October 17, 1989: Where were YOU?

[XemaSab]

:shrug:

[bicentennial_baby]

1. Being 12 years old, in Western MA

:)

[Throckmorton]

97. Its classified

But I did end the cold war

[sarahdemva]

possibly eating a pop sicle

or playing in a sand box

[geomon666]

2. Probably outside....

Comparing Ninja Turtles with my friends.

[MrsBrady]

3. high school senior in DFW suburbia n/t

[charlie and algernon]

4. Being a 6 yr old in PA

[KG]

5. i'm pretty sure i was scraping by in tallahassee, fl

not a great place to be if you're just scraping by. :(

[Whoa_Nelly]

6. Sparks, NV on La Veaga Ct.

attending UNR full-time, and raising my son who was almost 11 at the time.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

7. I was nine years old, probably watching cartoons.

[supernova]

8. Living in an apt in Laurel, MD

with my now ex.

He was a grad student at U of MD in German. We were about to celebrate our 3rd anniversary that December. I was working downtown DC. Life was kinda hard then because we weren't earning enough money to get by. We were basically living off my AA salary.

[Flaxbee]

9. junior in college

living in Del Mar, California (going to UCSD). Not a bad time in my life at all...

[LeftyMom]

10. In the back of one of those horrible 80's Mustangs. I didn't feel a thing over the usual rattling

shaking of riding around in that POS. :shrug:

[Ptah]

11. In Tucson, recieving news from my brother in San Carlos.

He told me it was like he was driving a clown car with all the wheels off center.

[CreekDog]

41. My friend was driving in San Carlos during the quake, said something similar:

he said he suddenly couldn't control the car and he ended up on somebody's lawn. he realized it was an earthquake because other cars on the road crashed into each other and parked cars at the same time. (this was on Industrial Road in San Carlos where there's probably a fair amount of landfill).

[libnnc]

12. freshman at junior college

Brevard College, Brevard, NC

[Haole Girl]

13. I was at my older sister's house... she was watching the world series...

When the news reported a major earthquake happened in the San Francisco area, she and I looked at each other and simultaneously said, "It's the BIG ONE!!" My brother-in-law just looked at us like we were crazy.

I remember.

[Aristus]

14. In tanker school at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Living my dream of becoming an M1A1 tank crewman.

That night, I went to the EM club, had a near-beer to celebrate, and that was it...

[Roon]

22. Ohhhhhh!

You were so adorable!!

[Aristus]

30. Thank you.

:blush:

I'm not that adorable anymore, though. Nineteen years is a long time... B-)

But thanks, buddy! :thumbsup:

[Roon]

49. You and me both! eom

[Reverend_Smitty]

15. Probably doing some finger painting in Kindergarten

finger painting kicked ass!

[jonnyblitz]

16. living in Long Beach, CA while stationed onboard

the USS Missouri.

[krispos42]

96. Wow, the "Missouri"?

That's a piece of world history right there!

:patriot:

[Danger Mouse]

17. I have no friggin idea other than I was 8 years old.

[Rhythm]

18. Job hunting...

The restaurant where i had worked for years had been destroyed a month before by Hurricane Hugo. Job market in Charlotte sucked at that point (unless you were in the construction trades), because so many places sustained damage.

[FloridaJudy]

19. Watching my MIL die

In South Florida, when I heard about the California quake. Both my mother and my sister's houses were damaged, but no one hurt, thank the Goddess.

[flvegan]

20. Freshman in college.

[Roon]

21. Driving an 18-wheeler

Lord knows where I was.

[MrScorpio]

23. Working at the Pentagon

Keeping all your asses safe!

[leeroysphitz]

24. Where was I in 89?

Smokin' dope and drinking wine.

Just an outlaw.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

25. NYC, fighting the crack wars

on the streets

[Heidi]

42. Were you a cop? Or a crack dealer?

:hi:

[reyd reid reed]

26. I was in Los Angeles.

I baked a cake for my grandmother's 89th birthday.

[Oeditpus Rex]

27. Sitting in my living room in Salinas with my dad

fixin' to watch Game 3.



:scared:

[XemaSab]

37. .

:thumbsup:

[Iggo]

113. That is the correct answer.

Except I was in Pico Rivera.

But still...

[greendog]

28. Living in a cabin on the top of Bighorn Mountain...

...east of Gold Hill, Colorado.

[AwakeAtLast]

29. Sophomore year of college

Which means I was drunk, hungover, or studying (yes, I did study!)

