journal features

what flies and what does not

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

10,000 meters, 2022.08.21

I brought many of my old photo backups and some old hard drives. It's funny what you can and can't bring on a flight, these days. You can't bring more than a total of 100mm of gels or liquids on a plane but you can bring two hard drives and an optical drive on the plan that are wrapped in opaque anti-static bags. There could be literally anything tucked away inside those metal cases. But by all means take everyone's expensive cosmetics.

The term "stupidest timeline" gets thrown around so much it's lost all meaning .. but, seriously. We waited in the security line for two hours for this charade to unfold.

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