This was certainly not the Tuesday I ordered.

I woke up and Aaron told me that I should turn on the news. There I was greeted by images of the World Trade Center burning. The images of the plane burrowing through the tower caused me to skip breakfast. The images of the towers collapsing made me skip class.

I'm so awestruck by the absolutely unfathomable imagery that I am completely numb to the obvious tragedy of it all. All I did all day was watch replays. The plane flies through the building, the building crumbles, people run for their life. The plane flies through the building again, etc.

This can't be real, can it?! Where is Godzilla? Why is no one finding my /usr/bin/laden jokes funny?

By about 3pm I had so overdosed on CNN and the morbid fascination with the idea of skyscrapers falling to pieces that I had to take a break, pull myself away from it. I felt like some sort of armchair ambulence chaser or something.

I got Mikkel and headed over to campus to launch some rockets. I've been waiting to do this for the past two months. Ever since I got into rocketry this summer, I've been too busy to actually participate in it. This didn't stop me from ordering and building some models while I was studying [or, rather, as a substitute for studying]. But finally I get a good day to go out and actually do it.

There is usually some concern with rocketry about commercial aircraft in the sky. The bizzare fact that today there were no longer any planes in the sky only made the idea of launching today seem more appropriate. An ironic twist to this was that I had to wave off our first launch attempt because an F-15 was cruising above, watching the skies I suppose for more terrorist activity.

My entry into the hobby of rocketry can be followed here. Yesterday, I went to my first meeting of the MIT Rocket Team which is designing a liquid-fueled rocket engine to propel a custom sounding rocket to 200km. Definitely above the hobby level. Additionally, I'm positioning myself to be the president of the soon-to-be-newly-revived MIT Rocket Society.

All this and I've only launched rockets twice in my life, including today. Hah. Ever run into something you just know you'll love even before you try it?

The good news is that I finally did it and really enjoyed it every bit as much as I suspected I would.

But, rocketry aside, my thoughts are lingering on the rescue personell in New York. They are selfless. And heros, every one of them.