journal features

week of TTC (day one)

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Toronto, 2011.11.14

My backlog of reading is so severe that I'm taking transit this week instead of riding my bike; today the driver was a "ringer".

He'd ring his bell and honk his horn constantly. And not just when he wanted someone out of his way or to scold a car that had passed while the doors were open. I mean: constantly. Hit the accelerator: honk/chime. Brake: honk/chime. Approach a stop: honk/chime. Start up again at a green light: honk/chime. It was maddening. Naturally, he also blasted away whenever a light turned green in front of a car that was stopped in front of him. No matter that that car was behind seven other cars - it was honking time!

Guess you have to keep your hands busy when you're operating two foot pedals.

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.