Molly Gorelick
2:41 am, bed: I wake up at this ungodly hour, probably because I took a nap yesterday where I slept too deeply for daytime.
Now I do what I do every time I wake up in the middle of the night: attempt the crosswords I couldn’t finish last week (the full sizes, not the minis no offense). I already did the Monday yesterday when it came out at 9pm and am proud that I finished it in 5 minutes, 54 seconds. I find myself very disturbed by the new NYT word game app layout. The colors make me feel like I can’t read.
2:53 am: Finish last Tuesday’s crossword (9 minutes 22 seconds)
3:09 am: Give up on last Wednesday’s
3:11 am: Thursday is pissing me off, give up on last Thursday’s crossword then fall asleep
6:13 am: Decide to wake up even though my alarm is set for 6:30. I think I’m nervous to keep my diary today since this is my project and everything. I feel pressure to perform. Pablo was supposed to have today but asked if I could switch with him because he’s in Miami. God, I wish I was in Miami. I’m imagining myself in a cafe eating a guava and cream cheese pastelito and drinking a cafe Cubano……
Instead, I’m in cold Philadelphia going to get bloodwork done before I go to work. I have high cholesterol and a cardiologist I saw is very concerned about it (awwwww) (He even offered to put me on Ozempic! How chic!) and I want to leave myself enough time to do that and walk to work in West Philly from Queen Village.
6:15 am, my desk at which I never write, and instead use as a vanity: I do my skincare:
Ole Henriksen Banana Bright Vitamin C serum (would not repurchase)
Dieux Instant Angel Lipid Rich Moisturizer (would repurchase if I could get it off TikTok shop for $13 again) (embarrassing)
Innisfree Daily UV Defense SPF 36 Sunscreen (have repurchased and will continue to)
Then I get dressed. I’m wearing a Norma Kamali shirt I got from 2nd Street consignment, which is black with a white all-over design that looks like DNA or something, black Uniqlo pleated pants that look like knockoff Issey Miyake, and white Nike Air Rifts (the ones with the tabi toe).
I feel good. I feel like myself, which I don’t often feel when I get dressed for work. Today I look like I’m dressed for a Berghain-themed office happy hour. I put on a new perfume, Boy Smells’ Flor de la Virgen. These are the notes according to Fragrantica, the perfume database and one of my favorite websites to browse. I love anything a bit citrusy :
THEN I put on my makeup. I do my makeup after I get dressed so I don’t get makeup on my shirt.
The routine is as follows:
Elf Clear Brow Freeze (have repurchased, will continue to)
Bobbi Brown Vitamin Enriched Face Base (only bought it because I had a Sephora gift card, too expensive to justify, is literally just fine)
Milk Makeup Hydrogrip Primer (I decided to double up on the primers because I knew I’d be walking a lot and therefore sweating) (I think my mom got this for me a while ago, thanks mom!) (I like it but won’t repurchase bc I feel like there are comparable drugstore primers)
Tower 28 Tinted Sunscreen Foundation in shade Larchmont (probably will repurchase, really good everyday skin tint, don’t think I’ve tried one I like more, really like their concealer and lip gloss too)
Nars Soft Matte Concealer in shade Affogato (been using this to cover pimples for a decade at this point, have repurchased, lasts forever)
Fenty Beauty Contour Stick in shade Amber (this has lasted me so long idk when I’ll ever need to repurchase, but it’s great no complaints)
Laura Mercier Translucent Setting Powder (has lasted so long, not sure when I’d ever need to repurchase, so far away, can’t even think about it)
Saie Liquid Blush in shade Baby (a new purchase and I’m obsessed, I love a cool-toned pink, can’t stop wearing it, will repurchase if I ever use it all)
Essence Ice Ice Baby Eyeshadow Palette, the grayish shade (besides the horrible name I specifically wanted a dark blue eyeshadow for future nighttime looks and I only have baby blue. This palette was like $4. It does the job and the gray shade is a bonus.)
Maybelline Full Lash Bloom Mascara in Very Black or Blackest Black, unsure (this used to be my holy grail, I’ve bought it so many times, but it doesn’t feel as waterproof as it used to be. Maybe I didn’t buy the waterproof version. I will never buy a luxury brand mascara. That’s some sucker shit, no offense)
NYX lip liner in Natural for the outer part of my lips (NYX has always been my fav drugstore beauty brand. Their lip liners are good.)
Charlotte Tilbury lip liner in Pillow Talk for the inner part (would not rebuy, too expensive, not as good as NYX or MAC lip liners)
Sephora brand setting spray (are these things placebo or do they actually work? Would love to know.)
