THAT was close.

Ever had someone threaten to storm or destroy your place of work?

No. I don't mean in a crank-call-the-school-principal's-office way. I mean, in an-Al-Qaeda-kill-lots-of-people way.

Well, it happened to me and my fellow employees yesterday.

The Coles Notes version (if you don't want to read it here): Authorities arrested up 17 people last weekend, suspected of being part of a homegrown terrorist cell that was concocting an attack on the country. Over the next few days, they were corralled into court.

On Tuesday, during such proceedings, a lawyer for one of the suspects rattled off a litany of allegations by the Crown, including beheading the prime minister, and storming and/or destroying various buildings, ours included.

Most of this would have just left people shocked, speechless and just plain scared.

My response when I heard?

"Whoa! Our building was a target?!"

Imagine the above phrase inflected with a mix of incredulousness ... and something closely resembling awe.

Even when I reached home, my parents asked me about it. And I still kinda brushed it aside.

My dad relayed what he'd heard. I was a bit nonplussed about it.

I repeated what I'd said earlier in the day to my mom.

"Target? Um, you could have been a hostage," she replied.

So what's shocking? What almost happened? Or how I reacted?

I mean, some of us at work were half-joking about it. To an outsider, I'm sure we'd be labelled a bunch of insensitive clods. But working where I do, I think being exposed to countless hours of radio and television desensitizes a person with time (at least, a little bit).

Pair that with the fact the plan was foiled before it was executed. Had someone actually made it to the front lobby of our building and some scuffle or takedown had ensued, perhaps it would have been different.

Frankly, I can't speak for anyone else, but any attack since 9/11 has seemed completely surreal to me. Like some sort of a prolonged sort of shock or denial. Despite reading about it, or watching it, it's like part of my brain thinks it's some big elaborate ... I don't know, global play?

It's not that I don't think people attacking other innocent people is a horrible thing. It's dastardly and the most gruesome, dispicable form of hate and cowardice imaginable.

Perhaps part of me is still holding on to tiny threads of the past, from The Time Before Everything Changed.

Or perhaps despite all this horrible stuff, I'm still optimistic about life and people.

Because for the life of me, I can't figure out why I'm not more worried.