i keep a diary

January, 2013

The January Roundup

Tuesday, January 1st

Quiet start to the new year at home with this one!
maddy, murdo
Meredith and Murdo came by later in the afternoon to pick Maddy up for a few days.
e9th apt ˆ maddy ˆ murdo

Wednesday, January 2nd

Spent Wednesday cleaning my apartment.
bed ˆ e9th apt ˆ loft
me, meredith
Found this collage I gave to Meredith one year for her birthday. This is the kind of thing that's so hard for me to ever get rid of (even though we never hung it up when we were together).
mural ˆ photo ˆ us ˆ me ˆ meredith
Got a new black bean bag hassock. Spent the evening practicing my piano chops.
e9th apt ˆ laptop ˆ living room ˆ piano

Thursday, January 3rd

maddy
On Thursday afternoon I got this fugger back.
maddy
maddy
Smile!
maddy
Keeping an eye out for that UPS truck...
...got a new file cabinet from CB2.
box ˆ kitchen
Now I have somewhere to put my files...
furniture ˆ home office
...and my lunch!
flux capacity ˆ food ˆ home office ˆ salad ˆ sandwich ˆ work
Been getting very into I Ching divination. I enjoy using the 3-coin method. When you are interested in an outcome and you throw a lot of "hot rolls" (all heads or all tails) it makes for interesting reading!
i ching ˆ quarter
Like this question where I rolled all heads or all tails 5 out of the 6 times. What is the universe trying to tell you?
i ching

Friday, January 4th

grant
On Friday afternoon, Grant arrived back in New York after spending the holidays with his family in England.
diner ˆ odessa ˆ wreath ˆ grant
I got a new compass...
compass ˆ drawing
...and spent the afternoon drawing designs made out of overlapping circles on my living room wall.
compass ˆ drawing ˆ flower of life
grant
Later that night I met up with Grant in Soho...
door ˆ grant
grant, penelope
...and we had drinks with Penelope and Iovana.
bed ˆ first time i met ˆ grant ˆ penelope

Saturday, January 5th

Saturday walk
walking
While coming home from the park, I saw someone loading my neighbor's awesome vintage VW van onto a flatbed truck. In the off-chance that this wasn't a service the owner had requested, I snapped a picture of the flatbed's phone number...
tow truck ˆ truck
...and license plate. (I saw the owner the next day and he knew all about it - but was glad to know a neighbor was looking out).
tow truck ˆ truck
La Plaza still has angel santas up.
la plaza cultural ˆ santa
jared, jeet, quinn
Jared, Gurj & Quinn came over for a Saturday night hang.
e9th apt ˆ jared ˆ jeet ˆ quinn
Awww, football face.
Maddy likes to sit on my lap...
maddy
...and get a dog's eye view of my pad thai. Mmmmm.
food ˆ thai food ˆ maddy

Sunday, January 6th

david w
On Sunday afternoon, I went and got a crazy deep-tissue massage from my buddy David who met at karaoke well-over ten years ago. If you're in pain near union square, make sure to get in touch with David
ladder ˆ massage ˆ david w
Ivy I liked on the way home.
ivy ˆ plant
Spent the evening watching some more of Derren Brown's specials on Youtube...
tv
maddy
...hanging out with my blanket snoozer.
asleep ˆ blanket ˆ maddy

Monday, January 7th

Ran into Maddy & Edie's winer twins at the park Monday afternoon.
dogs
Later that afternoon, I biked down to Chinatown for my first visit with an acupuncturist.
art ˆ statue
When western medicine has failed you, why not see a doctor with a monkey lord statue in their waiting room?
art ˆ chinatown ˆ monkey ˆ statue
After the treatment, I tried to document the pin-pricks in my skin, but you can barely see them.
Diagnosis: depleted yin. Which basically is that same as "running yourself into the ground with worry." She prescribed these special pills...
...along with early bed time, Chamomile tea, and she insisted that if I was serious about healing and not damaging my health, I should immediately book a 2-week vacation on a beach! While I was laying there with needles in me, I thought about various places I'd like to visit and decided on Belize!
grant
Later that evening, I met up with Grant at Lupe's for some Mexican and discussed travel options to fulfill the doctor's prescribed orders.
food ˆ mexican ˆ grant
It's hard to justify taking a vacation when you work for yourself. I decided to consult the I Ching about taking a 2-week trip to Belize. I wanted to go, but was worrying that I should stay at home and try to secure another client.

