Audrey Lee
Timeline
6:00 AM: My boyfriend, Josh, wakes me up as he leaves for work. He says he slept well. I fall back asleep when he leaves at 7:00 AM.
9:50 AM: I wake up again and realize I have overslept. It is Martin Luther King Day, and I am off from work for once. I am a search engine optimizer for a financial technology company in New York City. I work when the markets are open. Every weekday I am in front of a screen from 9:00 AM to usually between 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM. I commute from 30th Street Station to my company's office in Rockefeller Center once or twice a week, always on Tuesdays. What's different this MLK Day is that my roommate, Tyler, and I are moving from our decrepit basement apartment in Queen Village to a full row home in Point Breeze. Tyler has lived in the Queen Village basement for three years; I've been there for two and a half. I was supposed to meet Tyler at the apartment at 10:00 AM to move some more stuff since we started the process on Saturday. I text him that I overslept.
10:10 AM: I roll out of Josh’s bed to brush my teeth and dress.
10:40 AM: I leave Josh’s house to go to meet Tyler at the Queen Village apartment (see endnote 1). Josh and I live eight blocks apart on the same street. It is cold.
10:50 AM: I stop at Herman’s Coffee on 3rd Street and purchase an “espressogrino” (espresso and lemon San Pelligrino soda) and a tin of Conservas Cabados scallops. Cost: $13.50. (see endnote 2)
10:58 AM: I leave Herman’s. I drink the espressogrino on the way. (see endnote 3)
11:10 AM: I arrive at the basement apartment in Queen Village. Tyler has already done some work; the apartment is empty, save for several straggling items and tons of trash bags. Most of our moving was done on Saturday when I bribed 11 friends with Rosario’s pizza and a 30-rack of PBR and my promise of undying friendship to help with the furniture.
11:11 AM: I see that it is 11:11 AM and make a wish. I go up to my room and get some items for my office in the new home and organize the remaining items into “take at a later date,” “throw out,” and “donate or give away.”
11:50 AM: Tyler and I have to be back at the new home in Point Breeze at noon. Our wifi isn’t working and Xfinity gave Tyler a window of “between 12PM and 2PM” for the technician to show up. We leave the Queen Village apartment.
11:59 AM: I explain my theory of why “pop girlies” are such an exclusive class of “pop singers” while he drives us down Washington Avenue.
12:07 PM: The Xfinity technician calls Tyler. For the first time in recorded history, a technician shows up at the very beginning of a time window.
12:10 PM: I let in the Xfinity technician. Tyler and I carry in the various items we grabbed at the apartment.
12:20 PM to 1:20 PM: Tyler and I discuss how we want to organize the new kitchen in the same way foreign leaders meet to make diplomatic policy. We organize the kitchen per our mutual decisions. I make a list of items we should prioritize purchasing for the house.
1:30 PM: Tyler says I have ADHD because I can’t remember if I need to shower, move my laundry, or do something else that I can’t remember first.
1:36 PM: I remember that I need to assemble my new bedroom mirror first.
1:56 PM: Amazon delivers the bath mats I ordered on Saturday.
2:00 PM: I try to take a shower. The water is not heating up and the house is cold. I become concerned because PGW made starting gas service so damn hard.
2:10 PM: I stare at the water heater in the basement and realize I don’t know what I’m doing and should never be trusted with machinery of any kind.
2:15 PM: The water is lukewarm enough so I shower very quickly.
2:25 PM: I get out of the shower and do my skincare routine. (see endnote 4)
2:34 PM: I text my landlord that the house is 61°F and the water is not heating.
2:36 PM: I call PGW but the customer service line is closed for MLK Day.
2:37 PM: Landlord texts me that the water heater is on vacation mode and I can turn it up, and also walks me through the thermostat. It works. There is no gas issue.
2:54 PM: I finally shed the bath towel I’ve been wrapped in while all this is occurring and get dressed. (see endnote 5).
3:23 PM: I leave the house to go to Jinxed Vintage at 19th and Washington to look for a dining table. Tyler is going to Target on Broad and Washington with his friend Sara.
