i keep a diary

January, 2016

The January Roundup

Here are all the photos I took in January 2016 that didn't end up in their own entry. (I'm writing this on Monday, Oct 15, 2018 and I can't believe how far I've fallen behind in doing this site! These pics totally feel like they're from a different era of my life.)

Sunday, January 3rd

Kicked off my 2016 with a chilly Sunday morning...
e9th apt ˆ living room ˆ tarot
...doing tarot readings on my crazy-patterned, new carpet.
tarot
Recording and drawing the cards I drew in my lil journal.
drawing ˆ tarot ˆ writing
me
Hadn't shaved in a few days and decided to document my manly beard before...
moustache ˆ me
...shaving it off with my new TOUGH BLADE razor the guy at my pharmacy recommended to me. (It was ok - didn't last me a year!).
razor
Lotsa swords in my deck.
cards ˆ tarot
New year, new me.
Spent the afternoon reading The Invisibles, by Grant Morrison.
book ˆ drawing

Tuesday, January 5th

Went into LeagueApps on Tuesday for my first day of work in 2016.
flux capacity ˆ laptop ˆ leagueapps ˆ work
lemmy
Came home and watched the incredible Lemmy documentary. "Those aren't shorts, these are shorts."
tv ˆ lemmy
maddy
Maddy love laying on my Biomat heating pad. "Turn on, please?"
biomat ˆ dogs ˆ maddy

Thursday, January 7th

alice
On Thursday afternoon I met with the founding team of the startup ALICE and started helping them prepare for their Q1 board meeting
flux capacity ˆ work ˆ alice

Friday, January 8th

grant, maddy, vin
Friday night drinks at C-tav with Grant, Vin and Maddy.
bar ˆ cherry tavern ˆ grant ˆ maddy ˆ vin

Saturday, January 9th

maddy
Nest dog is excited to meet you.
dogs ˆ excited ˆ maddy

Sunday, January 10th

Played some tunes on Sunday morning.
guitar ˆ home office
me
Me and Mr. Mouse.
mouse ˆ me
Later Sunday afternoon, my most recent shipment of WEIRDO GEAR arrived courtesy of Amazon.
e9th apt ˆ living room
First up? This teardrop shaped piece of hard rubber!
chiropractor ˆ wtf
It's a thoracic pivot! You put it on the floor and lay down on it so it's between you're shoulder blades so you can crack your own thoracic vertabrae at home! A+!
chiropractor ˆ wtf
I also bought these awesome Indian Clubs! They look like bowling pins, but these clubs have 2 lb weights in the end and you swing them around with your arms to help strengthen your shoulders and arms! Spend the afternoon watching videos of other, fellow weirdos swinging these around!
indian clubs ˆ wtf
Follow along at home with the favorite internet weirdo of your choice!
indian clubs ˆ wtf
Keep on swinging until the sand's all gone!
hourglass
Afternoon rainbow over the EV!
buildings ˆ east village ˆ rainbow
Later Sunday evening, I biked over to Flatiron to participate in LeagueApps strategic company off-site!
flux capacity ˆ leagueapps ˆ work
Always fun to see how my different clients try to deal with the crazy growth the comes along with running a successful start-up!
flux capacity ˆ leagueapps ˆ work
jane anne
When I got back home, I had a late night visit from Jane. The first time I ever hung out with Jane she played me a song on the guitar.
couch ˆ guitar ˆ jane anne
jane anne
She hasn't played me a song since. :(
guitar ˆ sad ˆ jane anne

Monday, January 11th

maddy, vin
Vin came over on Monday afternoon to help me...
couch ˆ drawing ˆ maddy ˆ vin
...move everything out of my office...
home office
...and take all of my shelving (and stuff!) down....
home office
...move everything out of the way into the living room so that we could...
living room ˆ mess
vin
...paint my office!
home office ˆ paint ˆ vin
vin
Two and a half hours later, we were finished!
home office ˆ paint ˆ vin
After the paint dried, I mounted my two new wall hooks and hung out my guitar (and a borrowed bass from Matt).
guitar ˆ home office
Looks so much better than with the white walls! Thanks, Vin!
e9th apt ˆ home office ˆ paint

Tuesday, January 12th

me
Plant-care Tuesday. Look how long my golden pothos is!
plant ˆ me

Thursday, January 14th

Oh, you know just sitting around, foam rolling, playing guitar...
foam roller ˆ guitar ˆ living room
...and doing tarot in my undies. Pretty chill Thursday night.
tarot ˆ undies

