Day 25: "Remembering" - 09/11 - 09/17/09

It's amazing how quickly 8 years has come and gone. 8 years ago I was in 9th grade. 8 years ago getting my Driver's License was only a year away. 8 years ago the world changed.

I lost my cousin on the 104th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. They didn't find much of him to bring home to my Aunt and Uncle. My Uncle on the other side of my family almost went down there, but it was just his luck that he was off that day. Each year it has gotten better and better, and I keep thinking about how some of the things this county set out to do never really got done, and it all boils down to this question: "Where is Osama?" I mean, Afghanistan is not exactly the largest or most populous nation in the world. I'm sure we could have turned that country upside down by now to find him, or any neighboring country for that matter. As Robin Williams said, "He's a 6 foot 5 Arab on Dialysis.... why is that so fucking hard to find?"

In any matter, despite the anniversary of that date I conducted business as usual. Wrote some tickets, went to some calls, did a few checks, sat checkpoint, and over the course of the week I've lost 3 pounds, which makes me only 6 pounds shy of my goal of 185. By no means am I heavy, nor have I ever been over 200 pounds, but I'd like to be as fit as I can be. After struggling with a man in a hospital bed whose blood alcohol level was .451, I feel I can generate a bit more power from my body. That's my short term goal for the moment. 5'11'' and 185lbs of sinew.

In the next day or so I should get my shift assignment, and I heard that seniority was a factor. I may be headed to the shift where the sun is simply an optical illusion. Wish me luck!