badseed1980 | This looked cool, so I stole it from aelisdeliria

1. When John F. Kennedy was shot (November 22, 1963)
Probably still living a past life.

2. When Mt. St. Helens blew (May 18, 1980)
Most likely in my mom's arms or in a crib.

3. When the space shuttle Challenger exploded (January 28, 1986)
In first grade in Lincoln, at school. I had wanted to be an astronaut, and was devastated.

4. When the 7.1 earthquake hit San Francisco (October 17, 1989)
Would have been living in Warwick, nine years old, and in the fifth grade.

5. When the Berlin Wall fell (November 7, 1989)
See above. We watched the news on TV at school.

6. When the Gulf War began (January 16, 1991)
Back in Lincoln, just having turned 11, and in the 6th grade. I remember learning about it in school as it was happening, and thinking even then that war sucked. Our class wrote "To Any Serviceman" letters.

7. When the first World Trade Center bombing happened (February 26, 1993)
Thirteen years old and living in Lincoln, I was a few months from starting the martial arts and Pagan studies that would shape my adolescent and adult years. The event shocked me, but didn't stagger me.

8. When OJ Simpson was chased in his White Bronco (June 17, 1994)
I was either just finishing or had just finished the ninth grade. I remember watching it on the news and thinking, "Oy vey, what a jerk. I'll bet he did it."

9. When the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was bombed (April 19, 1995)
I was 15, in the 10th grade, and thought this was sick. It would be 8 years before I would be assigned to read the book that influenced the bomber.

10. When Princess Di was killed (August 31, 1997)
I had just arrived at college. Like, the previous day. I was in my room with my roommates when a friend of ours came in and announced that she'd seen this on the news. We were stunned.

11. When Bush was first announced President (November 7, 2000)
In my lovely senior-year dorm room at GW, hurling obscenities at the TV I was watching.

12. When the 6.8 earthquake hit Nisqually, WA (February 28, 2001)
Probably the same as above, but I don't remember hearing about it. I was mostly concerned with international and political news for the sake of my international affairs major.

13. When terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center (September 11, 2001)
I woke up and dashed out the door to school at BU without taking the time to watch the news, go online, or read a paper. On the T I was listening to music on my headphones. When I took them off at the T stop, I heard someone say, "Yeah, and another one crashed into the Pentagon." That was what worried me. My good friend Dan, who I had some pretty stong feelings for by that point, was working in the Pentagon. Once at COM, I just stood in front of the TV screens in the lobby and watched it happen over and over. Classes weren't cancelled that day, but the event was all we could talk about. I e-mailed Dan and found out he was ok. Relief.

14. When Columbia disintegrated during re-entry over Texas. (February 1, 2003)
I was living back at home with my parents after grad school, with a job at CVS headquarters. I remember waking up and hearing the TV that my mom had turned up pretty loud. I came out and saw what had happened, and I remembered the Challenger disaster years before. That night, I went out with

j4yx0r and company to Trinity Brewhouse, where we raised a pint to the dead.