Saturday, December 31, 2016

December

1: when your shirt inexplicably smells like cookies
2: Middlebury fall dance concert
3: nitpicky alphabetizing the shelves in the children's section
4: jackpot of finding a (valid one day only) video upload of Hamilton
5: short conversation with a stranger sparked from an inquiry about what I was writing in my journal
6: that flutter in your chest when you run into someone about whom you dreamed the night before
7: when John and Yoko are referenced in your psychology textbook
8: when two people who have only communicated through sign hear each other's voices for the first time
9: finishing up two of the semester's four classes
10: meeting with other sign language learners at a deaf coffee social
11: a short and sweet kids' novel as a reprieve from finals work
12: tea with your suitemate
13: bartering textbooks for Christmas gifts at the school bookstore
14: filming an ASL song interpretation with the club
15: channeling my loneliness and yearning into creative writing
16: banter and chat with my work family
17: the possibilities of shipping containers
18: chocolate and Netflix for dinner
19: being in-transit home
20: Patch's back-home bath and spa day
21: family viewing of It's a Wonderful Life at the theater
22: my brother's genuine interest in helping me build my tiny home
23: choral Christmas tunes on the radio
24: dismantling the rundown playhouse and salvaging some wood
25: Christmas Lego and gingerbread construction
26: a nature show about penguins
27: a YA novel about parallel universes
28: an afternoon of board games
29: the camaraderie between a friend and your family
30: pallet adventures in the broken-down car
31: low-key home-alone cider-and-Netflix New Year's Eve

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

November

1: putting together & listening to different playlists on Spotify
2: when your family sends you a flashdrive with a playlist of songs played at a concert you couldn't attend
3: constructing a memory palace to remember the molecular intermediates in cellular respiration
4: elders reacting to modern slang
5: leaves suspended, as if frozen, in the still night air
6: Breaking Bad as a conversation starter
7: getting into a steady rhythm at the lab bench
8: commiserating with classmates about election anxiety
9: a chubby lil squirrel eating stolen food on top of a garbage can
10: finding the practice rooms
11: Middlebury College fall orchestra concert
12: looking at land on Craigslist during work
13: stopping at the corner café on a day trip to Rutland with Mom
14: "Landing Cliffs" by Explosions in the Sky
15: after hours in the laboratory
16: when you're reminiscing about old times with a friend and your friend spontaneously texts you
17: wandering the labyrinth of halls in the dorm
18: sneaking into a classroom and sitting at the professor's desk to do homework
19: lying in the grass and enjoying the last of the sun's warmth before winter
20: finding out one of your favorite books is being made into a movie
21: first New England snow
22: airport dinner of an über-spicy savory crêpe
23: trekking through the muddy woods with rambunctious cat 'n' dog hiking pals in tow
24: contributing to my first vegan Thanksgiving feast
25: going out to see a small local theater company production of A Christmas Carol
26: riding a unicycle with the innovative help of ski poles
27: that state of being asleep where you can still hear the music/radio that's playing but it's still a challenge to fully wake up
28: breath freezing in the sunshine
29: updates about the family pets I visited this Thanksgiving
30: learning about personality psychology

Monday, October 31, 2016

October

1: analyzing how my college stories compare to my actual college life
2: first day on the work-study job
3: figure-out-the-family-tree game at ASL club
4: care package of vegan goodies
5: "chatting" at the language table
6: when a classmate gets excited about and praises a mythological description as a metaphor in a poem
7: tattooing myself with the library due date stamp
8: chillin' in PJs and eatin' snack food while doing homework
9: the busy-work of withdrawing DVDs from the library collection
10: fall valley views from the top of the science building
11: the absolute soothing calm of Gregory Alan Isakov
12: lying in the shade of a solar panel
13: strolling through a light drizzle while everyone else ducks under umbrellas & races for cover
14: listening to the full Hamilton soundtrack for the first time
15: being an NYC tourist & crossing things off my bucket list
16: museum tour in ASL
17: tossing crumbs to the birds in Central Park
18: the homey-ness of putting a rug in your dorm room
19: a clicker-training game in psych class
20: a command from a teacher to participate in class in the form of a compliment about my fluency
21: speeding through writing an essay
22: a fellow Hamilton fan telling me about the PBS documentary
23: seeing snow on the mountain after a day of freezing rain
24: casting my first ever vote
25: reading while walking around campus, standing in line, eating, & waiting for class to start
26: when the dining hall cook especially makes vegan pancakes for you
27: a trilingual conversation buddy
28: initiating bike hibernation
29: bustling around the children's room in the library
30: a contemplative walk through the cemetery the day before Halloween
31: the aroma of green tea

