i keep a diary

February, 2016

The February Roundup

Here are all the photos I took in February 2016 that didn't end up in their own entry!

Monday, February 1st

jane anne
Jane's selfies when I leave my camera lying around are continuing to improve! Here's some good-looking mud-mask
mask ˆ jane anne
ellen, maddy, the dude
On Monday evening I brought Maddy over to Ellen's for a dog hang.
dogs ˆ ellen ˆ maddy ˆ the dude

Wednesday, February 3rd

amanda, ellen, hans
On Wednesday evening, Ellen, Hans, Amanda and I went to the Rubin Museum of Art to see...
amanda ˆ ellen ˆ hans
parker posey
...Parker Posey speak as part of the museum's BrainWave series.
parker posey

Thursday, February 4th

Important February checklist! Spent Thursday afternoon doing some chores...
list
...and listening to the awkward and funny MY DAD WROTE A PORNO podcast.
podcast
meredith
Later Thursday afternoon, I went over to 2nd Ave to have dinner at Meredith's BRAND NEW APARTMENT!
moving ˆ meredith
meredith
She didn't have a lot of furniture yet, so we improvised our dinner table...
moving ˆ meredith
...out of moving boxes! Ta-da!
food ˆ moving
maddy, meredith
Maddy is a huge pizza fan, FYI. Welcome back to Manhattan, Meredith!
moving ˆ pizza ˆ maddy ˆ meredith
meredith
After dinner, she showed me the LED herb garden I gave her as a housewarming gift!
gift ˆ moving ˆ plants ˆ meredith
Baby plant pods!
plants

Friday, February 5th

Snowy Friday morning!
e9th apt ˆ east village ˆ snow
Spent the afternoon at the witchy bookstore in my neighborhood reading crazy books by John Dee about ENOCHIAN, a language that was revealed to him so he could better communicate with them.

The Harry Potter character, Albus Dumbledore, is based on John Dee . He was Queen Elizabeth I's royal advisor and astronomer and went by the nickname 007 (which is where Ian Flemming got James Bonds' nickname from!).
book
jeet
Gurj came over for a Friday night hang!
laptop ˆ jeet
jeet, maddy
She feel asleep on my couch cuddling Maddy her feets!
asleep ˆ dogs ˆ feet ˆ jeet ˆ maddy

Saturday, February 6th

Was walking Maddy on Saturday and someone had put this awesome shelving unit out for trash! Scooped it right up and put it in the living room! SCORE!
e9th apt ˆ furniture ˆ shelves ˆ trash
sarah
Late Saturday night we went out to the KLEEERB to see Sarah DJ.
dj ˆ laser ˆ sarah
sarah
It was in the Meatpacking district and they had crazy screens and lighting!
dj ˆ laser ˆ sarah
grant, jon c
Grant & Jon
grant ˆ jon c
Pew pew! Lasers!
the klerb

Monday, February 8th

vin
On Monday morning Vin came over to work on a comic book about his adolescence that we'd started working on together!
comic book ˆ drawing ˆ flux capacity ˆ vin
vin
We looked through some of his old comics about dating...
comic book ˆ drawing ˆ vin
vin
And then we went through 15 pages of new panels...
comic book ˆ drawing ˆ vin
vin
...fun to look at his pencil line drawings and work things out before he inks them!
comic book ˆ drawing ˆ vin

Tuesday, February 9th

Sometimes the coffee shop downstairs gives me free pastries in the morning. Mmmmm.
croissant ˆ food ˆ treats
amanda, cynthia, katie
Went to Siege & Katie's in the evening for a Mardi Gras party!
amanda ˆ cynthia ˆ katie
astra
Went upstairs to supervise with Astra.
flag ˆ astra
She's keeping her eye on you!
house party
amanda, astra
Rooftop ladies.
amanda ˆ astra
amanda, grant, katie, sarah, siege
Sarah got the baby in the king cake!
mardi gras ˆ amanda ˆ grant ˆ katie ˆ sarah ˆ siege
amanda, astra, siege
Happy Mardi Gras, everyone!
mardi gras ˆ amanda ˆ astra ˆ siege