I pack my bag, go downstairs to pack my lunch (leftover turkey chili and quinoa and a cranberry raspberry Spindrift seltzer), realize my wallet is not in my backpack and is in fact in my tote bag because god forbid I use a backpack on the weekend! I go back upstairs and get my wallet and make sure I have my blood work paperwork. I somehow make SO much noise, trip over a metal side table, and mentally say sorry to my roommates.
7:06 am, outside: I leave my house and make my way to Labcorp. The sunrise is gorgeous. I take a moment to enjoy it because I’m never up early enough to see it. I think about how changing from a tote bag to a backpack has changed my life for the better.
7:24 am: I’m listening to NTS radio. I like the set that’s on because the DJ is playing Mary Lattimore. I save the episode.
7:28 am, Chestnut Street: I see a Tastykake truck and it feels like seeing a celebrity. I decide that this is a good Philly-centric omen for my Day in Philadelphia and take a selfie with it.
I took the bus to work all winter and I played this game with myself: whatever ad was on the side of the bus I was taking would be the omen of the day. For example, if I got on a bus with a Twisted Tea ad, I knew it was gonna be a good day. If I got on a Jawn Morgan bus, things didn’t look so great.
I think about my mom packing the Tastykake pies in my lunches as a kid. I always preferred the chocolate cupcakes with the thin layer of icing on top or the Kandy Kakes. The pies were a bit underwhelming. I remember not liking the crust, but who knows, since I haven’t had one in 15 years, probably. I wonder if they still come in the cute little boxes. I can’t remember which flavor I liked best. Probably cherry.
7:32 am, Labcorp waiting room: I arrive at Labcorp and pay my outstanding payment from last time–$30
7:43 am, in the chair at Labcorp: I listen to the phlebotomists talk about their sex lives and think about how, in general, it’s probably a good thing to know that the person taking your blood gets laid. Something about them not taking their pent-up energy out on my veins…
7:45 am: My phlebotomist has air pods in. This causes me some concern.
7:49 am, outside: All done. I only get one little thing of blood taken, which feels like a waste. If I have to show up, they might as well take a significant amount. I shouldn’t complain though because I tried getting bloodwork done a few months ago at Penn Presbyterian and got a call that I would have to come back in because they LOST my BLOOD. I told them I’ll only pay my copay when they find my blood. I have not heard back.
I eat one of the mini protein muffins I made yesterday so that I don’t pass out on my walk to West Philly. The muffin is so dry I start choking.
8:02 am, the entire length of Chestnut Street: Pick up the pace because I want to get to work by 8:30.
8:29 am, A Giant near my place of work in West: Buy “Sweetest Batch” blackberries because they are the most reasonably priced and plain oatmeal packets to keep at work for breakfast–$8.68
8:31 am, the office: I arrive, change my daily dog calendar over to today (my mom works at a bookstore and got it for me there), make oatmeal with some peanut butter and the blackberries.
8:40 am, my desk: Sit down, chug water, check email, check schedule, realize I want coffee
8:43 am, 7-11: Run next door and get a small coffee that I fill half with hazelnut and half with Colombia–$2.04
I like the cups at 7-11 because they’re insulated. I’m very particular about the vessels from which I drink my coffee. I prefer a mug for my black drip coffee and a plastic cup with a plastic straw (and lots of ice) for iced coffee. I hate the sippy cup lids for hot coffee so I take mine off and just drink from the cup.
Whenever I drink coffee, I feel like my mom. So I guess I feel like her between the hours of approximately 8am and 11am every day. She starts out every morning with a crossword (that she ALWAYS finishes, no matter the difficulty) and a pot of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee that she drinks black and insanely hot. She even has this plug-in heated coaster to put her mug on so she doesn’t have to keep getting up from her crossword to microwave it. She is a woman who knows what she likes and I respect it. I started drinking/preferring piping hot black coffee when I was maybe 13 or 14 because that’s how she drinks it. She said it would “put hair on your chest.” As a teenage girl, I didn’t really want that, but luckily I was smart enough to not take it literally.
I get back to the office and realize I’m locked out. Some coworkers arrive like 3 mins later and let me in
8:55 am, my desk: I get a text from Clare with the final flier for my Lot 49 poetry workshop in March. It looks so good! The theme of my workshop is “Fun and Games,” and this is perfect. I taught gen-ed undergrad English at Temple for a semester and two weeks in the final year of my poetry MFA program before my grad student union went on strike, and discovered that I really love teaching. I’m excited (and nervous!) to do it again, but in a more relaxed setting and with a “syllabus” of my own design. Anyway, Clare is incredibly talented. You should see her paintings (and commission her, just saying).
