Happy October 23rd! Today marks the 53rd anniversary of the Hungarian anti-Soviet uprising and the 20th anniversary of the transition to capitalism or "the Changes," as they are called here. Fortunately, the streets seemed mercifully free of protests, although who knows what it will be like later in the evening. In years passed, the streets have been flooded with rioters, riot police, dogs, tear gas, rubber bullets, and even the stray Soviet tank...

In June I bought a bike. Although I perhaps could have better chosen the bike itself, I have yet to regret the purchase on principle. Biking is so liberating! I love flying through the streets, biking down tram lines, and selecting which laws to follow (am I a car? Or a pedestrian?). It is as close as I will ever come to having my own steed.

The one problem is that my bike is incredibly hard to pedal. I was reluctant to blame my own out-of-shapeness (for once, I'm exercising regularly and not feeling bad about my body), so instead I assumed it was some problem with the gears. This is not imagined: owing to a wiring problem, I can only make use of one of the three back gears. So, that's certainly a contributing factor. Today, however, I noticed something more relevant: my tires were incredibly flat. Pedaling with them was like trying to bike with sandbags.

I tried to pump them up at a near-by gas station, but had one of my typically paralyzing moments of indecision. I took off the cap and tried to put the nozzle on, but I couldn't figure out how to work it, so instead I changed my mind and decided to go home and do it later. But when I was trying to put the cap back on I inadvertently let out most of the air in my front tire. Thus I went from having a challenging but serviceable vehicle to a waste of space that is also difficult to carry around. Hopefully my roommates have a pump.