Vanessa

7:02

Woke up and my first thought was that my nose is stuffy

Allergies have been kicking my butt the last week or so

Went back to sleep

11:00

In the shower I thought about an old crush who lives in a different city and felt guilty for thinking about him

11:36

Left with my housemate to go to the Farmer’s Market 

Felt depressed about nothing in particular once we got there 

She held my hand and we stopped to talk about shame and I felt much better

Got hit on by a person who was on the way to a rally

12:05

Ran into my housemate’s friend, retold the story of getting hit on and laughed about it!

12:28

Got home, sang and drank some water, made breakfast for myself

12:44

Ate! It was so good. Bagel from St. Viateur in Montreal, hard boiled egg, veggie sausage, roasted veggies and hummus

Collected these items from my day: a cap from a finished bottle of olive oil, a flower from a tree outside my house and the shells from the eggs I ate

12:52

The phrase “the miracle of cauliflower” came to my mind. It’s a versatile vegetable and can be totally inedible or delicious and fabulous, even revelatory! 

Then I thought about but did not listen to the song California by Chappell Roan 

12:57

My other housemate came home from breakfast 

The pot I boiled eggs in is still steaming

1:41

Remembered how many wonderful people love me and felt really happy and danced and sang to Montrose by Man Overboard 

1:46

Put away a ton of dishes and listened to Paranoid Android by Radiohead

Did dishes til 3, queued up a bunch of my favorite One Direction songs

3:05

Got the news that my best friend’s grandma died 

She texted the group chat we have with our other best friend 

Didn’t text back, called her immediately instead

Walked to Green Line to draw

3:46

Finished the above drawing I made of myself sleeping 

4:15 

Returned texts while sitting in the sun on my porch

Made soup!!!!!! Cabbage, carrot, onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric, curry powder, cumin, coriander powder, coconut milk, bouillon, noodles

5:45

Facetimed my parents

7:10

Checked emails on my laptop, got stressed about nursing school requirements and the future and time running out and whether or not I’m behind all of my friends

8:08

Continued to panic but then talked to my housemate and immediately felt better (the throughline of this day is that I talk to her about my problems and she always makes me feel better)

8:30

Arrived at Local 44 for dinner and drinks with a new friend 

It went really well 

I had a cheeseburger and a salad and we shared fries

I really like my life!!!

Vanessa is a black biracial poet, dancer, Kindergarten teacher, future midwife and proud New Jersey native. She has lived in West Philly for 4 years. She attended Headlong Performance Institute in 2019 and has performed work at fidget space, with the Leah Stein Dance Company and at the Fringe Theater. She reprinted her senior thesis as a poetry chapbook in 2021 and plans to release a new collection this year. She’s on instagram @ness_rose_