Oct-Dec 2022

 October

1: joining my parents to watch some House
2: Ren's excitement over me having gone to the prison museum
3: asking a patron, upon seeing her stack of Marie Benedict books to check out, how she liked the novel about Rosalind Franklin - and sharing in our outrage over what happened
4: hot air balloons disappearing into the mist
5: dive-bombing toward the cart upon seeing the book I requested, & nearly tripping a coworker
6: Asphalt Meadows on repeat
7: actually fucking vibing to Taylor Swift, ngl // getting my mom hooked on the Junior Baking Show // getting new napkins & dish towels for the house
8: a wild (fictional) ride through Utah's Canyonlands
9: rodeo cowboy photoshoot
10: finding Horseshoe Hill again by following my old map + directions
11: responses to a writing prompt about singlehandedly smuggling illegal coffee
12: ordering more LJ Maas books (including, to Ren's delight, the "lesbian Brokeback Mountain")
13: new gems amidst Minecraft's comforting familiarity
14: an attempt to fix the (ultimately unfixable) tire mishap
15: friendly canine greetings from our therapy-dog volunteers
16: a rain check on a cafe hangout
17: adding to my book list spreadsheet
18: seeing the license plate "KIWI" on a green Kia Soul
19: group effort on the Worldle bonus rounds
20: hitting 90k miles
21: stumbling upon new, unnamed trails (and satisfyingly swoopy mountain-bike dips)
22: joking that my book could be a new genre: food romance/literary mukbang 
23: a cafe hangout after work 
24: sweater weather
25: revision inspo (& writing on the job)
26: a mug of chai at work
27: a Halloween-themed Minecraft build
28: investigating an abandoned structure off Jenkins & Worchester
29: another system crash, six months after the last major one
30: family watching Mare of Easttown
31: all the little children's costumes

November

1: introducing an angel flashback
2: a discussion sparked by seeing a book called "The 12-Hour Walk"
3: catching up with Sarah K
4: a chilly morning crouching on the wet asphalt to get the tires topped up
5: a truly wholesome romance about a soon-to-be divorcée who meets a lovely lesbian lady (& her dog) out in the woods
6: Matt randomly putting on a CD called "Wolf Rune," & being transfixed by the kantele and haunting vocals
7: trying to counteract the force that is a patron insatiable for CDs (& clogging up our racks) by shipping his returns off to other libraries
8: showing some kiddos (& their granny) how to use the self checkout machines 
9: DIAMANTES!
10: wheezing at Booktube reviews
11: a lunch outing at a vegan restaurant (that I shockingly hadn't tried yet)
12: furious outlining/backstory drafting at the NaNoWriMo write-in
13: blazing through a new scene (the improved ending, in fact)
14: some fun on a kid's borrowed scooter
15: pasting up a (found) poem on my cubby wall
16: coloring gnomes for our work's holiday cards
17: the most outlandishly absurd song lyric I've heard to date (hint: it's Nick Cave)
18: cactus fruits & gourds out at the old Jenkins place
19: when the shy, sweet Papillon of the teddy-bear face and soulful eyes chooses me
20: dragging my ass through the end of a terrible book
21: assisting the sweet elderly gentleman from writing group (over the phone & later in person)
22: cholla reverence
23: the adorable ending of Queerly Beloved (& adding to my own WLW tidbit)
24: a minimal Thanksgiving mishap, quickly remedied
25: sneaking a peek at some homes under construction
26: browsing the Vegan Without Borders cookbook with Jeremy
27: learning about toaster oven romances
28: discussing Pitchfork reviews and critic credibility
29: old hippie couple (decked out in their matching "Ugg boots & jeans" 'fit) performing music at the open mic night 
30: finding out that there are Gerri Hill audiobooks available on hoopla

