journal features

again with the flat tires

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Tokyo, 2008.02.18

I'm enjoying another run of flat tires with my bike, clearly. I've finally decided to stop paying for new tubes, and have patched the tube that was punctured today.

Only, I'm not sure that it was a puncture, this time. The hole turned out to be not one but two short slits in the tube, maybe 5-6mm long. The were spaced about 6-7mm apart and, curiously, were located to the side of the tube, not on the outer edge.

It's like the tube burst from being pinched, or possible slashed. I dunno. We'll see how the patch goes.

rand()m quote

If I had my life to live over, I'd try to make more mistakes next time. I would relax, I would limber up, I would be crazier than I've been on this trip. I know very few things I'd take seriously any more. I'd certainly be less hygenic... I would take more chances, I would take more trips, I would scale more mountains, I would swim more rivers, and I would watch more sunsets. I would eat more ice cream and fewer beans. I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones. Oh, I've had my moments, and if I had to do it all over again, I'd have many more of them, in fact I'd try not to have anything else, just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of my day. If I had it to do all over again, I'd travel lighter, much lighter than I have. I would start barefoot earlier in the spring, and I'd stay that way later in the fall. And I would ride more merry-go-rounds, and catch more gold rings, and greet more people and pick more flowers and dance more often. If I had it to do all over again - but you see, I don't.

—Jorge Luis Borges