Wednesday, February 10th

On Wednesday afternoon I went over to the We Work space in Flatiron to meet up with David with his new start-up Voray!
flux capacity ˆ office space ˆ voray ˆ work
Excited to be involved in start-ups when they are less than 3 people. (Voray is still around and has over 30 employees today)
flux capacity ˆ laptop ˆ office space ˆ voray ˆ work

Thursday, February 11th

maddy
I got a terrible cold and was out of commission for a few days. I was laying around on a heating pad with Maddy when my brother texted me to let me know...
biomat ˆ maddy
court
..that my former employer Yodle had been acquired! (I joined Yodle in 2008 when there were less than 40 employees. When I left in 2011, they had grown to 800 employees!) I love Court's shit-eating grin in the photo they chose to run! Hahah. So good. Congrats, to everyone who made this happen!
work ˆ yodle ˆ court

Friday, February 12th

Spent Friday convalescing on my heating pad.
biomat ˆ living room
me
The sickness is real.
sick ˆ me
Pulled some tarot cards about the Yodle acquisition.
tarot
Read this very excellent and strange book Secret Societies & Psychological Warfare
book
Also read Adrian Tomine's new graphic novel I borrowed from Vin.
book
maddy
Hey, are you coming back to bed?
biomat ˆ sick ˆ maddy

Saturday, February 13th

grant
On Saturday, I was finally feeling better enough to leave the house and Grant took me out to Odessa breakfast to celebrate Yodle finally getting sold (after waiting for four nail-biting years!)
odessa ˆ grant

Sunday, February 14th

me
Finally feeling better on Sunday, but woke up to...
messy hair ˆ sick ˆ me
...insanely bitter cold NYC winter weather. Ugh!
weather
maddy
Maddy sat next to the couch (in her Russian Princess jacket) and ice-grilled me until I agreed to take her for a walk.
dogs in outfits ˆ maddy
maddy
So much attitude.
maddy
Spent the day watching some Downton Abbey.
tv
eric p, me, vin
That afternoon, Vin posted this excellent drawing of me and Eric P, based on a photo of us from September 2015
drawing ˆ eric p ˆ me ˆ vin
me
Spent the evening making Valentine phone calls...
phone ˆ me
maddy
...and keeping Maddy warm with my legs!
couch ˆ slippers ˆ maddy

Monday, February 15th

me
By Monday evening I was finally feeling quasi-recovered from my sickness.
sick ˆ me
I love learning about human space travel! Did you know that with the exception of the 6 Apollo missions (that all happened during the Nixon administration) where we sent humans 240,000 miles into space and back that the furthest humans have been from the surface of the earth is 853 miles and that record was set in 1966? (The international space station we visit today is 270 miles from earth).

So here's a quick recap of the furthest distances traveled by humans in space by year:
1966: 853 miles
1969: 240,000 miles
2018: 270 miles

I'm sure we're going to Mars in Tesla space-cars any day now though.... (Learn more about LOW EARTH ORBIT)
wtf

Tuesday, February 16th

Winter Tuesday.
home office ˆ piano

Wednesday, February 17th

New veggie burger place on the block!
east village ˆ restaurant

Thursday, February 18th

vin
On Thursday morning Vin came over again to work on the comic!
e9th apt ˆ living room ˆ vin
vin
Spent the morning outlining terrible things that happened to Vin in his high school years...
comic book ˆ drawing ˆ vin
vin
...and laughing about his drawings of his 14 year-old self.
best ˆ comic book ˆ drawing ˆ flux capacity ˆ work ˆ vin
New London Keyes yarn artwork on the La Plaza fence!
art ˆ la plaza cultural ˆ rainbow

Friday, February 19th

I like to take pictures of the sky when it looks strange. Walking Maddy on Friday....
east river park
...and watched the blue skies turn...
clouds ˆ east river park
...turn hazy-white in a matter of a few minutes.
clouds ˆ east river park
Rainbow around the sun.
clouds ˆ east river park
Went and looked at some new couches...
couch
...and on the way home stopped for some empanadas...
empanadas ˆ food
me
...and a haircut!
haircut ˆ me