December

1: a cacophony of crows 
2: the halo-glow of horizon ringed under the overcast sky
3: some sketches from Man Stroke Woman series 2
4: catching up with one of the OG writing group attendees (who's been in absentia the past several meetings)
5: Matt's insistence that I should start a "Google Maps vacation" Twitch stream
6: thwarting the man who tried to sneak in with the visiting school kids (not me personally doing said thwarting)
7: when the CD patron's complaint to the city councilor is rewarded with new CD shelving
8: bringing jobs to the villagers
9: photographic tribute to the dead snake
10: a 90+-year-old patron making a dark joke about her mortality
11: outlining the revisions I need to do in a spreadsheet
12: discussing AITA posts
13: Anna turning the meeting into a small-group lesson
14: Jeremy suggesting - and leading me to - the jewelry screwdriver and voilà, clumsily dropped watch fixed
15: delving into The Dodos' discography
16: a plot twist I should have seen coming that's not even really a twist
17: when they pull some of the withdrawn CDs to play in the back & I think that if they'd just waited on one of them, I would have checked it out before it got axed (& it being by Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton, and not only is that band name epic, she is the lead singer of Metric, which I've also enjoyed listening to without knowing she was part of it)
18: going to the brick-and-mortar restaurant of a vegan place that previously only existed as a food truck
19: taking home tower-garden peppers
20: when two separate couples come in for library cards, and each of them was born on the same day of two different months in the same year (the 10th of __ in 1948, the 21st of __ in 1990)
21: work holiday party (and dipping in & out of the room for snacks)
22: hanging out with my bro & his animals
23: trying some online mattress brands in the flesh
24: collaborative and competitive work on the online jigsaw puzzle
25: everyone excitedly taking a turn on Mom's new typewriter, an early present for her birthday
26: Kwanzaa hype (after a hiatus)
27: making use of a little notepad I collected ages ago to write a bit of the chapter I was working on (the novel journal accidentally left behind at home)
28: getting my clothes back, at least
29: learning that Joan Armatrading is a quiet lesbian icon
30: The Deep (the book & the song it was inspired by)
31: plugging prompts into an AI text generator and cackling at the stories it comes up with 

Jul-Sep 2022

 July

1: paying respects to the rare pigeon
2: trying to uncover the life of the enigmatic (and beloved) author LJ Maas
3: dodging an irrepressible new coworker
4: climbing up the foothills & looking out over the city 
5: the start of Zak George's RV life adventures
6: letting Tim (my native New Mexican coworker) read over my Spanish-language book review
7: taking the pups for a walk in the bosque
8: a quick ice cream sandwich
9: Taco Cabana for lunch 
10: lamenting that someone willfully gave up an autographed LJ Maas book (but amazed I got it for such a steal)
11: digging up some Alan Singley
12: an unconventional book repair (involving many layers of color-matched cardstock)
13: interview practice on my breaks
14: What If You & Me
15: their faces for treats
16: tallying what 501 Must-See movies we've seen & what 501 Must-Read Books we've read
17: Matt finding Yusuf/Cat's TikTok
18: park picnic
19: the (as I'm coming to recognize) signature sarcastic humor of LJ Maas
20: when Inclusive Ninja is still problematic
21: running to escape the sprinklers
22: tidbit writing inspiration 
23: running inside to escape the sudden downpour (with the girls stopping to shake off every three seconds)
24: Matt asking my permission to eat the vegan ice cream 
25: Dora nosing and chewing her way to the treats hidden under the shirt
26: the critique group raising the important question of why my characters are always meeting over food
27: a staff run-through of the escape room my coworker put together
28: encounters with polite men out with their dogs
29: the spooky jazz-sesh journey of 50 Words for Snow
30: "eavesdropping" on a fraught relationship conversation (so, like lurking on relationship_advice irl)
31: nighttime playground hijinks

 August

1: flipping between the audiobook and ebook depending on my work station (or if I'm on break)

2: getting unreasonably riled up about an epilogue (which concludes the stories of all the trilogy's characters)

3: jamming to my brother's newest album, "odyssey"

4: a hike in the eastern Sandias

5: braiding my hair with beads

6: the trilogy not ending as badly as I remembered

7: tracks 4-6 from Pagans in Vegas

8: the slightly entertaining parallels between the neighbors and our old roommates (re: stupid fighting)

9: a coworker fangirling over Bridgerton

10: Tim modeling the squid hat I got in the summer reading staff prize goodie bag

11: the sound of a sudden downpour (& hailstorm)

12: tinkering with the resume 

13: cookout + game night @ Jeremy's (or, hanging out with coworkers outside of work)

14: a walk around a downtown block to pass the time

15: helping pick tomatoes from the free-range library vines

16: generously interpreting a story as "a character study into an unlikable man"

17: journaling by booklight & candle ambiance

18: the... range of talent on Junior Bake Off

19: audiobook while hair styling

20: a skunk standoff (luckily through glass)

21: chatting with my grandma over the phone

22: gold evening light shimmering through rain-studded leaves

23: that the dogs got to have their fun tearing into a trash bag

24: the student loan forgiveness news

25: the gremlin spying on me from down the hall

26: "Misty" & others matching the vibe of a cautious, contemplative drive through a downpour