3:26 PM: I buy my ticket on my Amtrak app for my commute to NYC tomorrow. Cost: $88.00. (see endnote 2)
3:30 PM: I arrive at Jinxed. The entire place kind of smells like cat piss which is off putting to me. I know it’s vintage furniture but I will gladly take mothballs over cat piss. I find four chairs that have potential but no dining room table. I ask the employees if they have any other dining room tables and they say no but they expect to get a restock tomorrow morning. I take a photo of a typewriter and send it to Josh because he used to work at Philly Typewriter and is enthusiastic about them.
3:36 PM: I leave Jinxed. I realize I’m pretty hungry. I tend to have a bad habit of forgetting that I haven’t eaten until I desperately need to eat.
3:43 PM: I arrive home. I need to go grocery shopping because I will probably go hysterical if I don’t eat a green, leafy vegetable soon. I make a grocery list.
3:50 PM: I eat the tinned scallops I got at Herman’s and three leftover latkes with sour cream I got from 4th Street Delicatessen yesterday. No nutritional value; just vibes. (see endnote 3)
4:00 PM: I do my dishes.
4:11 PM: I leave with reusable bags to go to Sprouts at Broad and Washington. I’ve never been to Sprouts. It is snowing, which is very exciting.
4:21 PM: I enter Sprouts after struggling to find a shopping cart. Incredibly hostile energy at Sprouts. I think 65% of the people there were Instacart shoppers which is not an issue but it’s weird in that Sprouts seems to be a Whole Foods with less selection designed for gig economy personal shoppers to deliver to the people who probably don’t go grocery shopping themselves to know that Whole Foods is an infinitely better shopping experience all around. That’s not even saying much. There are also more people with crust punk jackets than Whole Foods usually has. It’s a little too hot inside. They don’t have garlic. Their fish looks sad. They only have chicken wings and not any other kind of chicken. I get maybe 80% of what’s on my list. The self-checkout machine blinks red when I select that I have non-organic green onions because they do not stock non-organic green onions so I must be lying. I am. I select organic green onions and the machine stops blinking red. Cost: $195.69. (see endnote 2) The first grocery run after moving is always the worst.
5:03 PM: I leave Sprouts feeling worse than when I entered, even though I’ve eaten.
5:15 PM: I arrive home and put away my groceries. Tyler and Sara are playing chess and the Bills-Steelers game is on the TV. The Bills are up 10 to nothing.
5:35 PM: I sit down with Tyler and Sara and type this up from the notes I’ve been taking. I do a little writing and sort through my emails. I sign a contract with a publisher for my short story collection. I chug a few cups of water.
7:15 PM: I go upstairs to get changed to go watch the Eagles game at my friend Pat’s house. I say I’m going to do this. I text my mom and sister and Veronica and Josh instead.
7:35 PM: I finally get changed for the Eagles game. (see endnote 5). I toss two cans of Genessee from the fridge into my bag.
7:58 PM: I load $20 onto my SEPTA key card. I know you can use your Apple Pay or card now but I still like the key card because it helps me track how much I spend. I had $6.64 left on the card before I loaded it again. Cost: $20.00. (see endnote 2)
7:59 PM: I leave home to walk to the Broad Street Line. It’s pouring snow. I love snow. A huge perk of living in Utah was the constant, copious quantities of snow. I read somewhere, maybe two weeks ago, that Philadelphia hadn’t gotten over an inch of snow in 705 days. This is probably the first inch of snow in 720-ish days, now. I walk past a women’s shelter on Washington and talk to two women smoking outside. One of them has never seen snow before.
8:09 PM: I board the BSL going southbound at Ellsworth-Federal Station.
8:12 PM: I exit the BSL at Tasker-Morris Station and walk to Pat’s down Broad. I think that I’m actually going to have to shovel the sidewalk in front of my house. I don’t own a shovel.
8:18 PM: I arrive at Pat’s. Alexei, Sommer, Andrew, and John are there as well. Mike shows up closer to 8:45.
8:21 PM: I crack open one of the Genessees. (see endnote 3) The Eagles play like God has forsaken them. I text my extended family about the game and Veronica, who is at a bar of angry fans (but aren’t we all?).
9:00 PM: My boss sends me a message on Microsoft Teams that I don’t have to commute to New York tomorrow because of the snow. I thank her and tell her I will be in the office on Thursday. I cancel my Amtrak ticket and get $88 refunded to my card, before booking a Thursday ticket for $74. Cost: net $14.00. (see endnote 2)
10:02 PM: The Eagles season is over and it’s just halftime, but I’m tired and hungry again and leave Pat’s to go home. I consider picking up dinner somewhere but it’s too cold and late to go out of my way and I want a vegetable.
