That Tuesday was my first day back at the magazine after Dad died. (If you remember, Dad died on the Thursday before Labor Day 2001, so Labor Day wasn't counted toward my "week of mourning.") Mother and I had just started not speaking to each other -- Cousin the Rich One said she was convinced I would steal money from Mother any chance I got, and naturally I didn't take to Mother buying into it -- but I'd had a really nice weekend, all things considered, first at EWK's birthday blowout ("Everything tastes better with adobo!") and then with TOG, lying around his apartment watching the top 100 heavy metal videos of VH1 and Shawshank Redemption (one of Dad's and my favorite movies) and feeding each other Hershey Kisses and Kraft singles. So about 9:30-ish a.m. I'm cruising along the Outer Drive (LSD, for those not familiar with the layout of Chicago) and coming up on Ol' St. Mike's on the South Side when I decide I was tired of sitting in my own dead solitude and turned on the radio. The Staples Singers' "I'll Take You There" was on 'XRT -- not unusual since that's the kind of stuff 'XRT plays, but then morning DJ Terri Hemmert gets on after the song and says, "You know, that's the kind of music we need in these troubled times."

Troubled times? What, did (Chicago Mayor Richard) Daley get shot? I thought to myself, because I hadn't heard what happened at that point.

I started going through my channel rotation to see if I could find out what the hell happened, and once I hit 'TMX, the station's newsguy, who also happens to be my former boss' older brother, leveled the news: Two planes have crashed into the World Trade Center, at which point I burst into tears for a split second. And then he started talking about how all the major cities were evacuating, including Chicago, which I was, like, shit! What am I heading into? I hope I have notepad.

The first thing I did was try to call work's H.R. person, but I got her voicemail, so then I tried calling my boss in her office and then at home. Got her voicemail both times, but then just as I arrived at the building -- which did I mention is right across the street from the Sears Tower!?! -- the boss calls back: "Go home." We talked a few minutes, and then I called Kaffy to see if she needed me to come get her, as she worked further north than I did. She said no, that because they aren't downtown at all, they weren't evacuating (or some such nonsense -- she can remind me differently if I'm wrong). So we talked a few minutes as I zipped through an almost totally abandoned city. I mean, I've seen Chicago on the weekend when it's quiet, but at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday? Kinda surreal.

The expressways, on the other hand, weren't abandoned at all; what should've took me a half hour to get back to Indiana took me an hour and a 1/2 since everyone and their cousin was getting the hell out of dodge. In that time, I called the paper to see if it wanted me to stay for anything downtown, TOG to let him know I was on my way home and that wow! do you believe this shit? and Crazy Aunt, who I hadn't talked to since the night Dad died, but she called to see if I was all right and at home.

The rest of the day I spent intermittently on the phone with everyone while, like the rest of America, hanging on to Peter Jennings' every word.

Later that night, Greta came across the hall with a bottle of watermelon schnapps and shot glasses, and we proceeded to watch the horror over and over and over again. Then TOG called, and we watched the horror over and over and over again until about 3:30 in the morning.
Oh, whatEVER.

[*Oh fer chrissake. I KEED! I KEED, because I love.]
Oh, whatEVER.

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Your personality type is SLUAI

You are social, moody, unstructured, accommodating, and intellectual, and may prefer a city which matches those traits.

The largest representation of your personality type can be found in the these U.S. cities: New Orleans, Albuquerque/Santa Fe, Greensboro, Memphis, Providence, Washington DC, Pittsburgh, Orlando, Salt Lake City, Portland/Salem, St. Louis and these international countries/regions Puerto Rico, Iceland, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Turkey, Ireland, Ukraine, England, South Africa, Greece, Wales, Brazil, Switzerland, South Korea

