# Forced – Memory Card #21 👋🏻 Turns out being stuck on a plane with no internet is a good time to write. Normally on planes (or any means of transportation where I am not the one in control), I sleep. There is something about the thrum of engines that knocks me out. The urge to sleep was strong. I had just eaten Chipotle. It was a night flight. The lights were dim. I had Lofi Girl playing. I was waiting for permission to pull out my laptop. I was drifting. But I promised myself (and you) that I would write on the plane. So I scoured my downloaded music and found something far more upbeat that I knew I could write to—*[Imploding the Mirage](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kEGStUtBZL5dTF-R1hOOzFwXGSNECsyOk&si=05gSTkQ36Bxb6U3V)* by The Killers. That woke me up right away. Pulled my laptop[^1] out and got to work. I re-read, edited, and proofed the intro I wrote. I like starting sessions by doing that. Gets my head in the space to write new words about the subject. Then I dove into the next section and wrote some 400 new words about *Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat* and Nintendo EAD. Good stuff. This two-ish hour flight was another forcing function that made me sit down and write. No excuses. It was just me, my new AirPods Pro (oh my gosh the noise cancellation is *phenomenal*). It forced me to stare the work down and come up with something. Words must go on the page. There's no opportunity to doodle, scroll, or browse. No excuse to [procrastinate](https://youtu.be/jiaVFg8U6rU?si=KO0KEPr2Q8-Imagj) – really, no way to even procrastinate. Everything was in service of The Thing™. There was some gnarly turbulence that made me put the laptop away. I couldn't even see what I was typing. Overall though, I got good work done. Looking forward to doing the same on my way home and during my early mornings on this trip. Until next time... P.S. - I had to mention this somewhere. At the start of the flight, I watched this woman just swipe between all her home screens. I couldn't look away. So many pages and apps. But it was her Dock that stunned me. The four most important apps to her were Target, Camera, Bed, Bath and Beyond, and Universal's theme park app. The last I get, since we were flying out of Florida. I could see that as a temporary placement, assuming she was a tourist. Camera is also justifiable to some degree. But Target *and* BB&B? What? > [!email]+ Memory Card Newsletter > This letter is one block from the newsletter **[Memory Card](https://buttondown.com/MaxFrequency)** by [Max Roberts](https://www.maxfrequency.net/about). Thoughts? Send *me* an email at [email protected]. > > Max is the writer and producer behind [Max Frequency](https://www.maxfrequency.net), a place where he cultivates and curates curiosity—both for himself and for others—by delighting in the details and growing greatness from small beginnings. > > He's written a [[Chasing the Stick - The History of Naughty Dog during the PS4 Era|rich history and dive on the making of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us Part II]], celebrated the [[MFP23 - “A Passion for Smash” – Celebrating 15 Years of Super Smash Bros. Brawl with Peter Spezia|15th anniversary of Super Smash Bros. Brawl with the voice behind its hype]], and examined how [Zelda "stole" Fortnite's best mechanic](https://youtu.be/kc2l_9Fdpek). > > **Memory Card** is a real-ish time, raw, drip feed newsletter of his creative process for telling these stories. It’s *how* The Thing™ gets made. You can sign up below. (Look down) > > It's all powered by [Max Frequency](https://www.maxfrequency.net) and [patrons](https://www.patreon.com/maxfrequency). > > Wanna see The Thing™? [Check it out on YouTube](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxCxW3Sbhy5ZzVOkvmfo4Rme41g6KzJOk). Read it on [The Blog](https://www.maxfrequency.net). > <iframe scrolling="no" style="width:100%!important;height:220px;border:1px #ccc solid !important" src="https://buttondown.com/MaxFrequency?as_embed=true"></iframe> [^1]: A 2017 13'' MacBook Pro with a 3.1 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5, a butterfly keyboard, and the Touch Bar. This may have been the laptop that my Dad had [[Joining the Butterfly Keyboard Club|serviced]] for said butterfly keyboard, I'm not sure.