So while I've been tied up with my balloons and my gliders, I've lost considerable ground in terms of maintaining longevity in sailing records,

So while I've been tied up with my balloons and my gliders, I've lost considerable ground in terms of maintaining longevity in sailing records.

I pick projects according to how fascinating they are to me, and it has resulted in a broad reach. My records are actually in five different sports: balloons, airplanes, airships, gliders, and sailboats.

I felt this boy whose name I couldn't be bothered to remember grunting and heaving inside me; I was that empty and that far away. And suddenly I knew what became of all those lost balloons: they were the loves that slipped out of our fists; the blank eyes that rose in every night sky.

Whereas my falling in the Coral Sea almost killed me -- because that was in a thunderstorm in a ruptured balloon -- the most dangerous thing in the world,

I would think in Kevin's case that he has to be very pleased. He's making one of the finest balloon flights ever, and he had not previously made a long balloon flight. It's outstanding so far.