Dear Everyone,

Letters form words. Words make sentences. Sentences build paragraphs. Paragraphs become letters.

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Dear TTC drivers,

Yeah, that surprise wildcat strike a couple days back sure did suck, but let’s not talk about it. I’m over it. I forgive you.

Instead, let’s talk about safety – yours, and mine.

Buses are a drag at the best of times, but we riders can deal with a lot, and I know you folks have to, too: rude people, confused people, mentally ill people, drunk people, inexplicably verbally abusive people, people who spit on you when you ask them to pony up their fare (at least that's a thing of the past), people who throw themselves in front of your vehicles, the ever-present threat of psycho terrorist suicide bombers, etc.

In the year or so I've lived in the city, I’ve seen a lot of weird things go down on the bus, but I'm sure I don't know the half of it. But, boy, am I getting there.

So anyway, thanks.

In gratitude,
Greg


P.S.: No thanks of any kind whatsoever to the dude who tried to board the 106 with a freshly-filled jerry can of gasoline yesterday afternoon.

Monday, May 29, 2006

Dear Carly,

Good to hear from you. I'm doing okay. I'm working in downtown Barrie as a cellular phone salesperson. They gave me a free Blackberry and I've decided to only work for people who buy me toys from now on. The store is upstairs from a place called "Vin de Garage" and the place smells like wine on humid days.

Sherry and I went to Toronto on Saturday and hung out on Dave Alexander's back deck with friends from what is rapidly becoming "back in the day."

Today was my day off so I worked on overhauling my website and napped with Sherry on the couch and barbecued souvlaki and watched Battlestar Galactica.

The most disturbing thing about Barrie is not the widespread but subtle racism or the alarming number of churches or even that Big John's Records was bought by some guy who renamed it BJ's and cleaned it out and removed all the threatening signage and Sharpie-on-boxboard political screeds from the wall, but the fact that I find myself listening to Sloan almost constantly, while puttering around on the internet and reading science fiction novels in my parents' basement.

I'm trying not to regress to seventeen but it's a losing battle.

With very little respect for authority,
Regan

Dear Everyone,

How are you?

Yours in wonder[ing],
Carly