Time Crawls

They say time slows down during a catastrophe. I don’t remember any personal experiences in which that happened, but I did witness someone else’s misfortune the other day which seemed to happen in slow motion.

I was on a one-way street when someone decided to cut across several lanes of traffic in order to make a left turn. My wife and I just watched in shock as he angled across the road and was hit by a taxi. Both cars were going pretty slow, so I’m sure nobody was hurt (otherwise I wouldn’t have posted about it).

Anyway, it was just strange. I was staring at the car, knowing something terrible was going to happen. I couldn’t have been looking for more than a second or two, but it seemed like it was a lot longer that I wasn’t watching where I was going, which could have been bad.

Does anybody out there have similar examples? (I mean the time slowing down thing, not the “not watching the road” thing. I don’t want to feel more frightened on the road.)

Comments

)en said…
I'm trying really hard but I can't think of any time standing still stories. I wonder why that is though. Is it because it was so traumatic that it leaves a longer stamp in our brain/memory so we're able to re-live it more clearly? It's more memorable?

I do have a story about not watching the road, though. It's a good one: it's called, when i don't drive for months and months and months and then go to Utah and drive, I forget that i need to be watching the road when I am in a vehicle as opposed to in NY when i can look out the window when i'm in a cab or on the bus and i don't put anyone in great peril. I learn that i can't really look at the scenery when I"m driving. But the good news is that I"m back in NY.

the end.
August 1, 2008 at 3:13 PM
Jer said…
I saw a truck hit the sidewall on the freeway, catching some air and doing a barrel roll before hitting the ground upside-down. Scary crap.
August 5, 2008 at 12:14 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I had an onion tied to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now, you couldn't get white onions because of the war; all you could get...

Do you ever get stuck in a conversation that you can’t get out of? I’m not talking about those times when you have to be somewhere else or there’s a rational need to leave, but rather those times when, with every word the other person utters (it’s typically just a two-person conversation), your brain threatens to escape your body and make a break for it. All you can do is try to play some old TV theme songs in your head, or maybe design circuits if you’re the engineering type, all the while searching for an opportunity to escape. Now I’m boring myself just thinking about those situations.
Read more

Thirty Thoughts

1. Is that more hair in the shower drain every morning? 2. What's the big deal? It's just a number with a zero at the end. Why should we consider that significant? 3. Am I still allowed to wear shorts? 4. I need to buy a house within the next five years or we won't have it paid off by retirement age. Then again, my generation won't be able to retire until age 80, so I shouldn't worry. 5. I really should be eating more green, leafy vegetables. If I leave potatoes in the fridge long enough, will that count? 6. Going back to school is getting less and less likely. Then again, sending kids to school will be enough trauma. 7. At least I no longer look like I'm 12, which I did until I was about 23. 8. I will never wear my cell phone on my belt. 9. For some reason, there's a big difference between having a kid and having kid s . 10. You kids get off the lawn! 11. I wonder when my memory will start to go. 12. Inside of me beats the heart of an 18-year-old. At leas...
Read more

Moral Compass

On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being “afraid to step on a blade of grass” and 10 being “I’m gonna kill everyone!”), how bad is it if I were to warm up my car in the morning for 10 minutes before coming to work?
Read more