Rapidly shifting priorities

Have you ever been driving the speed limit in a nice new car, on a nice smooth highway, behind a big truck loaded with gravel... only to notice too late that here and there small pebbles are leaking from the bed of the truck, and bouncing in loooooong, aaaaaaarching leaps and bounds... towards you?

If so, you've probably gone through the series of panicked calculations... 'Can I change lanes in time to get out of the way without running into someone else?'... 'Will that pebble bounce over me or will it ding my car?'... 'Oh sh*t, will it hit my windshield?!'

[*CRACK*]

Like a gunshot, you suddenly have a nice shiny asterisk in the middle of your windshield.  And over the next few days, shiny lines begin to spread from the starred glass and form a network of cracks across the entire piece of double-laminated glass.

Well, picture that scenario, exactly as I've described it; smooth highway, speed limit, gravel truck, bouncing pebbles, and you following blithely behind... on a shiny new scooter.

In the blink of an eye you go from, "Oh sh*t, I hope that rock doesn't bounce up and hit my shiny new scooter", to "Oh sh*t, I hope that rock doesn't bounce up and hit my Helmet's face shield", ... and finally to [*THWACK*} "Ouch!  Sh*t, I wish it had hit my scooter or my helmet instead of my shoulder!"

Amazing how fast your priorities can change.