Friday, September 30, 2016

September

1: "Join our fight for what's right / Let your heart be your guide" lyric from "Hero" by Pegboard Nerds feat. Elizaveta
2: packing up for college
3: wind turbines in west Texas
4: highway drive-by the St. Louis arch at 4 a.m.
5: unpacking and decorating my dorm room
6: crazy, hectic, ice-breaker square-dancing
7: gray walls, black roofs, and an indigo sky with stars overhead
8: finding common interests with acquaintances and strangers
9: behind-the-scenes tours and info about different renewable energy sources
10: harvesting potatoes
11: first call back home
12: the mesmerizing tumble of clothes in a dryer
13: epiphanies about your major and path of study while doing homework
14: the fleet of movable library shelves
15: curried quinoa with cauliflower
16: free Friday night movie: Finding Dory
17: piercing the bubble of the college dome and biking off-campus
18: obsession with new-to-me Tristam songs
19: checking out the ASL club
20: class dinner with the faculty heads of our commons
21: Balmorhea to do homework by
22: sending a picture of a tiny potato to my dad for his birthday
23: a beautifully mesmerizing tapestry
24: when my spirits lift from dejection into blissful giddiness upon entering a co-op
25: biking and walking the through-the-woods TAM
26: watching a group of people sign and trying to decipher their conversation
27: cranberry anadama bread
28: an unexpected invitation to hang out from an acquaintance
29: ordering food in ASL
30: "Trust in Me" by Direct, Mr FijiWiji, & Holly Drummond

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

August

1: baking vegan cheezy crackers
2: stories brewing in my head while storms are brewing in the sky
3: a failed attempt at solar cooking vegan cornbread (but an attempt nonetheless)
4: chilling in the garage to reread an old corny favorite novel
5: enjoying dinner and hanging out with a best friend
6: the premiere of Dimension
7: fancy all-cast farewell dinner
8: finally reading Pride and Prejudice ten years after being introduced to the movie
9: sharing sushi in Uptown
10: reverence for old favorites
11: inspiration after more than a year of writer's block
12: the banter between Beatrice and Benedick
13: the simple love between a boy and his robot
14: experimenting with long exposure night shots
15: playing with action figures in a tiny tiny house
16: when you feel so heartbroken for a character you shed a tear onto the page of your book
17: the Masterpiece and BBC mini-series production of Jane Eyre
18: throwback to the first Maná song I ever heard
19: inscribing Sharpie rune tattoos on my skin
20: some new Bad Lip Readings
21: Shakespeare Retold's Much Ado About Nothing
22: being able to read long passages of a Spanish novel without a dictionary
23: dancing and bopping to "Adventure Time" by Rogue
24: an evening ramble around the neighborhood
25: finishing De amor y de sombra
26: the hardcore insults in BBC's Pride and Prejudice
27: tea and a British mini-series
28: Black or White
29: the simple focus and meticulosity of sewing
30: the heartfelt resolution of Persuasion
31: when your mom hears a band for the first time and guesses their hairstyles without ever having seen them

Sunday, July 31, 2016

July

1: pedaling fast through a breezy drizzle
2: eating a Taco Bell bean and rice burrito between takes and stashing it in my back pocket during filming
3: the beauty and serenity at evening in a mountain basin
4: sitting on a retired ski slope and viewing the plains below
5: little interactions with each of my cousins
6: playing in the pool and talking with your friend's little brother at a party
7: jumping back into filming the Groovy movie
8: showing Mom Honest Trailers and Cinema Sins videos
9: stalking a friendly stray mama dog that trotted off after some passers-by, and said passers-by finding you and letting you know she's safe and sheltered in their home for the night
10: rewatching old Family Guy episodes and laughing at the jokes like you heard them for the first time
11: Impulse by Ellen Hopkins
12: watching old home videos and vlogs and laughing at your past self and childishness
13: Wuthering Heights by (director) Andrea Arnold
14: adventuring and getting lost in the desert wilderness
15: playing and mixing music for my short film soundtrack
16: when you spill water on the sidewalk and a lizard comes over to lap some up
17: getting hooked on Supernanny
18: recording a rant while riding a bicycle in the rain
19: return to playing driving games
20: filming the sunscreen fight
21: savoring the delectable "Foreigner Suite" in celebration of Cat Stevens' birthday
22: saddling a horse and naming him Heathcliff
23: The House of a Thousand Lanterns by Victoria Holt
24: scavenger house hunting
25: when the courtesy clerk is extra courteous
26: revisiting Rotary Park
27: beginning the boycott of the dishwasher
28: encouraging training at a doggy play-date
29: measuring, cutting, taping, then standing back to see phase one of the solar cooker building
30: spray-painting safety wear: bandanna and goggles
31: massaging a sugar brick into soft, crystalline submission

