Day two of 2025 started with my taking Kira and Tiffany out into the backyard so they could do their morning business. The pebbled concrete was damp and cool on my bare feet as I walked across it, looking out at the dark green grass lit by a cloudy grey sky.
I then made tea for my mom and I. Assam with organic 2% milk. Hot tea settles my nerves a bit, and by its very nature forces me to slow down to savour the moment as it’s something that can’t be chugged. I sit at the kitchen table, scrolling through social media on my iPhone: Facebook, Instagram, X, and YouTube. Nothing really catches my eye, so I open Coursera, and listen to a few of the videos for a workshop on memory as portrayed in film.
The week’s first film will have me screen 50 FIRST DATES, a film that came out just over twenty years ago. It’s about a young man played by Adam Sandler, who tries to win the heart of Drew Barrymore, who is unable to retain short term memories. The course examines the films to discuss how they relate to the latest understanding of the human brain and its ability to process and store memories. I enrolled in this because a lot of my own artwork focusses on portrayals of the self, and a key aspect of that, and of writing memoir, focuses on how people remember experiences, and reflect on what happens in life.
The rest of the day slipped by rather unproductively. I got two loads of laundry done, and worked on cleaning the guest bathroom at my Mom’s. I last scrubbed the room down in October, although it feels as though I did nothing then. I then went to Starbucks where I worked on some writing for awhile before heading back home to the comfort of my unmade bed.
A more careful eye will notice I skipped over the argument I had with my mum, over my slow progress with getting the garage organized and cleaned. Like the bathroom, I make progress but then let that progress slip away. I’m tired of being so unreliable.
02/365. This is the second entry of 2025 for my subversive selfie project… a fine art photography and short reflective memoir exercise I do to try and keep an honest account of my life going everyday for the world to see.