A Quick Meme Before Sleeping

[melwil]

Where Were You When . .

1. When John F. Kennedy was shot (11/22/1963)

Not alive. Mum heard on a little radio that she kept next to her bed though.

2. When Mt. St. Helens blew (5/18/1980)

Still not born . . .

3. When the space shuttle Challenger exploded (1/28/1986)

Second year of kindergarten. I can't remember it. I first heard about it properly in 1993, when my family visited the memorial in Arlington cemetary.

4. When the 7.1 earthquake hit San Francisco (10/7/1989)

Grade three - I honestly can't remember this at all.

5. When the Berlin Wall fell (11/7/1989)

Grade three again. I have vague memories of this. My only knowledge of communism when I was a kid was ballet related - everyone knew that the Bolshoi Ballet was the best Ballet company in the world - but Western dancers would never be allowed to join it *g*

6. When the Gulf War began (1/16/1991)

Just before I began grade five. We were living in Peachester by this time and we'd recently gotten a new TV - a bigger one. I remember someone telling me that we were seeing the war before the soldiers were. I also remember the endless broadcast - something we didn't see until September 11 2001.

7. When OJ Simpson was chased in his White Bronco (6/17/1994)

Grade eight. I remember the footage, thinking that the Broncos were Brisbane's football team, not a car, and that the news here was more concerned with the fact that he was in a movie than that he was a football player

I did watch the trial though - the verdict came live to Australia around midnight and for some reason I was up to see it.

8. When the building in Oklahoma City was bombed (4/19/1995)

Grade nine. I can't remember too much actually, except for the stories of the child care centre.

9. When Princess Di was killed (8/31/1997)

We had the TV off all day and Mum turned it on for the news at six. She was standing in the hallway, behind the armchai about to head off to make tea and she just said "Diana's been killed." I thought she was joking.

10. When Bush was first announced President (11/7/2000)

I was in the car with my friend Wade when they first decided that Bush would be President. We were both rather pissed off.

11. When the 6.8 earthquake hit Nisqually, WA (2/28/2001)

Huh?

12. When terrorists knocked over the World Trade Center (9/11/2001)

Watching West Wing and waiting for the inevitable moment when Mrs. Landingham was going to die. Jim Whaley comes on with a news flash saying two planes had hit the WTC. Then we were returned to West Wing and Mrs. Landingham died.

I stayed up until 3 or 4 in the morning, then went to uni - one of the most surreal experiances I will ever have (Bars advertising that they were showing CNN all day and a very strange US politics class)

And some others without dates . . .

Port Arthur Massacre (1995?)
-I was driving with Mum to a weekend ballet rehearsal when we heard it.

The Queensland Bulls *finally* won the Sheffield Shield
-Sitting in front of the TV - this was before I knew how cricket was played - but it was still fantastic.

When Sydney won the Olympics
-I stayed up late for that one - it was great to watch on TV.