Dani
7:50 AM
I wake up and check the time - I get up in a panic. I have 10 minutes before I have to clock in and thank gods I get to work from home today. I’m normally scheduled to come in later, they wanted my coworker and I to be able to clock out with everyone else at 5PM. And I am so excited to be done at 5PM - but less excited about rushing to log in. My bad for not setting an alarm.
9:15 AM
I’m unfocused. The Tizanidine I’m taking for my arm pain has me wishing I could curl up in bed and enjoy time in my room on this snowy day. Bask in the light coming through the window, like a cat. I feel so dry internally and the only thing that can save me (aside from water) is a good nap.
10:43 AM
The day is going by nice and slow which is fantastic. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it stays this way. The house is quiet as it usually is during the day, but my housemates are out of town for the holidays.
This is the second year in a row that I am not traveling home to Virginia for Christmas. Last year, it was due to COVID. This year, I made the decision 2 months in advance. I figured too many people asked off around that time and that it wasn’t worth putting in a request for it because I wasn’t going to get approved so late in the game. That’s what I told my family and they understood. “Work comes first” type of mentality.
Other people are sad for me because I “can’t” go home for the holidays, but I’m ecstatic I’m not going. Traveling is such a pain and I love my family, but Christmas isn’t anything exciting. All the kids are grown and I feel no connection to extended family. It’s okay though because Philly is home now and I have chosen family here.
12:05 PM
Early lunch. I do a pathetic shoveling of my sidewalk and stairs, then a sparse dusting of salt - just enough to walk through without slipping. I have to give the arm a break! There’s maybe not even an inch of snow and the sun is out. Maybe it’ll all melt come nightfall?
12:30 PM
I ask Dev if they want anything from the liquor store and show them blood tear look I see on Instagram. We’re watching Nosferatu later, which has been my BIG CHRISTMAS PLAN this year! I’m excited and I plan to dress a bit on theme.
I make it to the liquor store before it closes early. I can’t decide what to get. I think vodka then soju, remembering I had an open bottle already. I settle for a Jack’s Winter Apple Punch to share. ‘Tis the season!
1:00 PM
Clocked in just in time after what felt like the longest walk in the snow. I change into cozy pants as I type in Teams that I’m back. Hopefully the rest of the day goes fast so I can focus on cleaning my place a little.
5:05 PM
I’m off my last call of the day, which happens to be with a mentally unwell person calling from the psychiatric ward of a hospital. We get calls like these from time to time, and they often leave me rattled depending on the energy of the person. This man was calling seeking help leaving the hospital as they kept changing the discharge date. He claimed they were injecting him with something as part of an experiment.
I’m not going to lie - I can believe some of what these potential clients say because medical facilities still do mistreat their patients. But you’re coming to me frazzled expressing suspicion of being experimented on? With a prior history of mental illness? That doesn’t go over well in building a case.
I complete an intake with him for a medical malpractice, trying to capture as much as I can of what he’s saying. I know there’s nothing we’re going to do with this claim because he will be deemed an “unreliable source.”
What really leaves rattled is that he then passes off the phone to a buddy who is “waiting to speak to me.” I try to steer the conversation with this person to complete an intake like I did with the last client, but he gives me little information - once - and wishes me a Merry Christmas before ending the call. Defeated, I make not that I did not complete a full intake with this person for this reason.
I send my co-worker Moose an audio message about the whole situation. He had actually spoken to this client as well for a brief moment before patching him over to the intake department. We vent to each other about this interaction and others. I mention it to Dev some but tell them I’ll catch them up on it when they come over later.
5:38 PM
My arm is aching but I need to clean! My bathroom has been a mess for god knows long. And I have to cook a quick dinner I promised for myself and Dev, as a way of saving us money. Cleaning/cooking mode. At least hoping it’ll activate!
8:00 PM (approximately)
Dev arrives! I am just getting started on dinner - the rice has been cooking for just about 10 minutes and I’m just about to fry up this frozen Shiitake Chicken mix I got from Trader Joe’s. It’s honestly good timing.
I still have a whole stack of Jell-O shots that are over a week old, from my friend Emily’s birthday party. Dev helps me make a dent in the stack. We start with one to two and I shoo them from the kitchen to finish dinner.
Once we sit down to eat, I regale them with the story of the last client I spoke to on the phone. We have a few more Jell-O shots, a few laughs, a glass of Jack’s winter punch each. No glittery blood tears but we do some kind of bloody look and get ready to head out.
9:45 PM
On our way to the showing of Nosferatu! Two silly vampires on SEPTA. If you spotted us, congrats! I wish I’d gotten a full photo of our outfits but alas, taking more photos with friends when dressed up is a resolution for the coming year.
We definitely get to the theater too early but we catch all the previews. Nothing really draws our attention, except for the preview for 28 Years Later. I make a note to watch 28 Days and 28 Weeks before this comes out.
We share candy and chips that Dev brought and pull out - SURPRISE! Another Jello-Shot each to have as the theater darkens and the movie starts.
12:52 AM
Merry Crisis! We finally leave the theater. That was a LONG film, but worth it. The number one comment from us both in the span of two and a half hours was “freaky.” And not in the haunting, scary way. We meant like “what a bunch of freaks.” I don’t have to tell you more, the rest of the internet will spoil enough for you with all the memes.
In all seriousness, Lily Rose Depp really carried that film with her sensual and haunting performance. Bill Skarsgård as Count Orlok looked ridiculous the few times you saw him clearly; when you didn’t, he was unsettling as ever. My favorite comment from Dev regarding Count Orlok: “someone get my man an inhaler.” And I can’t end the entry without mentioning that this has been the Year of Willem Dafoe. I know there were several, but the only ones I can recall with Dev are Poor Things, Kinds of Kindness, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, and Nosferatu.
We head to Market & 12th to wait for our buses - we’re going in different directions. We chat for a bit, maybe just under 10 minutes, before we decide we’ll call a two-stop Uber.
When I get home, I cave and create a Letterboxd account to document my final thought on Nosferatu: “You mean to tell me a centuries-old creature brought on a cross-country plague for a suicidal, horny teenage girl?” Is that not every vampire romance ever?
****
Shout out to my darling Dev for coming to see this film with me. I wish our other friends would have been able to join us, but that’s just how the gingerbread cookie crumbles! You can follow them on IG at @devin.on.earth0416 and laugh at the silly memes they repost. We’ll be making Nosferatu jokes for weeks to come!
Shoutout also to my friend Julia Gwiazdowski, the Sappho of Philly, for encouraging me to write an entry for A Year in Philadelphia. Didn’t get to shoutout on my November 21st entry. Her IG is @atreenamedjulia and she is a wonderful poet, please follow her!
And a big thanks to Molly for letting me write a second post!
I can’t wait to spend another silly year in Philadelphia.
