I was attending a book release talk and I slid into the middle of one of the rows, long rows with fifteen or so seats such that to get up in the middle of the talk would set off a chain reaction of others needing to stand up. A colleague was also going to sit in the same row and she had chosen to sit on the end. I said, "come to the middle, it will be easier for folks to get in." She did and sat next to me. We exchanged pleasantries and I noticed that she was wearing a mask and that she also had dark circles under her eyes. I asked if she was sick and she said yes. She then asked if I wanted her to sit further away from me and I hesitated, but said yes, thank you. As the presentation started I could hear her coughing and I remembered that I had mask in my coat pocket. I fished it out and put it on and didn't look her way for the rest of presentation.
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On basketball night, the first basketball night since the month long winter break, one of the people on our team had arranged for the local fire department to come and play a friendly match. None of us had played any basketball over the break and we were worried that the firefighters would beat us badly. Warming up before they arrived at the gym, we joked and chatted, imagining how large and strong they would be. We talked about asking a student to set a fire outside the window of the basketball court in the middle of the game, such that they'd all have to run to put the fire out and spare us the humiliation of being beaten by thirty points. When they arrived they arrived as a team and in unforms, straight backed postures and in formation, blank expressions on their faces--all business. But when the game started it became clear that we were much larger than them and that nobody on their team, asides from the fire captain, was particularly skilled at basketball. We beat them by thirty or so points.
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Over the winter break my girlfriend who was visiting had borrowed a bike from a colleague at work. She never ended up using it, as the weather got too cold and the air was too polluted to make going for a bike ride seem like a good idea. The bike sat in my apartment for about a month, taking up space. After she left, the responsibility fell to me to return the bike. The bike was too small and I found that I was putting off returning it. I'd rather ride my own bike, sleek and fast and fitted to my size. The other day, however, I had said that I'd return it on that day and so in the morning I raised the seat and rode back to campus. I sat low on the bike but it was comfortable. A mountain bike with large tires and a springy suspension system. I pedaled casually and nonchalantly, feeling like I was riding a BMX bike or a low-rider, like Lil Mike and Funnybone on Reservation Dogs. I felt cool.
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On the first day of the semester I went to eat lunch in the cafeteria. My class was going to start in thirty minutes, so I hurried over from my office and walked up to the third floor where the Chinese food was served. I didn't see anyone I knew or felt comfortable sitting with and so I headed to the small tables by the window that overlooks the library. Laying on the ground in front of my table was a brown piece of paper. I picked it up and found that it was 10,000 Japanese Yen. I set it on the table as I ate, thinking that maybe whoever had dropped it might come by looking for it. But nobody did and after I finished, I put it in my pocket. Later, in class, I told my students about the money. I also told them that a friend of mine once told me that it was bad luck to pick up money from the ground.
At the end of class I used the story as a prompt for two freewrites: the first about luck and the second about money. The idea was that I wanted them to feel contrast, between the ease of writing about one thing over the other, that falling into a groove was not only dependent on the writer but on the choice of topic. And that its important to make note of when things seem to get easier. Over time, with enough notes, we might be able to develop better strategies to help us write. A "know thyself" kind of thing. At least, that was what I was going to talk about but we had run out of time. On their way out, I asked my students which was easier to write about and they all answered "luck."
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