Tuesday, February 23rd

Watched The Truman Show on Wednesday night. So much hidden symbolism throughout this ENTIRE movie.
masonic ˆ movie ˆ one eye

Thursday, February 25th

Vin came over early on Thursday and we worked on some stories for his adolescent comic!
living room
index cards
Trying to organize all the ideas into a story.
comic book ˆ index cards
maddy, vin
Winter window watching.
window ˆ maddy ˆ vin
I dug out my box of high school letters and we looked through it for inspiration.
note
Found this letter from my friend Moriah (who I met at Supercamp when I was 14) and we talked about the strange things you do when you're getting all the feelings for the first time.
note
Also found this note that my friend Cathy wrote me from high school typing class in 1993. Dot matrix printer paper!
note
vin
One of the first stories, M'Lady Marion, was almost finished!
comic book ˆ drawing ˆ vin
vin
We picked a few areas (highlighted in blue) that needed more panels.
comic book ˆ drawing ˆ vin
vin
Also found a box filled with mixtapes and mix CDs that vin made for me in the late 90s / early 00s.
mixtape ˆ vin
vin
Track listing from June 01.
mixtape ˆ vin
jeff m, me
Found a few other random memories, including this photo from when I went to Basking Ridge's senior prom with Jen Perkins....
nostalgia ˆ prom ˆ tuxedo ˆ jeff m ˆ me
me
...original flyer from 2004 from my 28th birthday party at MisShapes!
birthday ˆ flyer ˆ misshapes ˆ nostalgia ˆ me
maddy
Maddy ran into her favorite pack of Poms on our walk!
dogs ˆ maddy
matt lesser
On Thursday night, Matt came over for a reiki session.
reiki ˆ matt lesser
amy k
Watched Love on Netflix and caught Amy's cameo in the last episode! (Hi!)
people we know on tv ˆ tv ˆ amy k

Saturday, February 27th

Listened to an excellent Alan Watts lecture on Saturday afternoon.
theresa
And then later that evening I went over to Theresa Byrnes' Gallery to see her new art performance. She emerged from a clay and dragged herself across a long canvas.
art ˆ gallery ˆ mud ˆ painting ˆ theresa
theresa
Theresa and one of her helpers after the show after changing out of their muddy clothes!
art ˆ theresa
theresa
Studio after we cleaned everything up!
gallery ˆ theresa

Sunday, February 28th

Spent Sunday morning reading Are We Alone?
book
And then this graphic novel that Vin lent me.
book ˆ comic book
Ongoing comics research.
book ˆ comic book
Took Maddy for her afternoon walk through Tompkins...
cat ˆ tompkins
...and watched this guy walk his CAT ON A LEASH in a tree! Haha.
cat ˆ strangers ˆ tompkins ˆ wtf
Spent sunday evening...
computer ˆ home office ˆ ikad
...working on I Keep A Diary entries from October 2013!
ikad ˆ meta

Monday, February 29th

Spent a raining Monday at home...
e9th apt ˆ east village
...helping LeagueApps put together a new process for how they make software!
flux capacity ˆ leagueapps ˆ presentation ˆ work
Later that afternoon, I went to a branch of the New York Public Library...
library
...went through drawers of microfiche scans....
library ˆ microfiche
...of old business directories in New York...
library ˆ microfiche
...trying to find the location....
library ˆ microfiche
...of my great-great grandfathers New York City restaurant that was called "Smith & Battjer"
library ˆ microfiche
I wasn't able to find the restaurant, and I also learned that this was before the word restaurant was used in English, and so I had to find the directory listings for EATING HOUSES.
library ˆ microfiche
While I couldn't find the restaurant, I did find the addresses of two of my relatives that lived in NYC in the 1870s! Henry Battjer (my Great-great-grandfather) was a carman who lived at 49 Pitt Street. A few years later in 1880, he opened a bar called Smith & Battjer that after years of research I finally tracked down to be formerly located at 422 East 14th Street - just a few blocks from where I lived on 14th street for 4 years!
best ˆ family ˆ library ˆ microfiche ˆ nyc
catrinel
Don't remember what show I was watching, but this actress reminded me of Catrinel! Happy February 2016!
doppleganger ˆ tv ˆ catrinel