I had a mandatory staff meeting this morning at the gym at 6 am.. the meeting lasted two hours with Jamal, Beth and Susie explaining about customer service, facility management and safety.. it turns out that last summer somebody actually died while working out at the gym.. so we will be learning and traininga new type CPR called the AED..

Anyway I got home later to pick up my bags and call my parents [which I haven't done in 2 weeks all ready].. and as I listened to the radio while calling office max to ask about the delivery of my desk.. I heard about the two planes colliding into the WTC in NYC.. K.Ijah ran to the living room to watch the whole news on the television.. and the whole thing is really bad.. I saw the live coverage of the second toewr collapsing.. the smoke of dust was terrifyingly monstrous.. there's no word to describe it.. I just hope this is not the brink of another world war or anything... but there was talks about this being the beginning of a war.. however, the reporters could be exaggerating.. I hope they are..

I got to class two hours later and the class was shortened just because of the tragedy... everyone wants to go and watch the news.. this is a major tragedy for the Americans!

Then I went to my next class and about halfan hour later a lady came from the admin office telling everyone that the classes are cancelled for the rest of the day.. so I went straight to work because I have a one hour shift in the afternoon.. and I saw this message on the doors of the gym...
University to cancel classes on Twin Cities campus
In light of the national tragedy and the emotional turmoil that the nation and our students are facing, the University of Minnesota will cancel classes on its Twin Cities campus, effective at noon today (Sept. 11). Classes will resume tomorrow morning. The university will remain open.
This seems like a miracle, our university is never closed, even in the worst evens of snow storms.. its always open.. but I guess everyone is too distroughted to continue with the day in class.. not just the students but also the staffs are unable to concentrate with the class due to the tragic events that has shocked us all..

Students gathered at the Northorp Mall to hear the University's President's speech.. He was concern about everyone's safety especially the Muslims and Jews, so everyone received an email about the contact numbers that we should call if your were harrased.. MSA(Muslim Student Association), MSD(Malaysian Students Dept.) PERSISMA's President [Rafique] and MARA Students officers also sent emails to tell the students to be careful especially female muslim students who wear the veil... Abg. Rezal also called me to make sure that I was safe.. just like the others, he also advised me to limit my outdoor activities especially tonight and the weeks thats coming by... I wasn't scared at first but all this warnings are making me nervous..

At work all the television were tuned on to the live broadcasts of the destruction in NYC, PA and Washington DC.. the volumes were turned up so that everyone could hear about it clearly.. there was alot of people crowding in front of the tv with the look of sheer interest, shock and terror.. the phone wouldn't stop ringging with people calling to ask if the gym would close or not... all this adding to the busy first month at the gym.. I felt restless and flushed by all of the fuss... Michaela came to relieve me from my afternoon shift.. she had been crying, apparently her uncle was one of the passangers in one of the four planes that was hijacked and exploded!

Tonight I called my mum and talked for what seem like 2 hours.. the news spreads like hot buns all over the world.. even 2 hours after the event I met Isham and Azwan online on my msn messenger and he was asking me about it all...everyone's worried about their relatives in the USA... I heard from Dia's mum that there's talks from the Malaysian Education Ministry that if America is declaring a war.. , the Malaysian students, staff and officers are going to be returning back home for safety purposes.. it's not official yet so let's hope that if worst comes to its worst, it wouldn't end with a war..