Friday, January 15th

ellen
On Friday night I cabbed over to the West Village for Ellen's birthday!
birthday ˆ ellen
cynthia, matt
TFW when you see your buddy get to the party <3
house party ˆ party ˆ cynthia ˆ matt
amalia, karen, maddy
Chin-resting and air-quoting.
party ˆ amalia ˆ karen ˆ maddy
ellen, josh adcock, rachel h
And when the birthday girl was least expecting it...
birthday ˆ ellen ˆ josh adcock ˆ rachel h
hans, the ktb
...Hans sneaked out of the bedroom with a lit cake!
best ˆ birthday ˆ cake ˆ candles ˆ excited ˆ surprise ˆ hans ˆ the ktb
amalia, ellen, hans, jared
Happy birthday, Ellen!
birthday ˆ cake ˆ candles ˆ amalia ˆ ellen ˆ hans ˆ jared
ellen, hans
Make a wish! (Which was probably to leave NYC really soon!)
birthday ˆ cake ˆ candles ˆ ellen ˆ hans
grant, ian h, jenny penny, rachel h
We love you so much!
grant ˆ ian h ˆ jenny penny ˆ rachel h
jeet, maddy, meredith
Important window conference with all the ladies.
best ˆ jeet ˆ maddy ˆ meredith
amalia, the ktb
It was really lovely to watch Kim and her sister...
laugh ˆ amalia ˆ the ktb
amalia, the ktb
...cracking each other up all night. Kim is one of the best laughers I've ever met...
laugh ˆ amalia ˆ the ktb
amalia, the ktb
...and it was so great to see that it runs in the family!
laugh ˆ phone ˆ amalia ˆ the ktb
amalia, the ktb
Looking at these pictures makes me laugh!
laugh ˆ amalia ˆ the ktb
matt, sarah
Sarah & Matt.
wave ˆ matt ˆ sarah
amanda, matt h, me
Matt, Amanda & me.
amanda ˆ matt h ˆ me
Late night party scene was all about...
catrinel, the dude
...The Dude showing off his new tricks!
catrinel ˆ the dude
juliette, matt, sarah
I know you want to rage, but the party's winding down, honey!
juliette ˆ matt ˆ sarah

Saturday, January 16th

Moved everything out of my office on Saturday morning...
living room ˆ mess
...painted all the trim in there...
e9th apt ˆ home office ˆ paint
...and then moved everything back in! Ta-da! New painted office!
e9th apt ˆ home office

Sunday, January 17th

Found this tiny little spider while I was cleaning and caught him so he could be safely released onto one of my plants
jeet
Jeet came over for a Sunday evening hang.
living room ˆ jeet

Monday, January 18th

jane anne
Spent a lovely Monday afternoon with lovely Jane Anne.
jane anne
Monday evening my new office rug arrived!
carpet ˆ home office
Shaping up nicely!
carpet ˆ home office

Wednesday, January 20th

matt lesser
On Wednesday night, I stopped by BiG BaR to wish Matt a happy birthday!
birthday ˆ matt lesser
Got myself a late-night Sunny Annie Deli sammich on the way home. YUM!
bodega

Thursday, January 21st

Did some photo editing on Thursday morning...
computer ˆ home office
...played a lil guitar....
guitar
...then headed down to the Financial District to meet up with a new real estate start-up client!
flux capacity ˆ office space ˆ work
Their offices had this really cool hallway that was covered in model airplanes.
airplane ˆ office space

Friday, January 22nd

me
During this time in my life I felt really unsure about things. Suddenly, the idea that anybody I meet could find this website and see 20 years of crazy photos from my life seemed like a really insane thing to have online.
ikad ˆ sad ˆ me
So I left the homepage up changed to the past tense...
ikad
...and took the rest of the site down! I left it down for a week or two but then put it back up after I was feeling a little better about thing. (Still feels like a pretty crazy thing to have online, tho!)
ikad
Watched The 9th Gate - so much Masonic symbolism. Lots of establishment of "one-eyed characters" Checkered floor. Pointing.
movie ˆ one eye
This guy only had one eye open the whole time...
movie ˆ one eye
...and was wearing a Masonic ring on top of a Royal Stewart tartan blanket.
masonic ˆ movie
Almost every single frame in the movie is chock full.
masonic ˆ movie
Black robes and pentagram and...
masonic ˆ movie
...a portrait of Adam Westhaupt on the wall?
masonic ˆ movie
Worth a watch if you haven't seen it.
masonic ˆ movie
My living room was looking kind of crazy with the patterned rug I'd gotten, so I decided to swap it out for something simpler.
carpet ˆ e9th apt ˆ living room ˆ moving
Removing a rug and putting a new rug down without being able to move the furniture out of the room is the ultimate New York puzzle.
carpet ˆ e9th apt ˆ living room ˆ moving
maddy
Lil supervisor. Out with the old...
carpet ˆ maddy
...in with the new!
maddy
Much better!
carpet ˆ e9th apt ˆ living room ˆ maddy

