AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 7, 2006 — It wasn't really my problem. It was just out of my area, visible like TV, not much spatter to get on me. And there were two, but not three.

Since Shoal Creek and 45th Street are in so much utility turmoil, I head to my club via Hancock and Balcones to 35th. Longer, slower but smooth.

As I waited at the light at Hancock and Balcones, I saw a car and a bike that were headed south on Balcones sort of collide. It wasn't clear if one hit the other or the biker just swerved and fell. Not to me. He was on the other side of the car. But I saw him go

down. I called 911. My phone went into an 'emergency mode' according to the display. Anyway, before I'd gotten a dispatch the biker was standing up but bending over, nursing himself or the bike I couldn't say. I told them so. But then he rode off on a wobbly bike in the direction he'd come from and the car pulled away. So I called 911 and told the dispatcher. The ambulance lives one block away. It hadn't pulled out.

That was weird, I thought. Wonder what happened really?

At the club I went through my usual bike ride to nowhere (much safer than on the street) and then started working with some free weights on a bench. Some ladies were talking with a personal trainer and they beckoned an older man over. He was holding a smoothie in a plastic cup and it slipped out of his hand and crashed on the rubber mat. Tendrils of strawberry-colored stuff went everywhere including a few bits on my sweatshirt which was on the floor some feet away. We all did a little cleanup. The coffee bar lady mopped and scrubbed. I wiped a few spots on my sweatshirt with a wet towel.

The old man was embarrassed. My six dollar sweatshirt will still be functional, even if stained. That was weird.

So I wondered if it was going to be that kind of day.

But nothing else happened. The maid came and didn't break anything. We went to Shoal Creek Saloon in the traffic and saw no accidents. We had our food with friends with no spills or anything. We went to a play in a tiny theater and no actors took a tumble in spite of the chaotic mix of plays and equipment. Still, it was one of those days when you realize that weird little things happen but usually it's not a big deal. One of the plays we saw dealt with 9/11. There was a day when something really happended. When I watched my TV dramas off the DVR late at night, I thought how drama needs dead bodies, significant accidents, weird diseases and convoluted motivations. But some days only little weird things happen to real people, if that. Not what you usually see, not what you expect, but really nothing. Things I describe as 'not entirely unexpected.'