journal features

the motorcycle trade

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Tokyo, 2010.02.23

A curious thing happened today. I introduced two strangers, enabling a cross-Pacific motorcycle trade.

One friend in Toronto happened to know a guy looking for specific Japanese motorcycles. I took the details and passed it on to an avid rider I know who's been here a long time and knows a lot of guys interested in bikes. Sure enough, he knew someone who not only knew the bike that the Toronto buyer was looking for, but could source the first of the bikes that the buyer wants as soon as .. tomorrow.

It's a small and odd world.

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