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Monday Morning, Back at Work

10:49 / 17.09.01

It's in the am here in NYC and I am back at work for the first time since Tuesday's tragedy. Train service coming in was a mess, with a large hub in Brooklyn bypassed entirely due to "police investigation" (Atlantic Ave/Pacific Street if yr interested).

Getting out of the Subway at Broad Street, just a block from the Stock Exchange, the first thing you notice is the smoke. The canyons of lower manhattan are shrouded in a thin grey haze that smells like a mix between barbecue and concrete dust. No traffic is on the streets at all, except for official vehicles.

A group of camoflauged soldiers stand at a makeshit barrier at the block of Broad Street the Stock Exchange on. They politely ask someone to stop taking pictures in the area. More soldiers down the block, with also a group of 4-5 cops on every street corner. Incredibly light pedestrian traffic. And that smell.

Get to my building, ID'd on the way up to the 31st floor. The smell permeates the building and my nose is full of hard green mucus from it. I listen to several messages from Tuesday, from loved ones crying,wondering where I ma and what has happened.

11:49 / 17.09.01

My train got the bum's rush at Atlantic Ave/Pacific Street as well (7:50 AM). The platform was crawling with cops and MTA workers, and the tension level in my car rose exponentially.

I work a bit further up, in the Flatiron District (Fifth Avenue in the Twenties), so we're a bit removed from the devastation and it's easier to pretend we can go back to "business as usual". It will be very nice to see my boss today (not so nice to tell him taxes are due today...).

12:03 / 17.09.01

Ierne:
RE tax filing, it looks like you may be able to get an extension: http://www.nysscpa.org/TAXextensions.htm

Bypassed Atlantic myself on the way in this AM. In any circumstance that would be an anxiety-causing situation. Also watched a police helicopter circle over Park Slope for half an hour last night, trying to spotlight something.

13:09 / 17.09.01

Only funny story (okay slightly amusing) to emerge thus far from Tuesday's events:

My boss, upon returning to New Jersey Tuesday evening via emergency ferry, was hosed down, fully clothed, by the Port Authority to prevent contamination.

The only time in history when something was judged too hazardous to enter New Jersey. BA-DA-BUMP! <rimshot>

02:06 / 18.09.01

Dude, let me tell you something really scary about "getting back to work."

Last night I was watching TV, a little stoned and looking for something, A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G that would help me escape these horrible images of violence.

There was some crap entertainment show on Chicago's local ABC network. The anchor had makeup pancaked on, and it was almost as if in each station break she (or someone else) had reminded herself, "Be perky! PERKY!"

Right before her show officially got started, she made a statement about how the whole thing in NY was tragic and we were all feeling it, "but now it's time to get back to work and resume life AS NORMAL."

(Then, on with her show)

Maybe it was because I was stoned, but I was very very disturbed at the television giving me instructions as to how much and what I should be feeling at this time...

02:11 / 18.09.01

Oh, and here in Chicago (where I can tell you the sentiment is very much, 'It could have been US. It could have been the Sears Tower. It could have been the Hancock. It could be have of our downtown turned into a war zone..'), we are very much feeling the pain of New York. The Second City is with you.

Today to get into a highrise, I had to wait in a line and empty all of my bags, all of the way to the bottom. If I went out for a ciggie, I had to go through the same checkpoints. On the way to work, I saw the cops who were directing traffic and the cops who were there "to stop trouble" all over the place.

I know I don't understand what my homies in NYC are going through right now, but...

damn, it's all scary.

Lurker in the corner

02:24 / 18.09.01

Shot an episode of The Practice today out at Hollywood Park right by LAX. Everytime a plane came by everyone stopped talkng and watched it...wondering...