27: retail therapy at Goodwill & Lowe's

28: sufficiently entertaining distraction, even if the story's pretty meh

29: spending almost $10 to send a debit card through certified mail that will no longer be active by the time it reaches its recipient

30: one year at my current workplace

31: a lunch-break stroll to the Walgreens for some lunch accoutrements (i.e., chips)

 September

1: an unaccounted-for blip of oblivion

2: a well-wishes text from a coworker

3: Walmart skeleton photo edits

4: family Costco outing

5: rewatching The Vicar of Dibley after so many years

6: yet another killer Goodwill work outfit

7: Celeste raving to me about Van Leeuwen vegan ice cream

8: purging yearbooks

9: Paul Giamatti narrating an audiobook

10: staff run-throughs of the '80s trivia

11: some of Matt's writing enthusiasm rubbing off & getting inspired for a new tidbit

12: feeling justified about a DNF (after scouring for negative reviews)

13: taking bets on which patron put 25 volumes of a manga series on hold

14: Jeremy making vegan apple cake

15: recollection of the Beyond coming back to me in spurts of muscle memory

16: dogs leaping through the desert brush

17: being invited back for a cuppa after the end of the 'making masala chai' class

18: crouching before the window, chin on the sill, to take in the night breeze, and the mournful windchime, and to be wrapped in the billowing curtain's soft shroud

19: swapping out the first consonant of different names with "J" (but still loving Jimothy and Jassachusetts most of all)

20: the inevitable last minute packing rush

21: the furthest Izi & I have ever traveled together

22: overlooking the valley of chirping prairie dogs

23: seeing my grandma after seven years

24: hiking up the wooded hill to take in the valley views

25: deer-watching from the deck

26: touches of fall color in the Grand Teton Nat'l Forest

27: a hike autour du lac (the String Lake Loop, to be precise)

28: spooky cool photo-op at the Frontier Prison Museum

29: riding an e-scooter around downtown neighborhoods & along the creek trail

30: return to familiar roadways

Apr-Jun 2022

 April
1: walking around the apartment complex
2: broccoli time with the dongles
3: a wide-brimmed hat on a sunny patrol morning
4: territorially barking at me from inside the laundry basket
5: frustrated gremlin growling
6: "Tap Out" by the Strokes
7: bringing the dogs to the bougie park
8: finishing The Duke and I so I can rewatch season one of Bridgerton 
9: a writer x editor romance set in the publishing world
10: Rebecca's comment that the lullaby renditions of Daft Punk give off the ambiance of a New Age massage parlor
11: when we get Mercedes, the most wholesome of the lot, joyfully repeating Kanye West's "Hurry up with my damn croissant"
12: an anthropomorphic tea bag (in a picture book of humanoid foods)
13: The Ex Talk
14: dog cuddles after a long day in urgent care
15: Dot leading the park explorations
16: foisting lullaby renditions on coworkers and family alike
17: getting back to French lessons (inspired by my coworkers' Duolingo craze)
18: the absurdist, Black Mirror-esque Beautiful You
19: listening to a Spanish podcast
20: browsing someone's extensive CD donation drop-off 
21: trading up for a better weekend read (i.e., not all contemporary romance is created equal)
22: sharing the couch with the dogs & managing to sleep in
23: having gained Dora's trust enough that she gets excited & approaches me for pets
24: our first solo walk (well, as a trio)
25: tracking checkout transactions in a Word document during an internet outage
26: a love story starring socially awkward adults
27: everyone pitching in on check-in
28: bringing the girls to visit a potential adopter (& the fact that they have chunky senior Chihuahua-mixes of their own)
29: some quick French lessons while waiting in line for a food order
30: going through my boyfriend's family's old pictures

