November

1: Storming the Wall (reading about border protection and climate change)
2: the surreal cycle of drifting into a dream state then "waking" back into the present
3: pulling my post-shower corkscrew curls into a little top ponytail
4: my classmates' funny PSA skits
5: "Petrified" by DROELOE capturing my current state
6: "a nice long heart-to-heart chat"
7: this text exchange: "First snow! ❄😊" - "💙 it's beautiful"
8: watching a middle-aged golden retriever chase a ball and flop for a belly rub in the snow-covered grass
9: hoarding leftover food from an unattended event #freegan
10: the new Green Eggs and Ham Netflix original as a decent distraction from homework and toxic thought spirals
11: desahogándome with a friend (and sad-laughing about shared shitty experiences)
12: the lit club reading, discussing, and seemingly enjoying a short story I suggested
13: a little gurgling stream in the midst of snow-covered cattails
14: playing Overcooked with the Xenia squad and laughing until my stomach hurts
15: nostalgia from listening to the Traveling Wilburys
16: "getting wasted" & watching Bojack Horseman
17: watching Avatar: The Legend of Korra over Sunday Night Dinner
18: pumping myself up with some sick new Stonebank
19: "Loneliness" by Kurzgesagt
20: revamping The Misfits (i.e., channeling life events into a new story adapted from previously-written characters)
21: a window in the shower stall to look out over Battell Beach from the fifth floor
22: laughing and talking with (mostly new, some familiar) people at gayme night
23: Once Upon a Goat
24: the haunting transcendence of "Videotape" slowed down 800%
25: embracing the unprecedentedly warm weather and walking around outside the library, stumbling upon the Garden of the Seasons mini-sculpture/labyrinth park
26: social networking (i.e., my aunt) potentially getting me a leg up for a job application
27: commiserating, catching up, reminiscing, and road-trip planning with my bestie
28: hella nostalgic yet timeless vibes of "You Won't See Me"
29: the Q&A community supper
30: blog posts and other online resources answering the question "how to know if you're ready to start dating"

October

1: Carolyn Finney coming to guest-lecture and discuss with our class
2: Bloom (the graphic novel)
3: reading the campus newspaper over breakfast
4: chatting with my advisor
5: hanging 'til 5 am
6: completing my back2back2back playlist project
7: running into Jim at work while on a last-minute-cover shift
8: a friend inviting me to his art studio
9: revisiting the Spanish house to watch a Chilean fim
10: overwhelmed in-awe wanting to cry at the beautiful fall mosaic of the landscape
11: Yoe Mase "Homeless"
12: side job at work: preparing the Halloween glove craft
13: brunch + chillin' with alum pals on homecoming weekend
14: breakaway work outside turning into conversation with classmates
15: my lil bro becoming a grown college boi
16: justified YouTube time (after finally finishing my readings for class)
17: being selected as the unsuspecting subject of the professor's thought experiment
18: hoarding a bunch of mini rubber bands from work
19: unexpectedly running into my friend at the airport and sitting together on the plane
20: (morning sun through) forest fog & little galloping goats
21: tramping along the creek
22: the eerie fields
23: rolled-cuff skinny jeans over boots aesthetic
24: the Genderbread person
25: learning about habit formation
26: return to chillstep mixes
27: lo-fi/hip hop while doing homework together in my room
28: a tender moment with Princess Carolyn (Bojack Season 6) making me cry
29: burnt orange late-fall leaves
30: watching a recorded lecture and recognizing some of the (now) alums asking questions during the Q&A
31: wandering near the creek and stumbling across the high school

September

1: Wild Youth & the remixes
2: a new sticker collage on my laptop
3: elegant language making something even more humorous
4: the ridiculous anonymizing of already-wacky characters in the "Bobo the Angsty Zebra" episode of BoJack Horseman
5: moping around Target
6: baking myself some cheezy nooch crackers as a plane snack
7: saying hello again to Midd after so long away
8: the new plantmilk dispensers in the dining hall
9: the entertainment of a classmate who's overly outspoken on the first day
10: having my mind blown by basic, intro linguistics
11: biking down Exchange Street to go to the farmer's market
12: being the unsung hero of sign language club at the student activities fair
13: mindful contemplation at the creek's edge
14: eating at the co-op after work
15: free laundry
16: class at the Knoll (& breaks to walk around the garden)
17: getting and putting up my new Spacewalk poster
18: trekking out to the part of the TAM with rock work and wild apple trees
19: oatmilk all day
20: gathering more articles + sources for my thesis
21: cracking up at a little kid's nonsensical ramblings
22: laughing til I cry (or is it just crying?) at climate change deniers' logic
23: watching Breaking Bad analysis videos
24: catching up with a friend from Chile
25: a middle-grade novel about petty tween~ drama
26: my laptop stickers inspiring an animated conversation about Breaking Bad (& Better Call Saul, & El Camino)
27: walking up to someone I want to say hi to and saying hi
28: going over to a friend's place to watch Better Call Saul together
29: the joy & nostalgia of revisiting corn corridor and bosque bend
30: meal catching and reconnecting

