonna go, and wait for my folks to acall and see what happens. Hope they are safe and well and enjoying their layover in the fattest city in the nation.]<<<<<

>>>>>[ Gunhead ]<<<<<