Thursday, June 30, 2016

June

1: wandering through the maze and mystery of Meow Wolf
2: impromptu evening game of darts
3: family movie outing to see Zootopia
4: compiling nine years' worth of poems and rediscovering some of your old ones
5: effectively channeling rage for a scene
6: cocooning myself in the hammock as stormy winds blow
7: bringing an unrealized short film to life as a Groovy Movie
8: waking up at dawn to film a sunrise scene
9: quinoa and kidney beans
10: flashback to the Minecraft Survival Games "Mortal Skies" map
11: Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
12: parents-out-of-the-house chill, laid-back hangout party with friends
13: journeying and finding #ChacoNation
14: all-day blue cloudless sky
15: Tru Love
16: Boy Meets Girl
17: dozing off in the hammock
18: opening up the movie: a filming day with extras
19: car-browsing and test-driving with Dad on Father's Day
20: True Sadness
21: randomly having an Oklahoma! song stuck in my head, then watching the Hugh Jackman stage production
22: riding my bike past the mailbox and dropping a letter in
23: a casual stroll in the pelting rain
24: Brickleberry
25: riding in and driving the new car
26: jamming with the SanDisk Clip Jam
27: vegan oatmeal cookies
28: naming Minecraft pets after characters from Les Liaisons Dangereuses
29: "Bang and Blame"
30: settling down to play some games on the tablet

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

May

1: a vegan spin on chicken noodle soup
2: vegan chocolate mousse
3: picking through Legos in rubber gloves
4: Mom's intro to vegan baking (and cookie deliciousness)
5: makeshift suspenders
6: vegan shepherd's pie for breakfast
7: building my third tiny house model
8: crafting the little kitchen unit
9: when Jane meets Mr. Rochester
10: when you're reading a book and your friend comes up and asks you what part you're at
11: popsicle-stick lap siding
12: joining the first and original Team Edward
13: painting Peachy, the tinny tiny house
14: friendly chats with neighbors you haven't talked to in years
15: laughing and joking about the polygon with the baez
16: the final scene of the Michael Fassbender and Mia Wasikowska Jane Eyre
17: hitting my knee on the corner of my bed and getting a serpentine, S-shaped scar
18: meandering around in the chilly, overcast afternoon with a recuperating friend
19: a quiet, secluded daisy patch behind the library
20: Bernie Sanders rally
21: visiting, critiquing, and judging a for-sale tiny house
22: confidences, and walking in the desert
23: family time and moments with friends on my birthday
24: birthday-gift suspenders
25: audible-collision, body-slam, charge-across-the-room-and-knock-you-down hugs
26: slideshow covering seven years (from sixth grade onward)
27: tablet-flip Envy laptop
28: my family adorning me with leis after the graduation ceremony
29: making graduation gifts
30: typing up an old manuscript
31: bosque bushwhacking with your bestie

Saturday, April 30, 2016

April

1: improvising breakfast of Orange Pekoe and a Luna bar
2: "Bunny and Hamster Love Video Compilation 2016"
3: analyzing the sexual tension and all the inter-tangled relationships in a short film
4: putting together a cinematic representation of a sonnet for a class project
5: writing a fanfic-style backstory scene for my short film character
6: rants and raves and obsession about a fanfic
7: ponderings about my racial place in society
8: tux fitting
9: Trainwreck
10: music that matches your emotional confusion
11: dreaming about not being able to fall asleep
12: reading old diary entries and being reminded of things you didn't even remember
13: little bro's writing evolution
14: "Phosphor"
15: when your friend makes you wear the flowered headband from the first day of school then steals it back from you right as you've gotten to enjoy it
16: pre-prom hangouts
17: the buttoned blue blouse that accidentally showed up in my laundry
18: interactions with other prospies at Middlebury
19: poetry slams and chats with students at the center for diversity and inclusivity
20: hiding under the sleeping bag to Kik your friend in the middle of the night
21: giddy excitement on my first day of projects
22: when your best friend shares his poetry with you
23: solar cookers and rainwater purification systems (and types of heating and cooking)
24: walking around barefoot and eating food at your friend's house like you live there
25: sketching tiny house interiors
26: marveling at compact fridges and mini microwaves
27: clomping around the house with one boot on
28: pinning up my college flag
29: a pre-model tiny tiny house
30: shed scouting