What Places In The World Match Your Personality?
City Reviews at CityCulture.org

1. Faith, George Michael 2. Need You Tonight, INXS 3. Got My Mind Set On You, George Harrison 4. Never Gonna Give You Up, Rick Astley 5. Sweet Child O' Mine, Guns N' Roses 6. So Emotional, Whitney Houston 7. Heaven Is A Place On Earth, Belinda Carlisle 8. Could've Been, Tiffany 9. Hands To Heaven, Breathe 10. Roll With It, Steve Winwood 11. One More Try, George Michael 12. Wishing Well, Terence Trent d'Arby (just heard this yesterday, in fact) 13. Anything For You, Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine 14. The Flame, Cheap Trick 15. Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car, Billy Ocean 16. Seasons Change, Expose 17. Is This Love, Whitesnake 18. Wild, Wild West, Escape Club 19. Pour Some Sugar On Me, Def Leppard 20. I'll Always Love You, Taylor Dayne 21. Man In The Mirror, Michael Jackson 22. Shake Your Love, Debbie Gibson 23. Simply Irresistible, Robert Palmer 24. Hold On To The Nights, Richard Marx 25. Hungry Eyes, Eric Carnen 26. Shattered Dreams, Johnny Hates Jazz 27. Father Figure, George Michael 28. Naught Girls (Need Love Too), Samantha Fox 29. A Groovy Kind Of Love, Phil Collins 30. Love Bites, Def Leppard 31. Endless Summer Nights, Richard Marx 32. Foolish Beat, Debbie Gibson 33. Where Do Broken Hearts Go, Whitney Houston 34. Angel, Aerosmith 35. Hazy Shade Of Winter, Bangles 36. The Way You Make Me Feel, Michael Jackson 37. Don't Worry, Be Happy, Bobby McFerrin 38. Make Me Lose Control, Eric Carnen 39. Red Red Wine, UB40 40. She's Like The Wind, Patric Swayze 41. Bad Medicine, Bon Jovi 42. Kokomo, Beach Boys 43. I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That, Elton John 44. Together Forever, Rick Astley 45. Monkey, George Michael 46. Devil Inside, INXS 47. Should've Known Better, Richard Marx 48. I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love, Chicago 49. The Loco-Motion, Kylie Minogue 50. What Have I Done To Deserve This?, Pet Shop Boys and Dusty Springfield 51. Make It Real, Jets 52. What's On Your Mind, Information Society 53. Tell It To My Heart, Taylor Dayne 54. Out Of The Blue, Debbie Gibson 55. Don't You Want Me, Jody Watley 56. Desire, U2 57. I Get Weak, Belinda Carlisle 58. Sign Your Name, Terence Trent d'Arby 59. I Want To Be Your Man, Roger 60. Girlfriend, Pebbles 61. Dirty Diana, Michael Jackson 62. 1-2-3, Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine 63. Mercedes Boy, Pebbles 64. Perfect World, Huey Lewis and the News 65. New Sensation, INXS 66. Catch Me (I'm Falling), Pretty Poison 67. If It Isn't Love, New Edition 68. Rocket 2 U, Jets 69. One Good Woman, Peter Cetera 70. Don't Be Cruel, Cheap Trick 71. Candle In The Wind, Elton John 72. Everything Your Heart Desires, Daryl Hall and John Oates 73. Say You Will , Foreigner 74. I Want Her, Keith Sweat 75. Pink Cadillac, Natalie Cole 76. Fast Car, Tracy Chapman 77. Electric Blue, Icehouse 78. The Valley Road, Bruce Hornsby and The Range 79. Don't Be Cruel, Bobby Brown 80. Always On My Mind, Pet Shop Boys 81. Piano In The Dark, Brenda Russell Featuring Joe Esposito 82. When It's Love, Van Halen 83. Don't Shed A Tear, Paul Carrack 84. We'll Be Together, Sting 85. I Hate Myself For Loving You, Joan Jett and The Blackhearts 86. I Don't Want To Live Without You, Foreigner 87. Nite And Day, Al B. Sure 88. Don't You Know What The Night Can Do, Steve Winwood 89. One Moment In Time, Whitney Houston 90. Can't Stay Away From You, Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine 91. Kissing A Fool, George Michael 92. Cherry Bomb, John Cougar Mellancamp 93. I Still Believe, Brenda K. Starr 94. I Found Someone, Cher 95. Never Tear Us Apart, INXS 96. Valerie, Steve Windwood 97. Just Like Paradise, David Lee Roth 98. Nothin' But A Good Time, Poison 99. Wait, White Lion 100. Prove Your Love, Taylor Dayne
Oh, whatEVER.