Saturday, January 23rd

Woke up on Saturday to the sight of my new carpet...
e9th apt ˆ living room
...and a ton of snow on the ground!
east village ˆ snow
josh newman
Josh's wife reached out to me about scanning some old photos of Josh for his upcoming 40th birthday. I was happy to oblige. Jeans and sandals with a walking flexdown when he sees the camera? Classic Newman.
gun show ˆ mandals ˆ nostalgia ˆ josh newman
josh newman
I also found this pic from when we bought lived together on Mill Plain Road in Fairfield, CT and bought Arkanoid for the house.
arcade ˆ josh newman
beth barnes, dens, josh newman, me
Found some solid pics from our college graduation that are on this site but were scanned with 1990s technology, so I took some higher resolution copies and sent them over.
flattop ˆ beth barnes ˆ dens ˆ josh newman ˆ me
beth barnes, dens, josh newman
Shots with our advertising professors!
shots ˆ beth barnes ˆ dens ˆ josh newman
While going through old photo prints I also found these amazing pics from when Scott and I went to Florida for Spring Break '95 and we made friends with a racoon who loved Cool Ranch Doritos as much as we did. We got him used to the flavor...
best ˆ doritos ˆ raccoon
me
...and then it wasn't long until we spent the rest of the week feeding him by hand. Hahaha.
best ˆ doritos ˆ flattop ˆ raccoon ˆ me
scott
Scott is like a modern-day Doolittle.
doritos ˆ raccoon ˆ scott

Saturday, January 23rd

Continued Masonic movies with From Hell. This guy always has one eye in the shadows!
masonic ˆ movie ˆ one eye
This other guy has a scar through one eye!
masonic ˆ movie ˆ one eye
Slitting throats...
knife ˆ masonic ˆ movie
...with close-ups of the ring.
masonic ˆ movie
Holding up a poster, flashing a ring.
masonic ˆ movie

Sunday, January 24th

By Sunday the snow had finally stopped and people started coming out of their homes again.
east village ˆ snow
I watched this guy just stand in the snow looking at his car buried for more than five minutes.
snow ˆ strangers
He stepped back to get a better look and then just left, shaking his head. Lol.
snow ˆ strangers
maddy, meredith
Mer came over for dinner and to cuddle a Maddy.
couch ˆ maddy ˆ meredith

Monday, January 25th

vin
Vin came over on Monday morning for our weekly work session!
e9th apt ˆ flux capacity ˆ living room ˆ vin
jane anne
Jane came over in the evening and I surprised me with a little tiny dress despite it being freezing cold outside. I, in return, surprised her with...
jane anne
jane anne
...delicious wine coolers.
wine cooler ˆ jane anne
jane anne
Ahhhh! Taste that Bartle & James flava!
wine cooler ˆ jane anne

Wednesday, January 27th

Wednesday work whiteboarding! Went to help one of my clients with quarterly planning.
flux capacity ˆ whiteboard ˆ work
Love Derren Brown - watched his new special, The Push.
tv
He must be friends with Jay-Z!
tv

Thursday, January 28th

Stopped by LeagueApps fancy new offices on Thursday!
flux capacity ˆ leagueapps ˆ work
Looking good!
flux capacity ˆ leagueapps ˆ work
Had my meeting with their product group...
flux capacity ˆ leagueapps ˆ work
litty
...and then my weekly one-on-one with Litty!
flux capacity ˆ leagueapps ˆ work ˆ litty

Thursday, January 28th

Planning on solving this whole aging thing with some Goji berries...
food
...and magnesium.
vitamins
Watered my kitchen succulents.
plants
I've had this guy for so long he is trying to leave his pot!
plant
jared
Jared came over and got cheeee-ill with my Kasina mind machine
kasina mind machine ˆ sunglasses ˆ jared

Saturday, January 30th

theresa
On Saturday afternoon I stopped by Teresa's studio to pick up...
theresa
theresa
...a new painting of hers' that I'd bought!
painting ˆ theresa
maddy, meredith
Meredith came over for dinner and a hang.
maddy ˆ meredith
vin
Went out late night with Vin.
stairs ˆ vin

Sunday, January 31st

Gridlines!
clouds
me
Januarys in New York can be rough!
me

5 comments

  • rachelfebruary 25, 2019

    Thank you for not erasing forever. I have been following your site since, I don't know, 2006? I would be very sad to see you go!

    • rachelfebruary 25, 2019

      ok, more like 2003 I think

    • brian battjerfebruary 28, 2019

      Thanks, Rachel. That's nice to hear! ;)

  • patrick rawlingsmarch 13, 2019

    Love your site Brian. Like Rachel, I've been following for many years. Super happy it is still around.

  • ajkmay 17, 2019

    Hey Brian, glad you didn't take the site down. I have been following your journey for the last 12 years. It would be a shame to take this down. I commend you for taking on such an ambitious endeavor and keeping it going to this day! It has given me a fair amount of enjoyment reading about your life over the years.