August

1: emotionally draining myself from watching Breaking Bad (& I haven't even gotten to anything really bad yet)
2: getting our dad a phone
3: still remembering most of the words to Hamilton
4: Tamagotchi(-like) phone games
5: whizzing down city back streets on an electric scooter (and taking a tumble)
6: crying about injustice as portrayed in a kids' novel
7: evening skating at our old elementary school
8: remembering a forgettable movie
9: testing wireless earbuds
10: Crazy Rich Asians
11: playing Piano Tiles
12: reading positive reviews of my favorite book
13: helping my brother move into the dorm
14: "prairie ridge"
15: barista dreams and anti-establishment rants in a preT coffee shop downtown
16: Emily Blunt as a next-gen savage Mary Poppins
17: pics and videos of my aunt and uncle's new goats
18: "Arazu"
19: The Well of Loneliness (1928) as a cry for acknowledgment and respect of the gay community
20: the battle for top ranking of the Pianist Challenge (in Piano Tiles)
21: taking meager shelter from a desert downpour
22: appreciating the differences between the movie version of Before I Fall and the novel
23: discovering the angry bird swooping over you in threat is an owl
24: browsing Redbubble stickers
25: "Gorgeous"
26: that funny moment when I've been "taking pictures" with no film in the camera
27: hanging out with my brother and his new friend at the student union building
28: Martín and Leonor finally realizing, after nearly 500 pages, their love for each other is requited
29: a semi-generic and predictable - yet entertaining and enjoyable - YA romance
30: trying to bring my dream job down to earth
31: hit or miss with conversation cards

July

1: digging in the ~frozen winter ground with my bare hands on a whim impulse to plant the Araucaria sapling
2: riding in the colectivo with a chilly breeze coming in through the window, watching the city go by
3: the ever-so-great news of a final exam cancellation (i.e., replacement with an assignment we were already working on)
4: hearing the doorbell ring in my dream and taking a while to wake up and realize it's ringing in real life
5: exploring with Odiecito
6: subiendo el campanil y viendo la ciudad de alto*
7: the vocals of Josh Rubin
8: stomach-hurting laughter
9: buying from La Trici Vegan
10: finally finishing Bioclimatología
11: pasando un rato con mis amigas chilenas para despedirme de ellas [spending time with my Chilean friends one last time]
12: family pizza night (last once en Conce)
13: el encanto inmediato de los cerros y las calles estrechas (de Valparaíso) [the immediate charm of the hills and narrow streets of Valparaíso ~ check out the main blog post here]
14: solo rides in los ascensores ["elevators"]
15: people-watching in the plaza
16: looking down over the landscape (esp. the green eastern mountains) as we descend
17: playing electric guitar for the first time and learning riffs of post rock songs
18: watching beauty videos, then going out to get hair products
19: giving myself a mohawk
20: dyeing my hair for the first time (even though the color is practically invisible)
21: "Two Fine People"
22: tbt the Mowgli's, Waiting for the Dawn
23: watching a movie on VHS
24: Tropical Smoothie Cafe after the eye doctor
25: "For The Moment" by WE ARE FURY ft. Fletcher Mills
26: A Star Is Born (2018)
27: getting a "sock-poppet" (otherwise known as a Pop Socket)
28: spotting some cool, shiny blue-green insects out in the desert
29: blowing off steam out in the desert
30: "beach sand!" (first time biking out in the beyond with my bro)
31: orange copper-wire hair