 May
1: placing first in the Amethyst league
2: when they trot along behind me even after I let go of their leashes
3: the "Entre deux mondes" episode of the Duolingo French podcast
4: getting them riled up about cookies
5: winding along riparian trails
6: adventures involving arroyo ravines
7: testing Jack's COVID taste blindness
8: wine-gifting for mother's day
9: a WLW contemporary romance
10: "Fourth of July" by Sufjan Stevens
11: fragrant flowers on our walk
12: Les 7 Vies de Léa
13: Kurtis' fushigi video
14: Bad Seeds
15: flipping through a book of instant pot recipes
16: une histoire en français très bizarre
17: Here Today
18: making it to one year (& not doing anything more special than our normal work/store commute)
19: Transatlanticism
20: the visual ASMR quality of Country Life Vlog
21: attempting to speak French in a dream
22: throwing together a taco bowl
23: cake in the car after a bike ride
24: being fluent enough to completely go off on a terrible Spanish book in a Goodreads review
25: little vulnerabilities (between Those Darn Squirrels & him trying to convince me that Sheryl Crow's "Mississippi" is the superior version)
26: Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
27: brunch at an extremely bougie/hipster restaurant
28: Dora getting completely engrossed in a rawhide while Dot, after pacing out her boredom, sits on top of a shoe
29: belated birthday coffee cake
30: a turn (or two, or three) around the grassy park
31: a quick post office visit

 June
1: finishing a well-despised book with gusto
2: restaurant patio-eating with the pups
3: rewatching Kurtis' "Barbie vs. Bratz" video
4: the popularity of the guessing-jar raffle
5: finding another "joule" vanity plate on a Tesla
6: jamming to mid-2000s' The National
7: Long Story Short
8: my mom bringing Thai Vegan to my work for lunch
9: boredom spurring some revision work out on the patio in the stormy afternoon
10: Modern General's bougie carrot-mango smoothie 
11: a crusty-bread-with-soup kind of night
12: left-field escape propositions
13: The Sign for Home
14: Danny's spider story (shared on Kurtis' podcast)
15: Thank You for Today
16: picking out a new summer work outfit from Goodwill
17: return to Sims for some low-level torture
18: hanging out with the fam before they leave for their trip
19: another baby boy in the Sims family tree (in generation 5)
20: my coworker bringing me a (oat)milk tea from her boba run
21: Girl in Ice
22: an obsessive climb to the top to secure first place in the diamond league
23: You Had Me at Hola
24: The Kiss Quotient
25: personal notes left in donated books
26: little pieces of art in the complex's landscaped areas
27: spur-of-the-moment putting that bilingual certification to use
28: feedback about scene-setting and parallel dreams from the critique group
29: finding out my new coworker went to the same school, years earlier
30: homemade smoothie hitting different 

Jan-Mar 2022

 January

1: going to my folks' for a New Year's feast

2: vegetable stew

3: revision work during the last, unbusy hour

4: powerhousing the better part of a near-400-page book

5: learning the "manual" checkout system during a half-hour internet outage

6: return to Minecraft

7: unintentionally ending up in the university area in my southward journey

8: Gregory Alan Isakov's cover of the Lumineers' "Salt and the Sea"

9: listening to tunes while out on patrol

10: transferring my book post-its to a spreadsheet

11: derpy feminist comics

12: In Five Years

13: making a vegan BLT

14: the Riverside trail reminding me so much of the no outlet road along Otter Creek

15: going on a bean spree

16: toying around with my coworker Rebecca's banjolele

17: weird city finds, like Cap'n Crunch inside the fingers of a latex glove

18: my coworker Alysa trash-talking the suburban hellscape that is Rio Rancho

19: pot pie: breakfast, lunch, & dinner

20: a novel about writers doing writer things

21: Tramway biking

22: finding a Polaroid nude in a box of donated books

23: skate shoes & 2013 Monstercat vibes

24: Well Played

25: donated movies with written notes inside the cases about dates watched & impressions

26: coming back to GTA after many months and finally completing a mission I failed half a dozen times

27: when my opinion of a book drops down to 2 stars upon reading reviews from fellow dissatisfied readers

28: Pixar animated shorts (Out, Twenty Something, Far from the Tree)

29: black-eyed pea and collard tacos with apple-avocado salsa (from the cookbook Isa Does It)

30: beans on waffles

31: It Ends With Us

February

1: The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window pilot

2: Izi's first snow (& closing work early)

3: believing it wasn't going to be a murder mystery

4: lounging around the house in oversized sweatpants

5: slammed on a Saturday

6: a vaguely Bronteian horror of madness and magic

7: Matt bringing up the Village Green Preservation Society after seeing the old yearbooks that got donated and getting "People Take Pictures of Each Other" stuck in my head

8: a discussion, prompted by an AskReddit post, on most unattractive male names

9: teaming up against the anti-mask lady (sort of...)

