Tagged by McPolack. This time it's a "23/5 meme," which means I have to take the 5th sentence of my 23rd posting and write something about it. My 23rd posting is dated Monday, September 9, 2002. It doesn't have a fifth sentence, so here's the fourth: "helicopters flying over the city all day."

The first anniversary of 9/11 was approaching when I wrote this, as you can tell from the date. I was referring to the big, black Army helicopters that I could see flying over the Hudson and Manhattan from my office in Hoboken that day. This is a timely sentence to have read right now, as I'm having precisely the same thoughts today as I was having three years ago when I wrote it: do I really want to live somewhere where Army helicopters in the sky are not an uncommon sight? I used to see farmstands and sunflowers and white caps on the Atlantic ocean on my way to work. Now I see giant men in camouflage with machine guns.

A return to New England seems more imminent with each passing terror threat (which always happen near an election, mark my words!). I carry a mini Maglite with me now in case something happens in the subway. This isn't how I want to live. I'm sick of bomb threats and terror threats, "If You See Something, Say Something." I love New York fiercely, but my psyche is taking a beating down here.