I read the Inquirer online and finally eat my oatmeal.
9:07 am: Send message to tomorrow’s A Year in Philadelphia person to remind them that their day is tomorrow
9:22 am: Send a report to my boss
9:54 am: Review program applications
10:20 am: Fani and I text about taking a weaving workshop together this spring. I remember to tell her that I can’t visit her in Greece next month since I have to “focus” on my “health.”
10:30 am: All staff Zoom meeting
10:54 am: Meeting ends, I answer more emails
11:07 am: I quickly publish A Year in Philly posts from last week. Will do the social media posts later. I hope the people who have yet to get their entries to me get back to me soon
11:15 am: Start making cold calls. People like to act like making cold calls is the scariest thing in the world and it really isn’t. It’s not like the people on the other end know me! Sometimes my voice gets raspy from all the talking and it sounds cute! I say “have a good one!” and most of the time I mean it! It’s honestly fine!
12:23 pm: The phone rings and the caller ID says “John Waters.” Either this is THE John Waters or this person’s parents don’t know any gay people
12:26 pm, the office kitchen: Microwave my chili and go find an outdoor table to eat at
12:39 pm, somewhere outside in West Philly: I text Ella about BBLs and decide it’s too cold to eat outside so I eat in the campus bookstore, eavesdrop, and read “Hannibal Lecter, My Father” by Kathy Acker
12:47 pm, campus bookstore: I get an official-looking snow emergency text but realize it’s from Boston, where I definitely do not live. I try to unsubscribe. I eat a protein mini muffin for dessert.
1:19 pm: Head back to the office
1:30 pm, my office: More emails, more phone calls
1:34 pm: My 4pm meeting gets canceled, realize I forgot to do the A Year in Philadelphia social media posts, will do when everyone from last week gets me their entries
1:55 pm: My dad texts saying that he’s in Princeton and asks if I want anything from Labyrinth Books on Nassau Street. What a treat! I used to go there all the time in high school as soon as I got my driver’s license. I thank him and tell him that I’d like “anything that looks super weird” but then I feel bad for being so vague when he’s doing something so nice for me and give him some names of publishers I like.
2:31 pm: Feeling anxious (still making phone calls)
2:39 pm: Get another Boston snow emergency text (still making phone calls)
3pm, my boss’s office: Go to my weekly meeting with my boss
3:45 pm: Meeting ends
4:08 pm, my office: My dad texts again asking if I want any John McPhee books. He and I both love John McPhee. It makes sense that Labyrinth has lots of John McPhee books since he grew up in Princeton, went to Princeton, and then taught at Princeton. He’s kind of a New Jersey icon. He’s like if Bruce Springsteen wrote creative nonfiction. Wikipedia makes it seem like McPhee still teaches, but it also says that he’s 92 years old. If I’m still working at age 92 someone reading this needs to send their great-grandchildren to put a hit on me, or at least move me to a beach.
I say yes to the John McPhee books and ask if they have My Emily Dickinson by Susan Howe. He says they do but they can’t find it and that they have other Susan Howe books. I say I’ll be happy take a different Susan Howe book.
4:30 pm: Leave work. My dad texts again and says that he’s concerned about the SEO for the A Year In Philadelphia website. “Weird stuff comes up when you Google it.”
I thank him.
4:38 pm, Chestnut Street just over the bridge out of West Philly: I see a good license plate and wonder if this person works in forensics or is just really into Criminal Minds.
4:58 pm, the MAC store: Buy lipliner in the shade Stone–$19.44
5:14 pm, random pharmacy in the building where I used to have my dermatology appointments when I was on Accutane: Pick up retinol from a pharmacy that’s not my usual pharmacy, but for whatever reason retinol is treated like a controlled substance and they won’t send it to my normal pharmacy–$7.50
I start to worry because I don’t think I’ll get back south in time to pick up my contacts before the eye doctor closes.
5:20 pm, 6th and Chestnut: Someone asks me how to get to Market Street. I point north and say “just keep going up.” I like when people ask me for directions because it makes me feel like I look like I know what I’m doing.
5:33 pm, 6th somewhere below South Street: I walk past Little Fish like I do almost every day, and like I do almost every day, say to myself “I really need to eat there some day.” I drop my phone on the sidewalk in a way I can only describe as “violent.” I think it’s ok
5:42 pm, eye doctor in South Philly: Arrive in time to pick up my contacts!!!–$145
$145 is crazy because I don’t even think I want to see anything that badly, really
5:46 pm, home: Immediately start making dinner because I want time to digest before yoga. There’s nothing worse than going upside down into a downward dog right after eating. Been there.
