Avoidance Therapy

I stayed up late last night, till about 3am, watching TV. I slept today till about 10:30, got up and made some coffee, and sat around for a while. I had it on my mind to go in to work and get some OT on the books today, but I have such a hard time motivating myself to go in when I don't HAVE to. We have so much OT available at work that all one has to do is call in, tell the supervisor you want to work today, and they'll say "Come on in!". But, unless I actually sign up in advance, I just can't get myself to go. Since I have a trainee right now, I'll get getting a 5% bonus, plus 3 hours of OT for working on evaluations, so.... I guess I really don't need to go in all that badly anyway.

So, instead, I did a few chores, cleaned up my kid's room, washed sheets and towels... just mundane household work that needed to be caught up on. Right now I'm listening to some UFO conspiracy show on Sci-Fi. I think I'll go catch a movie later.

I think I'll post a short survey stolen from AntFreq, who in turn stole it from someone else. It's interesting to see the responses.

Where were you....?

1. When John F. Kennedy was shot? (11/22/1963)
Quietly incubating in my mommy's womb.

2. When Mt. St. Helens blew? (5/18/1980)
Freshman science class at Sacramento High School. We followed the lead up to the eruption on a daily basis, and caught all the news coverage on TV in the classroom.

3. When the space shuttle Challenger exploded? (1/28/1986)
Delivering mail at McClellan AFB. My partner and I pulled up to one of the warehouses with a delivery, and everyone was running inside to the break rooms where the TV's were. I didn't see the actual explosion, but I turned on the radio and caught the news accounts starting from about 5 minutes after it happened. Someone I know was actually in Florida on a tour, and watched it happen. The tour bus driver at the time said, "Oh, no, it's supposed to look like that. Those rocket boosters always come off. " Little did he know.

4. When the 7.1 earthquake hit San Francisco? (10/17/1989)
At work at Mather AFB. I didn't feel a think. Neither did my boss. We were working late, and when we got in his car to go home, he turned on the radio to catch the start of the Oakland-San Francisco World Series game, and we had all this news about an earthquake. We looked at each other at the same time, and said "What earthquake?"

5. When the Berlin Wall fell? (11/7/1989)
I don't really remember. It was a news item, but the build up to it was so long in coming I didn't pay that much attention.

6. When the Gulf War began? (1/16/1991)
Again, I don't remember. It was a news thing that I followed, and it's all a big blur now.

7. When OJ Simpson was chased in his White Bronco? (6/17/1994)
I was at work, answering phones. We had it on the TV's. I remember the pursuit going so slow and lasting so long. I also remember yelling at some of my co-workers to get the heck back to work, because our own law-enforcement phones were ringing like crazy, and everyone was watching the stupid pursuit!

8. When the building in Oklahoma City was bombed? (4/19/1995)
I woke up to the news on CNN.

9. When Princess Di was killed (8/31/1997)
In my dining room, reading. I had a small TV on in the background, and they broke into what ever was playing at the time.

10. When Bush was first announced President (11/7/2000)
At work, watching the news raptly. I remember the newscasters going back and forth between Bush and Gore as winners, when they finally said we'll need to wait till morning to find out. Even more significant to me was the Supreme Court decision that stopped the recounts. I listened to almost all the Supreme Court hearing, and I was raking leaves and cleaning my parent's yard when the decision came down.

11. When the 6.8 earthquake hit Nisqually, WA (2/28/2001)
I have to second Antfreq - huh?

12. When terrorists knocked over the World Trade Center (9/11/2001)
Sleeping in my old apartment on Birdcage St. I woke up to my radio alarm at about 7am, with Peter Jennings giving some news account. I immediately new it was something significant, because the news cut into Armstrong and Getty, which was very unusual. I came out to the living room, where my kids were getting ready for school. It was my daughter Lindsey's 13th birthday (yes, 9/11 is her birthday). We watched for a while, and after the first building fell, Lindsey said, "well, my birthday is gonna suck for years to come."

13. When OIF began (take your pick- the presidential announcement of the expiration of the 48-hour ultimatum was at 10:15 PM EST on 3/19/03, the ground war commenced at 8 PM EST on 3/20/03).
I had to think hard here - wft is OIF? Operation Iraqi Freedom FINALLY came to mind. I was at work, watching the footage of Baghdad at night, when the explosions began.