[Angleae]

31. Active duty USAF, McChord AFB

[jobycom]

32. Working 48 hours a week while taking 15 semester hours at UT Dallas.

[Crabby Appleton]

56. I took a few classes at UTD in 89-90,

PT student, working FT plus.

[jobycom]

58. Any good history or literature type courses?

Tuana, Oshvath (I forget the proper spelling), Hambly, Muggleston, Teague?

[Crabby Appleton]

62. nope, math - linear algebra and differential equations

not very fun classes.

[jobycom]

63. I took all this before I got there.

Except linear algebra.

[Celeborn Skywalker]

33. Kindergarten.

I had a broken arm at that time.

[BulletproofLandshark]

34. In the 8th grade in Fredericksburg,VA.

I was babysitting the next-door neighbor's kids and was actually watching that World Series game on TV when the quake hit.

[mcctatas]

35. In high school....

collecting bad boys and sneaking into bars;)

[billyoc]

43. You are an absolute jewel of consistency.

:rofl:

[mcctatas]

44. pipe down fed boy..

;)

[ferrferr]

36. 8 years old in Kentucky.

[Lucian]

38. Second grade.

[taterguy]

39. Carrboro

[CreekDog]

40. Watching TV waiting for the Bay Bridge World Series to start and then an earthquake stopped that.

though i out of state as a freshman in college out of state at the time. us Bay Area students watched the tv coverage well into the night.



meanwhile I was here:

[realisticphish]

45. 4 years old

so probably eating crayons, or some such

[Inchworm]

46. Probably launching jets in Virginia Beach

Fun times. I don't remember the quake as much more than news in the evening. My how things have changed.

:hi:

[yellowdogintexas]

47. quite pregnant in Indiana nt

[malta blue]

48. in College....

probably stoned or drunk, most likely both.

:shrug:

Where were YOU?

[Starry Messenger]

50. In a doorway on the scariest ride I have ever been on...

listening to my mother's china fly all over the dining room. San Mateo.

[BarenakedLady]

51. Working at the prison in Rhode Island

Secretary where the Correctional Officers get trained, being seduced by a married National Guardsman who would ruin the next couple of years of my life.

[billyskank]

65. :(

:hug:

[ileus]

52. probably at VT with my then girlfriend.

I'd have a good feeling at least, we were everywhere together that year...

[Crabby Appleton]

53. In Dallas watching the World Series pregame when the quake hit

the sportscasters did a pretty good job of shifting to news reporting under the circumstances.

[KitchenWitch]

54. Home, in MN, getting ready to watch the World Series

[otherlander]

55. Uterusland.

[Tikki]

57. Well, that was a Tuesday...

Uneventful day...but, that evening...that evening was
something totally different..

Super Shaking up North...I am so sorry for
any of you here that lost anything.

We get it down here, too, and it sucks.



Tikki

[Jamastiene]

59. I don't know where I was.

I can't remember where I was LAST NIGHT, much less that many years ago. One thing I can tell you: I was probably FUBAR and laying amidst a pile of rolling papers, various pipes, pill bottles, and liquor bottles at that point in my life. That's about the last thing I remember from the age of 14 until sometime in 1995, when I sobered up long enough to enjoy a Democratic president for a couple years. :P

[RetroLounge]

60. October, 1989?

I was living in Chicago, about to hit bottom physically, spiritually and emotionally, seeing the end of my marriage accelerating toward me, and hiding from that reality and everything else in the bottom of a bottle...

It was an ugly ugly time...

RL

[mokawanis]

61. Working mandatory overtime

and feeling pissed off about it.

[nickgutierrez]

64. I don't really remember, I was five.

For the record, this rules me out of any involvement with the Weather Underground, too.

[sakabatou]

66. At home, being a cute 2 year-old

[Tektonik]

67. In Northridge being 3 years old celebrating my sisters 17th bday

:D

[bertha katzenengel]

68. Getting ready to watch the World Ser-- "Hey, we're havin' an earthquake!"

That was Al Michaels, and the screen went to this green "ABC" background. I had to go to work, but I didn't want to; I wanted to stay and hear about the EQ.

I can't believe that that was almost twenty years ago.

[bluestateguy]

69. At home watching the World Series pre-game

I was 13. I have been afraid of eathquakes ever since.

My father was in a much more fun place when the earth shook: the transbay tube of BART.

[Taverner]

70. Watching the World Series

and then out in the street saying "Wha happund?"

[HughBeaumont]

71. Probably at a thrash concert.

Or band practice.