10:10 PM: I board the BSL at Tasker-Morris.
10:11 PM: I exit the BSL at Ellsworth-Federal.
10:20 PM: I arrive home and Tyler tells me he is going to bed. I say goodnight and tell him I’m going to cook my first dinner in our new kitchen.
10:29 PM: I start cooking. I was thinking about making pasta carbonara but wanted a vegetable or two. I also considered kimchi udon but I didn’t have some key ingredients. In the end, I relied mostly on what was in my pantry and made a spicy tomato risotto with kalamata olives, tinned mussels, and broccolini greens.
Recipe: Spicy tomato risotto with kalamata olives, mussels, and broccolini greens
Ingredients:
1 cup arborio rice
1 14.5oz can diced tomatoes with their juice
1 ½ cup vegetable broth
½ onion, diced
1 shallot, diced
Smoked paprika, Aleppo pepper, and dried oregano to taste (I really just eyeballed these).
3 tbsp tomato paste
½ cup white wine
Kale, broccolini greens, spinach, whatever leafy green you’ve got on hand, torn up.
ÂĽ cup pitted and sliced kalamata olives
Juice from a lemon
Grated parm
Patagonia Provisions lemon herb mussels
Black pepper
Parsley
Salt
Pepper
In a small saucepan on low heat, combine the diced tomatoes and vegetable broth. Bring to a simmer and lower heat to keep warm.
Heat olive oil on medium heat in a pot. Cook onion, shallot, and seasonings until translucent. Add tomato paste and combine everything together, cooking until tomato paste is darker in color. Season with salt and pepper.
Pour in the arborio rice and combine. Toast the rice for 2-3 minutes. Don’t let it burn.
Deglaze the pot with white wine. Stir in the rice and simmer until the wine is absorbed.
One cup at a time, pour in the warmed tomatoes and vegetable broth. Stir the risotto frequently. After the liquid is absorbed, add another cup. Repeat this until the risotto is cooked through and all of the liquid is used up. Salt to taste.
Remove from heat. Grate parm over the risotto (not too much. Maybe ÂĽ cup or less). Mix in the greens, olives, and half of the tin of mussels. Squeeze lemon juice over everything.
Plate and garnish with more mussels, lemon-herb oil from the tin, black pepper, and chopped parsley.
11:09 PM: Dinner is ready. (see endnote 3). I eat and doomscroll Twitter. Josh texts me videos of his Carley and Andrew (his roommates) and their puppy, Dog Simpson II, outside in the snow for the first time in Dickinson Square. She doesn’t know what to make of the snow and I envy her. I also want to go stroll around Dickinson Square with Josh, but he’s going to bed. He tells me to come over for dinner tomorrow night if I’m not going to New York. The three of them are making beef roast and mashed potatoes. I tell him I will be there and that I love him like I love to cook and to sleep well.
11:29 PM: I get a Wall Street Journal notification that Vivek Ramaswamy has dropped out of the presidential race after bombing in the Iowa Caucus. I immediately text my friends in Washington, D.C.
11:45 PM: I eat a sumo mandarin orange for dessert and a little extra vitamin C. These oranges are stupid expensive but they really are good and feel like a nice treat. (see endnote 3)
11:50 PM: I do my dishes.
Technically we are onto Tuesday by the time I lock the doors, turn off the lights, and head upstairs to bed.
Endnotes
Distance. Total miles walked: 4.4. Total steps: 9,663. Locations of houses are blurred out on the Strava map for privacy.
Costs: $13.50 at Herman’s. $88.00 (returned) and $74.00 at Amtrak. $195.69 at Sprouts Farmers Market. $20.00 to fill SEPTA card. Total: $303.19. I do not usually spend nearly this much in a day; grocery and weekly Amtrak costs are not always this much.
What I ate: Herman’s espressogrino. Conservas Cabados tinned scallops in Galician sauce. Three leftover latkes with some sour cream. ¾ can of Genesee. Risotto. Sumo orange. Water.
Shower and skincare: Biolage HydraSource Shampoo. Mane And Tail Conditioner. Dr. Bronner’s tea tree bar soap. CeraVe Hydrating Foaming Oil cleanser. Aquaphor lip balm. Paula's Choice Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant. Embryolisse Lait-Crème Concentré face cream. Avène Soothing eye cream.
