November, 2008

The November Roundup

Here are the photos I took in November 2008 that didn't end up in their own entry.

Saturday, November 1st

On Saturday evening I took the NJ Transit train out to my parent's house in New Jersey to help them clean out the basement in preparation for selling the house.

Roald Dahl is mostly known for his amazing children's books - but his short short stories for grown ups are even more shocking and nasty. If you haven't read them, this book is a great place to start and it's soooo good: The Best of Roald Dahl

I drank some delicious OKF out of a, um, tennis-ball can?

dad — My dad picked me up at the Morristown train station. Check out the mustache he was sporting when I arrived. It's a on-going joke that none of us (except my dad's brother, Bruce) can grow a mustache - so as sparse as this bad-boy was, my dad was still super proud of it. (Personally, I think I gave him a run for his money with the mustache I grew while I was away on a meditation retreat).

Around 2am later that night, I drove around sleeping surbubia checking out the houses that were still totally overdecorated in Halloween gear.

Clark W. Griswold style, with all the lights going!

Suburban TP tree.

Sunday, November 2nd

This is the house I lived in from 5th grade until I went away to college.

My parents had been working on cleaning it out for weeks and except for the basement, it was mostly empty. The kitchen.

Family room.

Living room almost totally empty!

Foyer.

Cleaning out the basement took a long time because every time I'd open a box to play "toss or save," there'd be a million interesting treasures inside! Like my dad's old fencing helmet from college!

dad, mom — And soooo many great photos. Check out my parents posing for this clutch ski photo circa 88.

dad, mom, peter griffin — It's like a photo of Peter Griffin going skiing! (PS - Remember when Fatty and I borrowed all my parents old ski gear to go skiing and it ended up looking like we were going to an 80s party in Williamsburg?)

brett, dad, me, mom — Also found a bunch of fantastic old photo albums. I snapped a couple of pics of my favorite pics. Here me with my parents and brother. I think this was from my 5th birthday - which would make it August 1981.

chris b, connie battjer, hank battjer, me, steve b — My dad's parents, Hank and Connie Battjer, with my cousins Chris and Steve. The one on the bottom is me blowing out birthday candles with my cousin Chris watching (and looking like a bug).

brett — Me and Brett with our dog Sam.

chris b, me — Hahaha. Chris and me are swashbuckling corsairs.

dad, uncle bruce — Uncle Bruce and my dad back in the day. 1974? 75? Not sure, but it most definitely pre-dates me!

After I was done reminiscing, it was time to haul the good stuff up out of the basement and into a Uhaul trailer that my parents planned on driving down to their new Florida home.

My dad, supervising Scott and I as we loaded boxes into the truck reminded us to evenly distribute the weight or we'd force the "tongue" out of the trailer hitch actually said the following phrase to us verbatim: "Careful not to load her up too much in the rear or you'll force the tongue out." We both immediately screamed "THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!" and fell down laughing. My dad was like "Wha?"

scott — After we'd finished loading up the Uhaul, we loaded up Scott's trailer with a bunch of furniture for the house that he and Erika had just purchased and were in the midst of renovating!

All loaded up!

See you later, house I grew up in!

A little before 5pm, we drove west to check out...

scott — ...Scott and Erika's new house! (Seen here before they completely gutted it!)

scott — Congrats!

They have a MASSIVE backyard complete with an in-ground pool and a pond.

When we got the couch out of the house and into the bright sunlight, you could see where my dad liked to sit...

...and watch sports and let his SOUL GLO!

Thursday, November 6th

These are pictures of the leaves turning color in Stuytown.

This is about as much "majestic fall color" as we see in Manhattan.

Saturday, November 8th

jenny penny, me — On Saturday night Jenny and Gurj came over...

And we had a marathon session and watched the entire first season of the The Office (UK).

The Brent-meister General

HAT FM.

Faster than a sheeerk.

No matter how many times I watch them, they're still funny. We're hooked.

Wednesday, November 12th

leigh, me — On Wednesday night I went over to the new New Museum on Bowery for some art opening party that Leigh was hosting. There was a huge line around the block outside, but baby girl came downstairs and escorted me in. Awww, fwiends. On the elevator ride up to the top floor, we made faces in the mirror behind the crowd.

zelda kaplan — The party. By the way, check out Zelda Kaplan on in the red and black striped dress. She still goes out all the time!

The skyline to the north.

sean d — Sean smooshing his face.

leigh, me — The ride back down. Hahah.

After, I went back to Leigh's place to get Edie! Leigh was going away for a few weeks and Meredith and I were going to watch her. Edie LOVES to travel in her bag, as soon as you put it on the ground, she climbs on in. Haha.

leigh — A-dorable.

I walked her stubby little legs all the way to Stuytown.

Wiener explorer.

Thursday, November 13th

Preston graffiti.

Friday, November 14th

siege — On Friday night I hung out with Siege and took pictures of some new ink-spattered prints he was drying in his studio for his "Fugue State" series.

Saturday, November 15th

meredith — Lazy Saturday.

Monday, November 17th

grandpa — On Monday, Meredith and I went out to NJ to meet up with the rest of my family to attend my grandfather's funeral. After 2 long years of being in and out of the hospital and a long, slow, decline, he finally passed on. Love you, Grandpa. We miss you lots.

amy b, brett, dad, me, meredith, mom — Family photo.

jay, me — My cousin Jay is the half-Indian version of me!

amy b, brett, me — Brett, Amy and me saying goodbye at the hotel.