My food ends up being so sad that I’m withholding it from this write-up. Sorry! Just know that it involves egg whites and cottage cheese and I don’t think anyone would want to know more after that.
I haven’t been to a yoga class in a while and I’m excited because this one is a restorative class, my favorite. A nice one for easing back into things, since the majority of the class is spent laying down, but you still get to brag to your coworkers that you went to yoga class.
6:05 pm: Sit down to eat and chat with Malinka and Khaylae. This is our third year living together and we will be parting ways (amicably!) when our lease is up. We met through a Facebook roommate search group and have lived so well together. Our original fourth roommate was the person who brought us all together via that Facebook group and that is the only nice thing I can say about her. Our current fourth roommate is Ella, my friend of 12 years.
I somehow convince Malinka and Khaylae to come to yoga with me by telling them about how it’s restorative yoga not sweaty yoga and I’m thrilled!
6:23 pm: I make a little ice cream sundae with microwaved frozen raspberries, choc chips, vanilla bean Halo Top “ice cream,” and freeze dried strawberries. I think they changed the Halo Top recipe because it tastes less chalky than it used to. I refer to it as my “diet ice cream” because I think it sounds glamorous and also because that’s literally what it is. Even though it has way fewer calories than real ice cream, I’m not sure if it has less cholesterol. I’ll check tomorrow.
I scroll TikTok while Malinka and Khaylae get ready for yoga. My favorite accounts are anyone putting together those Miniverse resin food items and the Dungeons and Dragons guy who rolls dice to make randomly-generated sandwiches. Then I get ready for yoga.
7:20 pm, yoga studio: Arrive at yoga
8:37 pm: Leave yoga feeling restored! The class is donation-based and I Venmo the instructor $10. It’s raining outside. Malinka, Khaylae and I walk home.
8:55 pm, home: Shower
9:22 pm, desk/vanity: Do my skin care routine and remove my contacts, which is difficult because I have fake nails on right now. Remind myself that I want to get some of those little contact plunger things I’ve seen on the Internet so I don’t gouge my eyes out.
I love having acrylic nails and I will only tell you where I get my nails done if you ask suuuuuper nicely because I arrived at my current and most favorite place through lots of trial and error. For example, I once went to a nail salon where I got the ugliest manicure of my life, paid a billion dollars for it, and then was forced to do Rihanna karaoke (“Umbrella” if you must know…) in a pedicure chair while my nail tech filmed it for Instagram Live. Obviously I still tipped 20%.
9:28, bed: I go to type this out but first I book a facial for next Saturday at a place Blithe recommended after I crowdsourced on Instagram yesterday–$50 deposit.
I did Accutane like three years ago and it sucked so much. If you’re a person with a uterus and you want to go on Accutane you have to take regular pregnancy tests because if you get pregnant while on Accutane, the meds will give your fetus a cone head (among other issues). I once forgot to buy a pregnancy test in time for my telehealth appointment and my dermatologist said he wouldn’t give me my meds without one. I tried to tell my him, “if I get pregnant I’ll just get an abortion!” He said, “Well American healthcare doesn’t work that way,” so I sent him the first Google Image result for “negative pregnancy test” and got my meds. Covid lockdown-era telehealth appointments ruled. Anyway, I’m 26 now and still have acne, so I’ve decided to explore the pampering route.
10:32pm: Decide I’m finished typing this for the night–I’ll edit tomorrow.
10:33pm: elliott texts the poets group chat with a sweet line from one of their student’s poems that they say they think I’ll enjoy. I do.
10:36pm: Take my meds, remember that I want to go to the All Out for Rafah protest tomorrow
10:41pm: Try to decide if I’d rather watch my favorite influencer, Remi Cruz’s new Youtube video, or Season 1 episode 2 of Vanderpump Rules (I just started, I’m so late I know). I’ve been watching Remi’s Youtube vlogs for so long. I love her because she’s so normal. She will never know what it’s like to attend a Philly basement poetry reading. I think the video of her engagement to her now-fiance was sponsored by BetterHelp. I fill up my humidifier while I decide what to watch.
10:45pm: Decide to watch Remi’s video because it is only 16 mins long and hopefully I will be tired after those 16 mins.
10:50: Remi is bringing us along to her first voice acting gig. She is at Nickelodeon Studios and shows us a giant Lego Spongebob statue.
11:03pm I do tomorrow’s crossword and go to sleep.
Total steps walked: 17,693 (or 8.5 miles)
Molly Gorelick is a writer who makes phone calls for a living. She has lived in Pennsylvania for her whole life and in Philly for 4 of those years. She is the person behind the A Year in Philadelphia project. She loves the Cy Twombly room at the art museum.
