Times Square shredder gets rid of bad memories on Good Riddance Day

[Refugee 7]

They came from near and far, carrying the sorts of things that bring the worst memories: photos of ex-lovers, demonic bosses, even diseased body parts.

Their destination was an industrial-size shredder lugged into the heart of Times Square to give people an opportunity to get rid of their most unpleasant reminders of 2007.

"I want to erase her out of my life forever," Pierre Lucien, 47, said of his ex-fiancée moments before he pulverized a photo of her. "Now she will know that I mean business."

Lucien was one of dozens of people who came out on "Good Riddance Day" to say exactly that to all the undesirable mementos they don't want to lug into the new year.

One man, Bob Esposito, 63, brought the mortgage to his Staten Island home, finally paid off in February.

Jodi Sandman, 23, said goodbye to three failed test scores from her disappointing CPA exams.

And Jose Soegaard, a 23-year-old Brooklyn musician, tossed out something decidedly more revolting: images of his bloodied appendix after it was removed in May.

"It's now been purged from my body," Soegaard said of the sluglike mass. "The only record I have of it is this horrible photograph."

The Times Square Alliance brought the shredder to Seventh Ave. and W. 46th St as a riff on the Latin American tradition in which New Year's revelers put artifacts from the previous year into giant dolls and set them on fire.

A $250 grand prize for most creative memento was awarded to Eileen Lawrence, a 47-year-old former schoolteacher from Manhattan.

She said goodbye to a collage she made with a photo of the "mean and miserable" principal she says made her year a living hell.

"I don't want to think of this woman ever again," Lawrence, 47, said of her former boss at a a Manhattan middle school.

"I'm currently an unemployed math teacher and am very, very happy," she said.

[EpiphanyDH 0]

Wow how did I miss that? What a great idea. I could have brought a few things myself. Good riddance indeed.

Thanks for posting that Refugee.

[surfnburn 5]

What a great idea! It sounds very cathartic…….

[Echosoftom 3]

Man, every town needs a "Good Riddance Day". I really like the idea of shredding your misery away, lol.

[Pettyjunkie 0]

That sounds so cool. I wish they did it in my town!

[agirl 0]

What a great idea! I wish they had one here.