Alex

Alex’s Daylist

“I’m waking up like can’t nobody mess up my mood”

7:00am
It’s a dreary day in Philadelphia, but I’m not gonna let that get me down. It feels auspicious that I have the 24th day of 2024 for this project.

Over the weekend, the building next to mine caught fire. No one was hurt, but I share a wall with them, so my apartment got a lot of smoke exposure. The smell has lingered awfully, so I’ve taken to going to bed with my Survivor buff (Vesi, from 43) over my nose and mouth to block out the smell. It’s worked really well and is more comfortable than I thought it’d be. But I ordered air fresheners that will get here tomorrow, so I’m hoping those will help fix it.

“And as the platform falls away I wonder where we’ll go”

8:15am

The train is stupid late, but that’s SEPTA for you. I live in Point Breeze, and I take the BSL to work every day, all the way up. I like people-watching in the mornings. Today I watched as a high school girl tried and failed to get her crush to sit down next to her. Poor thing. She looked devastated.

My train crush is here today, too. Is it weird to have a train crush? I know nothing about him, just that we take the same train almost every day and he’s cute. I don’t think it’s that weird. It feels like one of those things we all do but no one really talks about.

“Jump into the driver’s seat and put it into speed drive”

10:00am

I work as a college admissions counselor. My day-to-day always looks different, depending on what needs doing. Today, I’m wrangled pretty early on into using our golf cart to help transport things across campus for our graduate open house that’s happening later tonight, which I don’t have to go to. 

I’m the only one in the office willing to drive the golf cart (it requires a delicate touch) so this will take up most of my morning. I don’t mind, though. Driving around is fun as fuck. But the students are weirdly bad about moving out of the way, even when I’m coming directly at them. But I remember being in college and not really caring if I got hit by a car, so I get it.

“Don’t you know that Wednesdays do the most?”

2:45pm

Every Wednesday, we package and address acceptance letters for students who were admitted over the past week. My coworkers and I all get together to do it as a group. We call it a stuffing party. It’s a fun time. 

I also use my day to map out my spring recruitment travel - I’ll be spending the better part of March and April visiting high schools in New York. Trying to coordinate it all is like putting together a needlessly complicated puzzle. But I like puzzles, so I’d be lying if I said I don’t enjoy it.

This is my office. Sorry about the mess. I’m working on that.

“Money in my bag just to get a hit”

5:15pm

When I take the train home, I like to get off at City Hall and walk the rest of the way, even though my stop is Tasker-Morris. It’s a nice way to make sure I’m getting some exercise. Sometimes, I’ll head over to Liberty Place to see about getting myself a little treat if it’s been a particularly grueling day.

Today, I picked up a candle (not pictured) to help with the smoke smell in my apartment. It smells like sandalwood and lavender, which is a fantastic combination. The only problem is candles also give off smoke. I didn’t think this all the way through.

“La disco a besoin de vous”

6:30pm

I’ve been needing a haircut for a while, and the place I go to is way up in Queen Village, but it’s worth the hike because they do an incredible job. I don’t usually go there for my facial hair too, but my friend is having her big birthday bash this weekend, and it’s disco themed, so I thought I’d try to look the part by asking my barber if she could give me sort of a rugged “stubble under a full mustache” look.

I think it’s giving more 1920s railroad tycoon than disco, but she definitely understood the assignment. I think it looks amazing and I might’ve just unlocked a new look for me.

“Jason, tell me what you’re chasin”

7:15pm

It felt weird taking a photo at the gym, so here’s my Connections score instead. I go to the Planet Fitness on Chestnut. It’s a new development, but this is a new year’s resolution I’m really determined to keep because I don’t want my body falling apart on me someday. 

I know that as a self-respecting gay man I should be patiently waiting at City Fitness for the Equinox to open up in Rittenhouse. But I’m honestly mostly a cardio girlie anyway, and Planet Fitness is so much cheaper that I just can’t justify anything else. Plus there’s plenty of hot guys at Planet Fitness, too.

“And if you give me a beer, I’ll forget to watch what I eat and I don’t care”

9:00pm

By now, I’ve had a long day, with a lot of walking and running (currently clocking in at nearly 25,000 steps). I think I’ll burn away all the goodwill I just got from going to the gym by picking up Chinese on my way home, then settling in with a Heineken for the new episode of Fantasy High: Junior Year. It’s a D&D show.

There’s a lot of knickknacks in the shelf space under my too-small TV. Vinyls, figurines, books, and old Magic: The Gathering cards that I haven’t touched in years. To say nothing of the elf ears, broken headphones, and Tylenol PM that litter that top shelf. I think you can tell a lot about a person by their random objects.

“This country dog won’t die in the city”

11:00pm

I grew up on the Main Line, so Philly has always called to me like a Siren song. Since moving out of my mom’s house two years ago, it’s been hard not to feel aimless and adrift. I kinda feel like I’m taking my first steps all over again.

I’ve taken up bullet journaling in 2024 as a way to combat this, tracking everyday things like my mood, making dinner instead of Doordashing, etc. Developing healthy habits and becoming “a real adult” feels easier when it’s a tangible project I can work on. I fill it out every night before bed. The Doodle-A-Day is a particularly sacred ritual. I suck at drawing, but that isn’t really the point.

Alex is a walking Lord of the Rings encyclopedia who lives in Point Breeze. He enjoys horror movies and playing D&D and is patiently waiting for the day he can adopt an orange cat. His top 3 artists for 2023 were Yumi Zouma, Blood Orange, and Taylor Swift, in that order. You can find him at Survivor watch parties or on Instagram at @bygrave_in_motion.