I did take some time out of my Saturday to remember the events of 9/11; my memory is such that I would forget if given enough time without stimulus, and that’s something that I shouldn’t forget.

I remember Marin waking me up that morning. We rushed downstairs, where I caught the first replay of the second tower collapsing (Marin apparently saw it happen live, just before she came to wake me) and then was glued to the TV for the next couple hours. Marin and I finally found it within ourselves to head off to work, where everyone was—at best—putting half-hearted effort into their jobs. Everyone who had a radio was glued to it, and everyone else was glued to those that did have radios.

I had an order from Anime Jungle that was supposed to ship on that day; instead, I got an email noting that the package would be delayed until the US reopened its ports. At the end there was a little note: Please keep your spirits up!

That evening, still feeling horribly numb, I watched the TV ending of Evangelion. (I would have watched the movie, but it hadn’t been released at that point.) It, of anything I owned, seemed most similar to the feelings I felt.

Hence, my 9/11 ritual: listening to Normal Blood, from the third Evangelion OST. (I would uncharacteristically link to the song, but the copy on my computer is encoded as an AAC file.) It’s only two minutes long, but embodies all of the horror I felt on that day.