A Day in the Life: Paola Chen Li
2D Animator
New York
I get excited to wake up every day to drink a cup of coffee. I do this while checking the tasks I need to get done and the meetings that are scheduled for the day. Afterwards, I get said work done, attend the daily meetings, and get ready for the day.
This week I was craving avocado toast so I went out and bought a whole loaf of bread. And since bread dies fast (and I refuse to freeze it), I literally had bread in every single meal this week.
It was actually quite a fun challenge to try out different sandwich combinations!
It's "focus" time. I spend the majority of my day inside of After Effects. But I also tend to trackpad my way through Slack, Google Cal, Figma, and the occasional guitar sesh in between.
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/uk7b627p/production/a2537135fda77d512dbd9c38b524b2185466319b-2000x1600.png?w=600&q=95&auto=format)
Snack time, always. My roommate introduced me to this banana and peanut butter combo a couple of months ago and it has become my go-to snack ever since.
I'm forced to take a break from the screen when I see the sun bouncing around my room.
Lately, the weather has been quite unpredictable, with rain falling and sun shining… whenever. I've been wearing chunky sweaters paired with shorts — what weather is that outfit even suited for?
But on clear days, where I get to catch warm sunsets, I can't help but take a photo every. single. time. This has become part of my routine.
Around 6:30pm I log off and go work out. I usually do Ring Fit (on the Nintendo Switch) which a lot of people think of as a silly game so here are some shots of me exercising a “normal” workout — running.
This is my feel-good (but not good for my body) meal. Love me some noodles with bok choy and chili oil with a side of pork and vegetable mandu (dumplings).
I end my day with Duolingo (I'm studying Korean so that I can sing along to NewJeans) and one last jam before it all starts over again tomorrow.
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