Moments of the Week: Recollections

Another slow few weeks with not much in the way of inspiration. I've been reading and editing, mostly keeping my head down and buried in words. 20/41 for the Discworld reading frenzy. Halfway there! Ish. I guess halfway'll be when I'm halfway through the next one.

Although I don't have any current moments, I didn't want to leave you all for another week, so I've dredged up a few memories, recollections of times past that stood out as setting or characters.

• Last year, there was a little old man outside my office, hobbling along with a walking stick in one hand and dragging an oxygen tank with the other. I expected him to head for the car in the handicapped spot, but he passed it by and turned at a spot with a scooter. At least, he rode it like a scooter, with his cane and oxygen tank tucked into an alcove by his feet. It LOOKED like a motorcycle, and when he started it, it sounded like a motorcycle. Time and age, it seemed, would not separate him from "cool."
• Back in June, if you looked up the night sky, you may have noticed Jupiter, Venus, and the moon moving in close proximity of each other. In many stories, certain things happen when stars or planets align. On June 20th, the two bright planets and a crescent moon made a nearly perfect triangle, and if that's not a sign of some novel premonition, then I don't know what is.

I've got a few other recollections saved up, so in the event of uneventfulness, I'll have something to share. As always, I hope these moments can help inspire something in your stories, and if you encounter any yourself, please feel free to share in the comments. Have a lovely weekend!

Moments of the week: Red Runners

Hello everyone! It's been a rather uneventful few weeks these past two. I've been mostly buried in Discworld books. Two weeks and a bit in, and I'm at 12 books down after finishing Witches Abroad at 1AM this morning. It's fun to see the progression of character growth and the world around them. There are lines in one book that come into play a dozen more down the line. The depth of the Disc is unbelievable, and why I love it so much. But it's also so very stressful, because I'm a mathematical person. Not in great depth, but I'm the kind of person who will count heads in a room to know how many people there are, and then make assumptions based off that, like how long crit group will run if we have 3 15 minute readings and X# 1 minute crits where X is the number of attendees. I like to know X.

I like to know timelines, too. And ages. And let me tell you, trying to wrangle a timeline out of the Disc is not an easy task. There are almost enough events explicitly set or subtle asides to make a semblance of one. But it is VERY not easy.

Until Wednesday, it's been a slow time for moments. So I've only got one, but there's a story in it for sure.

• The woman in front of me wasn't paying attention. The light had changed, the decent line ahead of us had all gone, but she just sat there, distracted by something, not moving. Just before I honked, she started to roll forward, slowly, then up to speed. But as we approached, the light changed to yellow. "Ugh, we could've made that," I grumbled. Would've been easy. At least she was slowing down. Her distraction had cost her the light as well. But as she approached the light, instead of stopping, she sped up, and as it went to red, she cut through. From the other direction, someone who must have just gotten there made a left turn after the light, hitting it just before the change. He just barely passed in front of the red runner as she sped across the road. The person trying to make a left on his tail didn't notice her. She was going too fast to stop. 
  
  Brakes squealed. Hoods crumpled. Glass and plastic flew.
  
  And in the back of the car that had been in front of me, a Baby on Board sign glared out.

I don't know what happened after that. I don't know if the distracted woman actually had her child with her, or if anyone was hurt or what. I do know a cop turned onto the road heading in their direction less than 30 seconds later and the accident was within walking distance of a fire station and two minutes driving from a hospital. If anyone was hurt, they were in a place to get treatment fast, whatever kind of treatment they needed.

I've never seen a crash happen before. My mind's absolutely boggled that someone who might have a child with them would be so careless and drive so dangerously. Or even just a child waiting at home or daycare. I'll never know what was so important that she decided to risk it instead of waiting one minute for the safety of the light. But I hope they're all okay.