Junio

1: "Today is Spaceship Day" - the short film written by an AI
2: La razón de estar contigo. La historia de Ellie
3: some work excitement (going to a meeting, getting an office mate)
4: looking like an absolute dork in my bright orange rain poncho
5: squishy hongos
6: chatting with my new office mate
7: "Video Games" remixes (particularly this one)
8: exploring la desembocadura
9: a lie-in-bed-and-read kind of morning
10: meeting with my professor at the cafe in Química for our class
11: autoplay post-rock
12: meeting up with my compañera to work on our presentation
13: sweet perro callejero coming over for pets
14: professor asking me to revise a paper he wrote in English
15: getting up at 11 and eating breakfast at noon
16: some amount of color on the lunch plate (yay, vegetables)
17: basking in the sun after a particularly frigid morning
18: perros de Penco, parte dos
19: browsing the feria artesanal + getting some Chile trinkets
20: a little affectionate shoulder scratch
21: "leave it" practice (i.e., an excuse to give Odie treats)
22: Breaking Bad's trainwreck spiraling into ever more fucked-up (as I get to the end of Season 2)
23: some post rock recommendations from a review video
24: when my host sister lends me an umbrella and the rest of the day proceeds to be sunny and virtually cloudless
25: dog hair on my jacket
26: Cody and Noel being invited to the kombucha lair
27: despedidas de la práctica [goodbyes on the last day of my internship]
28: té con leche (de avena) [tea with (oat) milk] at Cassis
29: passing the torch (the cycle of hosting exchange students)
30: overlooking Conce from el Cerro Caracol and suddenly getting nostalgic {pics coming soon}

Mayo

1: JennaMarbles' vlog introducing her new rescue dog
2: playing find-the-treat games with Odie
3: using the "Read Aloud" feature in Word to listen to my WIP novel as if it were an audiobook
4: finally finding the prequel to a book I read for a class a while back
5: Rick & Morty on Netflix
6: proactivity in the pasantía (anything to make it bearable)
7: quickly devising/identifying a way back into the house after locking myself out
8: destressing at a waterfall
9: visiting an interactive kids' space for my internship
10: keeping on with the studying (even though there are WAY too many formulas to try to remember)
11: group trek through el bosque
12: my host sister asking me to braid her hair (I fucked it up, but I'm happy she even asked)
13: "Right Now" by Subtact
14: el profe taking absolutely no shit
15: life hacks reaction videos
16: searching sustainability games to play during my internship (in an ironic twist, they were all hella boring)
17: lil dude making me laugh so hard I cry
18: fall colors in the valley del Río Ñuble
19: finally getting to the epicness of Breaking Bad
20: little worlds within the crater-like rock pools
21: putting on JennaMarbles videos as I take on the task of braiding my hair (a 3(+)-hour-long endeavor)
22: photoshopping my bub into a recent pic so it's like he's here with me
23: sweet birthday gestures from my host family
24: passerby on a bike randomly complimenting my hair
25: watching my brother's graduation via live-stream
26: Cody Ko's "That's Cringe" series
27: dog chilling on the bed with me
28: conversaciones mientras almorzamos [conversations during lunch]
29: learning that, interestingly, most culinary nuts aren't true botanical nuts
30: remixes of and by Illenium
31: nobody I know getting hurt during the tromba marina (cyclone/sea tornado)

Abril

1: learning about other cultural perceptions that make so much more sense than my own
2: paseando al Odie [taking Odie out for a walk]
3: unas compañeras [some classmates] approaching me for help on the homework problems
4: acting as a host to a Midd kid studying in Santiago
5: misadventures on the way to the beach
6: visiting a smoothie place my friend (who studied in this same city a couple years earlier) raved to me about
7: wacky hair // don't care
8: awe and gratitude in the comment sections of the Seven Days Walking (Day 1) album
9: goofing off with pup
10: lil dude adamantly telling me what he wants (even if I can't give it to him 😟)
11: going super-south (el fin del mundo? [the end of the world])
12: hanging with other kids from the program and their cultural mentors
13: incredible landscapes en el Parque Nacional Torres del Paine
14: catching up with a book I haven't had much time to read
15: interviewing ~ (using that term very loosely) and learning from a super friendly guy with a recycling team on campus
16: putting together an angsty playlist while waiting in the PDI
17: setting out on a mission to find maní confitado (then eating 3 of the 4 bags I bought) [maní confitado is sugar-coated or "candied" peanuts, usually sold as a street food]
18: learning about the 2010 earthquake through a play comprised of personal accounts
19: the mysterious house at the end of an otherwise-uninhabited jungle peninsula
20: eating at one mall, visiting the lake, then seeing a movie at a different mall
21: Seven Days Walking (Day 2)
22: sharing opinions and reflections with my supervisor
23: trespassing on the trampolines until some guy growled at us from underneath them
24: juggling some unidentified frutos [fruits]
25: learning how to cornrow braid my hair
26: (very basic) R intro with our guest professor
27: el palacio de Huáscar (I mean, the boat museum was cool, too, but...) [pictures of this trip forthcoming on my main blog]
28: going to one of my host sis' basketball games
29: the lit-up campanil against the night sky
30: spur-of-the-moment decision to make the trek from el centro to mi casa