Outfits: Left Josh’s house in TJ Maxx leggings, an American Apparel rugby polo, platform UGGs, Hanes crew socks, and my BCBG Max Azira parka. My photographed outfit: secondhand knit dress from Philly Aids Thrift. Shorts and tank top underneath from TJ Maxx. Fleece tights from H&M given to me by a bike messenger friend a few years ago. Uniqlo knee socks. Secondhand Miu Miu boots. BCBG Max Azria parka. Burberry scarf from TheRealReal. Earmuffs from Sitka Fur Gallery in Park City, Utah. L.L. Bean canvas tote bag. Eagles game outfit: same socks and shoes, black Aerie leggings, sweater my mom got me that says GO BIRDS on the chest, kelly green and white letterman jacket that says GO BIRDS on the back from the Christmas Village market.
Other Data
Songs I listened to today, in order:
Hold by Feeble Little Horse
Damaged Goods by IDLES (cover of the Gang of Four track)
For Tomorrow by Protomartyr
Crushed Barley by Water From Your Eyes
Modern Business Hymns by Protomartyr
Natural Devotion by Spirit of the Beehive
Eightball by They Are Gutting A Body Of Water
For Kaye June 6 by The Microphones
Safe in Your Skin by Title Fight
Melancholia by Computerwife
Woohoo (“what if” mix) by Fleshwater
Uncle Mother’s by Protomartyr
Soft to Touch by Narrowhead
In Dreams by cursetheknife
All Google searches, in order:
12am lamar odom overdose brothel
12:13am new york craigslist
12:37am marilyn hartman
12:45am the curse
9:52am brunei
10am brunei prince wedding
10:04am pahrump nevada
10:17am tim ballard
2:35pm pgw
2:35pm call pgw
3:45pm produce in season january
3:51 sprouts farmers market meat
5:51 github
5:53 interactive pdf embed
6:53pm conservas cabados scallops
8:31pm hugh grant
8:37pm eagles record
9:10pm amtrak lounge moynihan
9:35 winter in sokcho
10:21 eagles
11:16 eagles
Device usage:
Screen time: 2 hours 50 minutes
Social: 1 hour 31 minutes (X/Twitter, Instagram, Facebook)
Utilities: 54 minutes (Chrome, Amtrak)
Productivity: 5 minutes (Photos)
208 phone pickups
401 app notifications
176 messages
103 X/Twitter
28 Outlook
23 Gmail
17 Messenger
10 Substack
6 BeReal
4 Health
4 Teams
4 Reddit
3 Wall Street Journal
2 Facebook
2 LinkedIn
2 Venmo
1 phone call
Posting
7 Instagram stories on personal account
2 Instagram stories on cooking account
1 Instagram post on cooking account
9 tweets (7 original posts, 2 retweets)
1 BeReal
Other
Photos taken: 40 (12 are screenshots)
What’s in my bag: Koss Porta Pro headphones, notebook, fingerless gloves, grocery list, a copy of Earth Angel by Madeline Cash, two hair ties, Ray Ban sunglasses, Extra spearmint gum, Hestia cigarettes, wintergreen 3mg Zyns, two lighters, two 3.5mm aux to iPhone converters, Airpods (dead), Besame lipstick in 1970 Chocolate Kiss, a single Gin Gins ginger chew, wallet (inside: ID, debit card, credit card, SEPTA card, insurance card, library card, $2 in bills, change), three pens (Pilot G2, Muji .38 from Josh, Sarasano size 3), tube of Weleda Skin Food Lip Butter, Starbucks gift card envelope (no gift card), FSA card, hair clip, USB-A to USB-C converter, keys, assorted change, two receipts (Sprouts and Lenwich from work in NYC last week), random piece of wood I found on our doorstep.
Audrey Lee is a full-time technocrat and part-time writer. She has lived in South Philly for two and a half years and before that was in Park City, UT, Lancaster, PA, and Newtown Square, PA. Her first collection of short stories, AMERICAN GIRLFRIEND is forthcoming from Bullshit Lit in 2025. She archives her cooking on her Instagram @heardchefyeschef, her little life on @eternallyonline, and her better theories on X/Twitter @tinndfishmonger, and her writing at www.audreymorganlee.com