Saturday, April 2, 2016

March

1: letting Stanley free-range on the bed
2: filming for Dimension
3: the postmodern music presentation
4: "Immer Kleiner"
5: reading creepypasta for short story inspiration
6: chilling with the cast/crew between scenes and takes
7: a rekindling of best-friend intimacy through reminiscing and laughter
8: laughing my ass off at The Babadook
9: top 10 horror flicks and movies never to watch alone lists
10: filling up the beast for $26.26
11: silliness in our music club
12: method acting to experience the fear factor of a short story
13: excitement over filming a character's death scene
14: the happy, lilting, melodic middle passages of Concertino Op. 26 by Weber
15: "El hijo" and "The Evening and the Morning and the Night"
16: unexpected positive feedback on my short film
17: hanging out with your friends at the secret society
18: dragging in extras for the movie
19: watching roleplay videos with Reborn dolls
20: setting up his memorial by moonlight
21: commemoration and condolences
22: a communal veggie-Pop Chip obsession
23: kidnapping a friend and bringing him to class with you
24: finally getting the chance to sit and read a book
25: spring break brunch with the crew and hanging at a friend's house
26: Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List and Cheatin'
27: hours in a stupor watching rabbit, dog, and rat videos
28: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
29: buying a chair and minor room renovations
30: when a stranger accurately identifies and compliments Patch
31: busy admitted-student campus visit day

Monday, February 29, 2016

February

1: top-secret planning for our Valentine's Day vegan cooking party
2: listening to star songs by David Bowie for Imbolc 2016
3: nicknaming all the fish in the aquariums
4: Just for Laughs comedy skits from different comedians
5: playing with the "mini Pep Band" at the basketball game
6: August: Osage County
7: online window-shopping for vegan shoes
8: apologizing to a teacher you've wronged
9: my own personal pajama day
10: "all mountains are volcanoes"
11: playing Fire Boy and Water Girl with my bro for #ThrowbackThursday
12: visiting a college in winter
13: hotel room for one on the night before Valentine's Day
14: vegan food party with your bestie for Valentine's Day
15: vegan cake for breakfast
16: the devil's fruit
17: friends not letting friends go hungry at lunch
18: Stanley acting more like his normal self
19: Yann Tiersen's "Comptine d'un autre été"
20: finally getting to the main plot point of a book
21: dreaming of a future in Cape Breton (safe from Donald Trump and conservative America)
22: coming home to Mom-made vegan muffins after a longer-than-usual school day
23: NPR playing Balmorhea... twice in a row
24: one lunch before class and another lunch after class
25: being the homework messenger
26: when Senior Ditch Day is on opening night
27: the inscription on the Statue of Liberty
28: solving the NPR puzzle... twelve hours later
29: friends sneakily taking my camera (and figuring out how to work it)

Sunday, January 31, 2016

January

1: all my stuffed animals having a name and a story
2: reading through the YouTube comments section
3: the cashier saying you're beautiful and then winking at you
4: not failing my first Russian listening comp
5: vegan provolone-style slices on crackers
6: "Pig Powder"
7: pondering line astigmatism as a college research project
8: Stephan Pastis
9: timing a show on Netflix perfectly with the same show broadcasting on TV
10: low-key interview with a college alumna
11: David Bowie music marathon
12: ranting (in French) at the archaic questions in your 1983 French textbook
13: speaking French in a dream
14: Bo Burnham's "What."
15: when your teacher is curious about your being vegan
16: a random Saturday hang-out-be-weird-and-eat-food party
17: shopping spree for vegan stuff
18: reading a corny book about a single people's relationship makeover retreat
19: eyes newly open to sunrises, sunsets, and mountain majesty
20: my heart going out to a kid suffering playing-test anxiety
21: "Put on a Happy Face"
22: waking up at 3 am with one numb arm and shaking the feeling back into it
23: reclining movie theater seats
24: Stanley's suspicion of my Saturday night whereabouts
25: playing a wooden clarinet the band director got off Craigslist for cheap
26: when your friend makes vegan cookies for the crew
27: talking for two hours on the phone with your friend and coming up with a weird new language
28: the Crew going to Chipotle for lunch
29: ditching class to go see the devil fish
30: baking vegan cookies for the first time
31: Sunday lunch with Dad at Thai Vegan