journal features

surprise!

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Toronto, 1999.11.06

The party went well. We surprised her after all!

I've been planning a surprise party for Sara. It's been fun winding her up about all the things I failed to get sorted out (e.g. couldn't get Bumcheek Boys tickets, couldn't get a banner ad on Sympatico for her birthday, etc). But it's been hell sorting out the details behind her back (or right beside her on the couch when her lifelong friend gets word that she's been left out, or at the store when her brother rings up for directions three hours before the party). I guess duplicity isn't my forte (pah).

rand()m quote

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.

—Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.