And we’re off
One should always begin the new year brimming with a sense of achievement. I don’t mean just meeting work deadlines, but dealing with something that’s been niggling at you for a while. This way you feel like the year’s just started but you’re already ahead.
For weeks I’ve been ignoring the fact that my sneakers are dirty, particularly the white ones. Washing sneakers is a pain and shoe repair shops know it, which is why they charge an arm and a foot to clean rubber shoes. Usually I use a toothbrush to clean the white-sided soles, but they don’t get that white.
Mike’s shoes are always immaculate, but then he’s obsessive-compulsive about his tennis outfits (they must matchy-matchy). I asked him how he cleaned his sneakers, and he said, dishwashing detergent and a sponge.
So I literally washed off last year’s grime from my sneakers. They’re not quite immaculate, but they’re no longer filthy.
Next I broke out the in-drawer organizer that Kermit and Scooter gave me a while back.
It fits into a drawer. The idea is to keep my earrings, rings, watches, whatnot in a single place, out of sight, instead of storing them in candy boxes and tin cans piled on my worktable. This two-tiered storage unit is made of bamboo, easily renewable and eco-friendly. My friends found it at Make Room.
First I had to clear a drawer, and it was an archeological expedition: I found two postcards Ige sent me from Dublin in 1996, a floor plan of the Frick Museum, and bills that should’ve been thrown away a decade ago. Then I put my stuff in the storage unit, which was another archeological dig because I discovered earrings I’d forgotten I own.
I’m often rushing to get out of the house so the accessories I use most frequently these days went into another box for easy grab-and-go.
Finally I picked the first movie I would watch in 2010. This is of vital importance: your choice could ruin your entire year. Last year’s first movie was Il Gattopardo by Luchino Visconti, and it kicked off a great movie-watching year. (Some turkeys, but they make everything else seem so much better.) Didn’t quite achieve my one-movie-a-day target, but I saw nearly 300 231.
My first movie of 2010: Smiles of a Summer Night by Ingmar Bergman. The light-hearted Bergman.
Ingmar Bergman’s house in Faro, photographed by Stephen Shore for W’s Art & Design Issue, November 2009.
January 2nd, 2010 at 14:31
My first film for 2010 is Bunuel’s “Nazarin.” Totally agree, first movie of the year is crucial!
January 3rd, 2010 at 05:04
My first movie for 2010 is Let The Right One In. My first book of the year is Blood Music. Before that I read, upon your recommendation, Child 44. I finished it in one day, that’s how easy it was to read; but, unlike The Da Vinci Code which I also finished in one day, it was not a waste of time. In Child 44, you cared about the characters (even the cat!), you dread of turning the page but you couldn’t help it, and the story was gripping and exciting.