March

1: resurgent memories of Mexico
2: an extended-family birthday celebration in el campo {the country(side)}
3: CloudNone & Matt Van's "Juliet"
4: paseando un poco por la Universidad y el centro con mi coordinadora cultural {walking around the university and city center with my cultural coordinator}
5: gente amable (mi mentora y el jefe de la carrera) {nice people - my mentor and the department head}
6: finding a vegan restaurant in Concepción 🙌
7: bingeing El Ministerio
8: stark, wooded cliffs along the coast
9: the nostalgia of going to an orchestra concert
10: writing in the sand
11: campus dogs accompanying us on our tour
12: a shortcut through the woods
13: tomando el sol en el foro {sunning in "el foro", the amphitheater in the center of campus}
14: recorriendo las librerías {checking out bookstores}
15: playing cards and throwing crumbs to the pigeons on the beach
16: detailed clay figurines in historical-moment museum dioramas
17: my host sibs goofing off
18: first-day fails (funny after the fact)
19: being proactive (socially, as a secondary motivation/inherent factor)
20: chilling in the facultad de ciencias forestales {forestry sciences department}
21: the office demeanor flipping from wary to welcoming as I arrive for my first day of work
22: making some dog friends on the beach
23: watching the sign language interpreter rather than the actual performers
24: a dream where I can finally understand my host brother (bc he's speaking my language)
25: chillstep mixes while on the job*
26: doge dozing in my lap
27: working out in the outdoor exercise park
28: a play about family, identity, and deaf culture (in Spanish)
29: Ludiva's newest album (part 1 of a seven-part series)
30: afternoon ocean views from Parque de Lota
31: when my homework compañeros actually contact me wrt the assignment

February

1: "Only Be Me"
2: going out with friends to see "The Favourite"
3: chill Sunday with a friend
4: last* conversations over breakfast
5: a haze of evening sun spilling over the desert mountains
6: cruising down residential streets in Houston on a rented bike
7: the new animation for swimming in Minecraft
8: Emotionalism
9: an Albuquerque fog from Piñon Coffee House
10: chill* vibes from S/T by This Will Destroy You
11: brunch and Cat Stevens records with Dad
12: rediscovering my love of post-rock
13: the series finale of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
14: the fact that the local school shooting had no casualties
15: reaching a fight scene in my book
16: cantering along the trail with a cholla skeleton in hand
17: an epic, knocked-into-the-void death at the hands of the Ender Dragon
18: watching some Black Mirror (and analysis videos)
19: summoning phantoms
20: living vicariously through someone living vicariously through virtual characters
21: walking down to Walgreens and making a morning of it
22: preparations for leaving
23: my brother getting obsessed with a song I was obsessed with a year ago
24: tea at a friend's house
25: back-to-back(-to-back) George Harrison LPs as I go about my day
26: last morning at home
27: striking desert mountains looming through haze
28: incredible panoramic views of the verdant valley

January

1: sled gang (time outside in the snow with my brother)
2: trippy magical realism + art inspiration
3: "5 Second Rule" with the Dimension cast
4: "Witness to the Rain" (a chapter from Braiding Sweetgrass)
5: dinner + a movie with friends upon returning from break
6: incorporating Braiding Sweetgrass into my canon of favorite books
7: Genesis 2 & examinations of Creation through the lens of the environment
8: passing a class intermission with classmates
9: suspended animation (the delicate, precarious balance of snow in trees)
10: people on my trivia team jumping to defend Rosalind Franklin's contribution to the discovery of DNA's structure (I'm so glad I'm not the only one)
11: "Phantom of Aleppoville"
12: Gimlet's "The Habitat" podcast
13: one-year anniversary of the second draft of Helven
14: cozy windowed sitting nook in Mahaney
15: chatting with a trip pal like no time has passed
16: cool new exclusives on COTW 231
17: "Blue to Blue" by CloudNone
18: a night at the townhouse watching[?] Bandersnatch, playing the Voting Game, and just talking and joking around 'til 2:45 am
19: braving the cold (and the threat of impending blizzard) to spend the afternoon walking around and exploring Burlington
20: watching the gales of snow and people trudging through it from my bedroom window
21: reading about tree worship and connecting it to my acquaintanceship with a tree
22: brief intervals of sliding down the steep snow-packed walkway
23: discovering the whole new world of the fitness center
24: starting on my video essay
25: being in the mood to torture myself with a jog on the treadmill
26: reminders for compassion and mindfulness from Thich Nhat Hanh
27: finally escaping an escape room (even if I barely contributed)
28: laughing it up from all the misunderstandings and miscommunications at our silent dinner
29: Hyraxe and Tevlo, or, the dream team
30: forging a path through the knee*-deep forest snow
31: vegan gluten-free cookies on our last day of class