journal features

the crow's nest

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Tokyo, 2008.10.12

We're back in Tokyo after two weeks in British Columbia.

One of the last things we did in BC was to buy some binoculars.

One of the uses that Mari wanted to put the binoculars to was to have a good look at the crow's nest across the way from our place. She did so last night and told me, "it has coat hangers". I had a look this morning and saw that she'd understated the case .. it was *entirely* comprised of coat hangers!

We had rather a lot of wind here in Tokyo in September (one of the trees in the area blew down -- doesn't sound like much by BC standards, but it is one of only perhaps twenty) and I wonder if all of the other building materials simply blew away at that time.

rand()m quote

Meaning is not something you stumble across, like the answer to a riddle or the prize in a treasure hunt. Meaning is something you build into your life. You build it out of your own past, out of your affections and loyalties, out of the experience of humankind as it is passed on to you, out of your own talent and understanding, out of the things you believe in, out of the things and people you love, out of the values for which you are willing to sacrifice something. The ingredients are there. You are the only one who can put them together into that unique pattern that will be your life. Let it be a life that has dignity and meaning for you. If it does, then the particular balance of success or failure is of less account.

—John Gardner