Joie Wood

I wanted to be a part of this project, so I DM’d the “A Year in Philadelphia” Instagram sometime around midnight. This morning I woke up to a message from them offering me today because someone dropped out at the last minute. Today is my day. It was already 10am so I had to move fast.

10am

I hop in the shower and think about what I will do with this day. Yesterday was such an amazing day. I ran all over the city yesterday, did a million things, saw people, went to a show, how could I top it? I have zero plans for today. Will I have the energy to have an interesting day? Before I got out of the shower I decided I would drift through the day like a leaf down a river.

11am

I call my sister to see if she’ll meet me at our usual breakfast spot. I hop on my bike and make my way over. When I arrive, my roommate Tim, and his girlfriend Rana are at the bar eating. What a lovely surprise.

1pm

After breakfast, my sister wished me luck with my day and we part ways. I hop in my car and head over to West philly for a market my friend Brarnold is vending at. I walk up to his booth and a lot of the fellas are there. We goof around, I buy a coat, we walk to grindcore for coffee, Devin and I get an ice cream, a girl calls me cute. Today is shaping up nicely.

4PM

After laying on a blanket in Clark park for a while, I decided it's time to make the next move for the day. My dad plays saxophone in a wedding band. He plays in Philly nearly every week. His band is playing at the crystal tea room tonight and he is over there sound checking right now. I made him aware of this project and he wanted to be a part of my day so I decided to stop by and say hi to him. Devin and I hop in my car and make our way towards Center City.

5PM

Devin and I say bye to my dad and head back to my house in South Philly. We need to recharge so we order delivery to my place and watch some tv for an hour or so.

630PM

We head to the Delaware river for the sunset. It's one of my favorite things to do in the city.

730PM

Devin and I spend a lot of time together. We practically spent this entire day together. He’s one of my best mates. After walking around down at the river, we make our way down to South Street to meet up with some more fellas. We chill at Nocturnal skate shop for a bit, walk around with Noah, and get some snacks.

10PM

We met up with Malcolm for a party in Point Breeze where we didn’t really know anyone. There were some beautiful people there though. It was funny, we didn’t stay too long.

12PM

By this point we are pretty exhausted, however we need to keep pushing. Malcolm, Devin, and I head to Ulana’s for our friend, Ivy2’s record release party. All of the homies are there. So many friends, old, and new. We party in the club for a bit and then Devin and I walk back to his place.

2AM

We get back to Devin's house and I say goodbye to him. The day ends just how it began, me riding my bike. On my ride back to my house I reflect not only on today, but my year in Philly. 2024 has been one of the best years of my life. I love this city, I’m really glad to be a part of it again. When I was a kid I always dreamed of living the life I am living right now. I am doing almost exactly what 15 year old me wanted 30 year old Joie to be doing. Some pieces are missing, I’ve been missing someone, it's not perfect, but I'm trying my best.

I hope you are trying your best.

Joie Wood is a Grip and Electric in the Motion Picture Industry. He is also a drummer, a painter, and a chiller. He can be found on instagram @theundertaker90 or riding his bike around the city.