Don Mann: Focusing on my Craft

Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2004 - 12:50 a.m.

Happy-go-lucky wins the day.

Seven car-related accidents in one day...what are the odds? I bore witness minutes after two, seconds after three others, and was nearly involved in another two.

I only spent about an hour on the road today total. The first was while driving home from the train station with nate, where a car had switched lanes too quickly and flipped several times before landing upside-down on the shoulder. Alive, dead, or badly injured? Who knows.

On my ride to class I saw a car in flames inexplicably on the side of the same highway. There was no one around except a single police car.

On my break I watched a car slam into another parked car as if the driver had momentarily forgotten which pedal was gas and which was brake. The crunching of plastic broke me from my daydream as I doodled in my sketchbook.

On the way home I was cut off by a firetruck, I slammed my brakes in time, but the guy in the fast lane wasn't so lucky. The rear sidepanel of his car was crushed.

At the traffic circle I was two cars back from a fender bender.

As I got into Portsmouth, I saw two people discussing how their cars had collided, I don't know any of the details.

Finally, just feet from my apartment a man didn't notice me in the slow lane, so he pulled out...I slammed on the gas and powered into the fast lane. He made some bizarre gesture to his head at me as I passed, I smiled and gave him a thumbs-up.

During all of this, I was completely lost in my music, singing along in my bitter voice, tapping carelessly on my steering wheel. Despite these strange events, I felt nothing, much like one would feel if a tv was on in the background while reading. The events just seemed too surreal, too false and set up for me to believe they were actually happening. So unaffected was I, that dodging the accidents was like second nature...a fucking video game.

Tons of work due tomorrow, so here I go.

Delve Into The Past - Onward Into The Future