[yorgatron]

72. i was at Cabrillo College in Aptos taking a guitar class.

about a mile or so from the epicenter :bounce: :wtf: :wow: :scared:

[dorktv]

73. Being driven to Mexico by my stepmother.

I was ten and we went there for something or another.

[Ava]

74. not alive yet

:P

[NewJeffCT]

75. I was 3 weeks into my first full-time post college job in CT - and

I remember watching something on TV (the World Series?) and it suddenly being cut off and thinking, "wow, I wonder if there was an earthquake"

[bikebloke]

76. In another nowhere job.

Saving money to go to New Zealand, hoping to stay. Instead this woman I was dating told me if I worked for this university, I'd get free tuition. Then I could get degrees for all the knowledge I acquired on my own.

When the uni laid off couple hundred of us, I ended up in New Zealand a couple years later. Unfortunately, it turns out had I gone when I first planned there's a good chance I could have legally stayed then. There's hindsight with a damnshitfuckhell!

[ghostsofgiants]

77. Probably watching cartoons or playing Nintendo.

Ahh, to be 4 again.

[mwooldri]

78. In Year 4 (as it was called) in secondary school.

It was a Tuesday, and it was the week before half-term. I can't remember the class schedule for that far back but I'm pretty sure "Games" was on the menu - I hated "games" (Physical Ed). Was the only class in school I flunked.

Mark.

[Mad_Dem_X]

79. Living in Pennsville, NJ. 12 years old.

Depending on what day of the week it was, I was probably either doing homework or playing records.

[bigwillq]

80. I was watching the WS.

It was crazy.

[FarLeftRage]

81. I was celebrating my girlfriend's 23rd b-day

in a rather intimate way.... :blush:

In Upstate NY, at the time....

[Awsi Dooger]

82. Working as a supervisor at the Horseshoe sportsbook in downtown Las Vegas

We opened in late August, the first time that casino had a sportsbook. I was hired smack to supervisor, bypassing ticket writer, to the dismay of some of my co-workers.

Let's see, by mid October we were in turmoil, losing big to college football. The Computer Boys betting group was having a big year and since our limits were astronomical we were taking the brunt of it. We had already gone through one sportsbook manager in September and the replacement, a very good guy who died of cancer a few years later, was taking the heat. I think he was fired in November.

Overall it was a fun time, dealing with all the characters who frequented downtown Las Vegas during that period. I had buddies who were making bets for me at the other downtown sportsbooks. I'd meet them in the bathroom and collect my tickets from them, in exchange for comp slips to our snack bar. :rofl:

[grammysandie]

83. I was 27 years old

Freshly embarked on a disastrous second marriage and living on a mountaintop at Woodall, OK, raising calves and a hog. My kids were 10 and 8.

[marzipanni]

84. At work at a gallery's frame shop in Davis (near Sacramento)

Freight railroad tracks next to it(rumble,bump), so that was my first thought, but no train. Then, I looked out the window at some palm trees with really tall, skinny trunks, swaying like hula dancers in slo-mo. The power poles, top-heavy with transformers, were shaking fast. I said to my boss' young adult daughter, who had never felt an earthquake, "This is either a small local quake, or a big distant one." We turned on the radio. Hearing 'collapsed Cypress structure', we worried about her dad who was at work or driving near S.F., until he was able to call her mom.

[machI]

85. I don't know, I was really drunk at the time!

Money

Money, get away
Get a good job with more pay and your O.K.
Money it's a gas
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash
New car, caviar, four star daydream,
Think I'll buy me a football team
Money get back
I'm all right Jack keep your hands off my stack.
Money it's a hit
Don't give me that do goody good bullshit
I'm in the hi-fidelity first class traveling set
And I think I need a Lear jet
Money it's a crime
Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie
Money so they say
Is the root of all evil today
But if you ask for a rise it's no surprise that they're
giving none away

"HuHuh! I was in the right!"
"Yes, absolutely in the right!"
"I certainly was in the right!"
"You was definitely in the right. That geezer was cruising for a bruising!"
"Yeah!"
"Why does anyone do anything?"
"I don't know, I was really drunk at the time!"
"I was just telling him, he couldn't get into number 2. He was asking
why he wasn't coming up on freely, after I was yelling and
screaming and telling him why he wasn't coming up on freely.
It came as a heavy blow, but we sorted the matter out"

[Hell Hath No Fury]

86. My sister and I had just spent the day...

down in Santa Crus and were on our way home, riding across a very high overpass along the California coast. When the quake hit, the car was almost thrown into the next lane -- I just thought we were getting buffeted by some very high coastal winds. A few minutes later we noticed cars were pulling over to the side of the road by the dozens -- I had this very weird thought that everyone had experienced some simultaneous problem with their tires. :D

We had the radio off, so we had no idea until we got back closer to the City that there had even been an earthquake.