When something is bothering me, consulting the I Ching gives the half of your brain that doesn't use language a series of lines to attach meaning to. It's a great way to sound out decisions with yourself. I got an answer that felt meaningful:

One who is all over the map is no loess lost than one without a map.
Avoid asceticism, however,
Deprivation is not wise discipline
The hey here is regulation, not restriction
i ching
Roaming his own garden and courtyard, he never strays out the gate. No mistake.
i ching
me
The oracle has spoken! Guess I'm going to Belize!
e9th apt ˆ me

Thursday, January 10th

Thursday was a gorgeous, sunny day and I took Maddy on a long walk...
east river park ˆ walking
maddy
...through East River Park.
shadow ˆ maddy

Friday, January 11th

clouds
vin
bar ˆ beer ˆ lucys ˆ vin

Saturday, January 12th

meredith
breakfast ˆ diner ˆ food ˆ odessa ˆ meredith
ellen, hans
On Saturday afternoon, Ellen invited me over for a hang at their new West Village apartment. Despite living in NYC for 16 years, I still get lost in the West Village all the time. I called Ellen for assistance on the way, "Where are you?" she asked, "I don't know how this is possible," I reluctantly replied, "but I swear I'm at the intersection of Wavery Place & Waverly Place!"

Ellen and I hung out for a while, shooting the shit and watching Youtube videos. Hans was acting a little funny. Later, I found out it was because he was waiting for me to leave so that HE COULD PROPOSE MARRIAGE!

She said yes! ;) Congrats, Ellen & Hans! (And sorry to all you other fellas everywhere!)
engaged ˆ nyc ˆ walking ˆ wtf ˆ ellen ˆ hans
It was like the West Village version of when Kramer finds himself "at the nexus of the universe" on 1st & 1st!.
seinfeld
amanda, cynthia, meredith
I walked all the way back home, dropped Maddy off, and then headed out to Katie & Siege's...
stairs ˆ amanda ˆ cynthia ˆ meredith
grant
...for a King Cake party.
grant

Sunday, January 13th

me
nervous ˆ wtf ˆ me

Monday, January 14th

Made some veggie juice to go with my lunch.
juicer ˆ kitchen
Took Maddy for a long walk along the water in East River Park and while looking for squirrels to kill...
...she found these gruesome remains of a squirrel who'd recently been nabbed by one of the local golden-tailed hawks! Gnarly!
blood ˆ dead ˆ skeleton ˆ squirrel ˆ wtf

Monday, January 14th

food ˆ refrigerator

Tuesday, January 15th

juice ˆ juicer
I went into Yodle to purchase my stock-options. (After you leave a company, you have to purchase your vested options or you lose them). Here's Ed getting ready to tell me the amount I owe. (It's still the largest check I've ever had to write! Yikes!).
yodle

Thursday, January 17th

grant
Later that evening, Grant came over and we went to the store together for the express purpose of buying things we wanted to put in the juicer!
shopping ˆ grant
Yes, but will it blend?
chicken ˆ dead ˆ head ˆ ice
We decided to keep all the individual flavors separate so we could experiment with different mixtures.
Three down...
...four out of five...
grant
...all five flavors! Spinach, carrot, orange, pineapple & apple!
juicer ˆ grant
amanda, craig, cynthia, katie f, meredith
Later that evening, I headed over to Cynthia's for a fantastic...
amanda ˆ craig ˆ cynthia ˆ katie f ˆ meredith
...make your own pizza party! Jalapeno & Pineapple for me, please!
pizza
Oh, then I made a nutella & apple pizza for dessert. Mmmmm. This is the end of my January photos because the very next day I flew to Belize for the rest of the month. Happy January 2013!
apple ˆ dessert ˆ nutella ˆ pizza ˆ treats