Tom and I went to the ballgame yesterday, to see the Washington Nationals eke out a win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, 9-8.
We also went to see Iron Man on Friday night. People. See this movie. Now. It’s fantastic.
I think the movie is probably helped by the fact that so few people know anything about the Iron Man mythology. So I had no opinion on whether or not Robert Downey, Jr. was too old to play Tony Stark, or what the suit should look like, or whatever. And Downey really is great in this movie- he’s an excellent actor who really brings a lot of charm and life to what could have been a tiresome and yet nonsensical stereotype: Brilliant engineer who is also a billionaire playboy?
An aspect that appeals to my geeky nature is that while Bruce Wayne has to get other people to design his gear for him, Stark is able to design his suit pretty much in isolation, assisted first by a fellow prisoner where he’s being held by terrorists, and then only by a robot and his snarky British house AI. Finally, the geek gets to be the superhero. And then you get to see the iterations of the suit, the abortive flight tests, the unexpected altitude issues, etc. that you never get to see in any other superhero movie. Spiderman goes straight from sweatpants to the iconic spandex, the Batmobile is always pretty much the Batmobile, etc.
And of course, needless to say, my geeky friends and I were all looking at the house and the workshop and saying, “If I were filthy rich, of COURSE that’s what would be in my house. Of COURSE I would have a snarky British house AI.” So I think it really resonated with all of us. 
One of the things I’ve been personally working on lately is a War on Crap I Keep For No Good Reason. I’m kind of a packrat, and I have a particular tendency to hold on to things for sentimental reasons. I still have every wedding card we were given, for example, and tons of movie ticket stubs and random little gifts given to me by people i don’t even talk to any more.
I started reading Unclutterer after meeting its editor at a party, and while not every post is relevant to me personally, one of the themes that I found particularly useful is the idea of “honoring” your sentimental possessions without letting them become clutter.
The Fridge collage is helpful on a number of levels. Often, when I get home from work, one or the other of us is in the kitchen working on dinner. The other one will often position themselves close by for the end-of-workday chat. (Couples, you know the chat I’m talking about, the “I haven’t seen you all day” chat.) So despite the tiny kitchen, we actually spend a lot of family time there. So having a place to store mementos of our loved ones in the kitchen actually makes a lot of sense (it might be clutter for other people, but it works for us).
It also provides me a system for clearing out old mementos without feeling guilty about it. When the Wasyliks send us a new photo Christmas card, the old one can be disposed of without guilt, because it has been enjoyed for a year, and now we have one to replace it with.
Finally, it provides an outlet for the acquisition of souvenirs. (My silver charm bracelet has the same function- a place to store mementos so they do not become clutter.) When we go someplace and want to bring home a souvenir, fridge magnets are a popular choice, because our fridge is already a place where we display objects associated with memories. If you are a person who wants to bring us back something from your vacation, believe me when I tell you that postcards and magnets are fantastic ideas and not at all lame.
Another great suggestion I heard along this line, and one I try to put into practice myself, is to purchase everyday objects you’ll use anyway that are unique in some fashion to the place you’re visiting. So every time you use, I don’t know, your can opener, you can think of your trip.
So that’s what I’m working on. Getting rid of crap I thought I would use but didn’t, stuff I think I need to save because of a person but don’t, trying to keep stuff I KNOW I don’t need from getting into my house to begin with…
Now, I just need to find someone with a Kindle who will let me borrow it for a week to see if it’s any good. It’s not that I object to having shelves full of books, it’s that I’d like to be able to bring reading material into the house without causing more clutter, like I do with music.
…it seemed appropriate anyway.
see more crazy cat pics
Tom was out of town this weekend on a sort of college choir reunion- I had thought about going along, but we had one of those weird couple divergences of memory where he was SURE he had told me about this trip some months ago, and I was EQUALLY SURE that he hadn’t, but the end result was that the first I remember hearing about it was just a few weeks before it was to happen, so I didn’t make arrangements to take off from work or anything.
So I was on my own for a few days. Now, here’s what happens when Tom’s away. In some ways, I regress to single-girl habits- no, not “tequila shots with strange men,” but “eating like a hobo because I don’t feel like cooking and watching bad TV.” Also, because I miss having him around and a lot of the things I like to go out and do are things that we go out and do together, I have this tendency to kind of hole up in the house. Which is dumb, because when the husband goes out of town, it’s a perfect opportunity for margaritas with your girlfriends (guilt-free because you’re not leaving your sweetie at home) and seeing movies you know he won’t want to see with you.
So that’s what I did. The weather was excruciatingly gorgeous on Friday and Saturday, so on Saturday evening, I went to Los Tios with Dawn and Steph, where we sat on the patio to enjoy queso and tasty beverages while discussing how we’d quit our jobs if we won the lottery. Suffice it to say, I’ve got a nascent comedy bit brewing in my notebook.
Saturday, Steph and I went out again, this time for pho at the best pho place ever, followed by a matinee of The Forbidden Kingdom.
Here’s what you need to know about this movie. It’s not what one would call “good.” In fact, by most objective measures of Western cinema, it’s a terrifically bad movie. In the tradition of The Karate Kid. But, for those who love kung fu movies for their own sake, this is not just unsurprising but actually expected. Kung fu movies, as Steph points out, are like pr0n. The ridiculous plot and writing are justified by the, er, action sequences.
And as far as action is concerned… people, Jet Li and Jackie Chan. Two of the greatest kung fu stars since Bruce Lee, okay? When you see one of these two in any other movie, the fight scenes generally have to be choreographed around the shortcomings of the costars; in the Rush Hour movies, Chris Tucker has to be able to participate, for example. But for the scene in which Jet Li and Jackie Chan face off, Yuen Woo Ping only had to choreograph for two incredibly talented and agile performers, and it was really pretty awesome.
But as a movie? Oh, it’s awful. Don’t bother with it unless you’re a kung fu movie fan generally. Steph and I laughed all the way through… especially at the serious parts. Just Netflix it and fast-forward through all the non-fight stuff. But watch the Chan/Li fight over and over.