I was OK for most of the night -- the only time I freaked was when I looked out and saw the smoke from the Marina fire. I am a native who knows the City was not destroyed by the quake, but the fire that followed. :scared:

The next few days were filled with lots of rockin' and rollin'.

[Lyric]

87. Ten years old, sitting at home crying because I was scared

for the people under the collapsed freeways. :(

[Lydia Leftcoast]

88. According to my diary

I attended a lunch for a visiting scholar at the home of the college president, taught my classes, and headed for the Portland Japanese Garden to see a lecture demonstration on Japanese pottery. I arrived at about 4:45PM, listening to my car radio all the way.

When I left the Japanese Garden to drive back to the town where I lived, the radio was talking about nothing but the Loma Prieta earthquake.

[RushIsRot]

89. Going to my 30th High School Reunion.

[femmocrat]

107. Is that your senior photo?

(your avatar) J.K.!!!

:hide:

[underpants]

90. Contemplating joining the Army

Did on November 11th

Fort Knox on Jan.3 1990

[Gormy Cuss]

91. Not here, and for that I'm glad.

I was still a Masshole then.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

92. planning my wedding...

it was a blast, too.

[EFerrari]

93. Torturing sophmores in my 1B section in Wheeler Hall.

I'm sorry, guys!

[lizzieforkerry]

94. I was a freshmen in HS- new town, new school

no friends. My dad had been transferred to a new city and my parents decided in a last ditch effort to save their marriage we would all move here. Didn't work, they still got divorced. Really shitty 4 years followed. Thanks for reminding me :nopity:

[krispos42]

95. A Tuesday night at age 13?

Might have been playing Nintento, watching TV or reading a book. If I was watching TV, it was probably the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Who Watches the Watchers", which was released that week. WTIC channel 61 and WPIX channel 11 carried the new episodes in prime-time. They were independents at the time as well.

If I was reading... IIRC I was deeply involved the Trixie Belden series, the original Hardy Boys series, and the original Nancy Drew series, but it also might have been Star Trek Original Series novels or early Robert Heinlein novels like The Rolling Stones, Farmer in the Sky, Tunnel in the Sky, Time for the Stars, and Have Space Suit, Will Travel. I might have gotten into the Cross-Time Engineer series yet, which I re-read until the books fell apart.


Hmph.


Damn, this brings back memories.

[DFW]

98. Somewhere in Central Europe

Ask me where I was on November 9 of that year, and I can tell you down to the
building!

[SarahB]

99. Senior year of high school about 12 miles southwest of where I am now.

:shrug:

[mulsh]

100. SF- top floor of an office building on Spear St.

late in the afternoon I initially though something had hit the building. I dove under a large oak table which was my desk, grabbing our receptionist who was very frightened ( she later told me it scared her more than when she was a kid and Saigon was being bombed). After the shaking started a couple of us climbed down 18 stories to the street below. took me hours to get home. Lots of confused looking suits in the financial district wondering when the power was going to be turned back on. oh yea, there was some sort of seismic activity down hear Santa Cruz

[ThatsMyBarack]

101. 18, and a freshman at college.

;)

[HEyHEY]

102. Throwing rocks at houses and kids I didn't like

[IndianaJones]

103. in the ratline...VMI. nt.

[Capn Sunshine]

104. I was buying a case of beer in Agoura Hills

on my way home from work in anticipation of Game 3 of the Oakland VS San Francicso World Series, which was just about to get underway IIRC.

[deadparrot]

105. Toddling about in St. Louis, likely.

I was 32 months old.

[femmocrat]

106. Here.

Same house. We were a lot younger though! :)

[Tommy_Carcetti]

108. Getting ready to watch my first World Series that I took an interest in.

I had just started following baseball and while I was disappointed the O's didn't make it to the postseason, I was still fascinated by it all. Little did I know that the World Series would be delayed by an earthquake that day.

[lightningandsnow]

109. Not born yet!

[soleft]

110. Probably at home on account of being VERY pregnant

Due 10/30 - delivery date, aka my son's birthday - Nov. 12

[ThoughtCriminal]

111. Not sure of the exact date

But I had just or was about to find out I was unemployed. Took about two months to find a new job.

[Canuckistanian]

112. In school, learning electronics

And recovering from a soul-destroying breakup with a girlfriend.

Please don't ask me anything.