Work Stories: Episode 22: Crash Boom



Last week on Work Stories, I wrote about that time when I saw the guy dressed as a dirty Michael Myers.  It was something that I found funny at the time, and still find funny now.  It brings chuckles to me whenever I think about it.  It was a funny experience.  Anyway, that’s behind us.  Now it’s time for me to move onto another story.

This story takes us back to the time when I used to work at a hotel.  Technically, you could consider this to not be a work story, since it didn’t happen at work.  It actually happened when I was headed home.  I’m going to count it as a work story though, because if it wasn’t for me going home from work, it never would have happened.  Work had as much to do with this as me being in the right place at the right time.  So it’s a work story.  Deal with it.

When I worked at the hotel, I did not have a license that would allow me to drive on my own.  I needed a different way to get to work then.  I had a bike, so I rode my bike twenty minutes every day to get to work, and twenty minutes to get home.  Well, maybe fifteen to get there, and twenty-five to get home.  It was downhill to get there and uphill to get home.  The timing was different.  I always rode my bike to and from work.

One night, after a long shift at work, I got on my bike and started my way home.  It’s not a really exciting tale of riding my bike.  I put my feet on the pedals and pushed.  It’s basic bicycle kinetics.  I changed to a lower gear when going uphill, and I switched to a higher gear when I wasn’t going uphill.  That’s just how bike riding goes.

About halfway home, I approached an intersection that I would normally just ride right through.  The night I’m thinking about was different.  I got to the intersection, and there were police and firetrucks.  Why?  There had been a massive car accident in the middle of the intersection.  I didn’t see any bodies or anything.  I got there after all the people had been removed.  But there were car parts all over the place.  It was a mesmerizing sight.

There were also some police officers hanging around.  When I got to the intersection, one of the officers waved me through.  I know I always say “I never thought this would happen.”  I’ve probably said that a few times during the work stories.  Once again, I never thought that I would ride my bike through a car accident, but I did.  I rode right through the aftermath of a collision.  I didn’t look back once I was through, but I could always think back to what I saw.

That’s about all I have for this week’s Work Story.  It’s just some imagery that has been in my head for years now.  I’m glad to have shared it, even if you don’t get much out of what I’ve written.  Stay tuned for next week when I share another story that happened to me while I was at work.

Until then, don’t poke a sleeping bear.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is "Real Steel" Like "Over the Top"?

When I was going through my weekly movie binge a couple weeks ago, I stumbled upon two movies that I had never seen before that tackled a very similar story.   It was an odd thing to have happen because I didn’t know of any similarities between the two movies.   The first was Real Steel, a movie about a man who participates in robot boxing while bonding with the son that he had left years before.   The second was Over the Top, a movie about a man who participates in arm wrestling while bonding with the son that he had left years before.   Similar?   I think so. Let’s begin with Real Steel.   I watched this one because, why the hell not?   I quite enjoyed the movie and by the end I was rooting for Hugh Jackman’s character to help his robot, Atom, to a victory.   The thing to point out about Real Steel is how good the visual effects were.   I wasn’t expecting too much going in, but I thought they masterfully crafted each robot in a way that it entirely fit its surroundings and didn’t
Read more

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Season 2, Episode 8: The Power Stealer

Image
Last time we sat down with the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers , Tommy was going through some serious stuff.   His powers were running low because Lord Zedd was targeting him.   He felt hopeless.   His friends were comforting him.   There was also a Robo Goat trying to take a powerful sword and use it against the Earth.   There were fights all over the place and an emotional hook that was unmatched in any episode that wasn’t in a multi-part arc. This episode, there might be follow-up to the Tommy storyline.   It would be nice to see more of the struggle with his powers.   Right now, that’s the one throughline that has been playing out.   II hope this episode continues to have some sort of meaning to the overall story, instead of being a self-contained and meaningless.   The show needs to grow and evolve, with a storyline that builds to something significant.   Having episodes that keep the story at a standstill is boring.   The story needs to move forward.   Will this episode d
Read more

A Short Description of how Baby's Day Out (1994) is a Live Action Cartoon

Image
Animated movies have been a large fixture throughout cinematic history.   There is currently an Academy Award category devoted entirely to animated features.   They are an important part of the cinematic landscape.   Movies would be completely different if not for the animated films that have been popular throughout the past century. Children have always been a large part of the popularity of cartoons.   This has not been solely a movie based genre.   Television also thrives on animated shows.   As a child, I can remember watching cartoons on Saturday mornings.   In the children’s cartoons, characters could be forced into dangerous predicaments, get injured or nearly killed, and continue on with their lives as if nothing ever happened to them.   This was the way of cartoons such as Looney Toons , where Elmer Fudd, Wile E. Coyote, Daffy Duck, and Yosemite Sam would always suffer great physical trauma, then return to their normal selves in the next scene. This is probably
Read more