10: riding through Los Ranchos

11: a Regency-era historical romance, full of unnecessary soap-opera drama and cringe

12: juggling with Jeremy

13: playing with a rake and ball found out on patrol

14: a Valentine's night in, listening to Gregory Alan Isakov while I cook myself a meal and read a romance novel

15: childfree representation in romance fiction (shout out to Jen DeLuca + Well Matched)

16: psychological fiction (of the amnesia variety) gone thriller

17: playing fetch with Chop on the beach in GTA V

18: Ammonite

19: wearing my hair in a different style

20: dumb drama on a Netflix dating show

21: open world exploring

22: ideas for character improvement

23: when our most devoted regular returns three times in four hours

24: the "old-timey" language in Tipping the Velvet

25: paved paths flanked by wild brush

26: little bro coming in for a visit + getting a library card

27: online jigsaw puzzles

28: commiserating over the car theft experience

March

1: steadily getting more and more of my coworkers obsessed with the Seterra countries typing test

2: the beautiful, contemplative tracks from Rough and Rowdy Ways

3: family bonding through geography quizzes

4: adding crispy oven-baked tofu atop a noodle stir-fry

5: surprise that some of the Here Comes Science album is an actual vibe

6: TR girls meetup

7: racing each other on the typing tests

8: ---

9: going to the OG with a craving for spring rolls and chow mein

10: renewing my Rio Rancho library card to get some CDs (that ABQ doesn't have)

11: Jarvis posting a video on Love is Blind & me getting it now that I'm involved in the subreddit drama

12: staying up past midnight with Gregorian chants and a text on theology

13: Sunday rush keeping us on our toes

14: "from Zeus to Jezeus" (from the text linked below as "this theology book")

15: coming up with & comparing top 10 favorite albums lists

16: going out to dinner with coworkers

17: lunch & a bosque walk with the grandparents while they're in town

18: Angles by the Strokes

19: agreeing on the... rough quality of a new group member's writing submission

20: a novel about a portal into a parallel life

21: still loving this theology book despite the fact that the author used a quote from Marianne Williamson as an epigraph

22: catching up on Zak George videos

23: a morning winter wonderland that all but disappears by noon

24: feeling decently confident about a cover letter (& my qualifications relative to the job description)

25: return to the Riverside trail (bushwhacking through the bosque & passing Tingley Beach)

26: serving as the guinea pig for the NM trivia quiz

27: the retro-artifacts-in-resin countertops at Anodyne

28: an accessible book on the psychology of bias

29: watching Jarvis and Jordan react to a "race swap" reality TV show

30: a fortuitous meeting with the owner of the animal rescue where I adopted Stanley

31: successfully clipping a dog's toenails for the first time

December

1: making it to Rio Rancho and back just under the wire
2: Captain Fantastic
3: scones & tea
4: deciding our top 5 Beatles songs (if the entire catalog had to be deleted, which 5 would you preserve)
5: giving a thriller a chance despite not being my usual genre
6: belatedly realizing the guy I helped is the dad of an old friend from high school
7: browsing sassy candles
8: absolutely scream-laughing at a character's stupidity
9: Hoarders
10: the sun over the wild mountain grasses
11: poetic and prosaic tidbits capturing the hopelessness
12: going from debating Bob Dylan's "stage voices" to R.E.M.'s album Monster
13: talking about geographical differences in Spanish accents
14: discussing DNR orders and "right to die" ethics
15: lending a hand(s) to the big book shift
16: the fact that Target has Kwanzaa cards
17: revisiting the Hahn Arroyo trail
18: listening to Train again after many years
19: patrol on a cold morning
20: "You can't break until you've taken shape, can't crack until there's a form to shatter"
21: questions of ethics and memory in The Shimmering State
22: the sweetness of making up
23: The Ugly Cry
24: Subnautica
25: rummaging for snacks and playing our separate video games
26: trying and buying pants from Ross
27: laughing at a terrible New Mexico bucket list
28: You're Not Listening
29: the at-work convenience of being able to switch between the physical and the ebook
30: "Midnight" by Coldplay
31: receiving the exclusive CD copy of my brother's new album

November

1: our first time being in the new place together
2: the big (U) haul
3: morning noon & night riding with The Golden Casket
4: getting some dining stools
5: loading up the Fit for the last* leg of moving
6: Matt (joke?) proposing a writing race between me and Anna where the loser has to delete all their story files
7: One Good Dog
8: when he texts about the roasted veggies he made (and raves about them when I get home)
9: my coworkers somehow accidentally thinking it's my birthday (but hey, they brought vegan donuts, so I ain't complaining)
10: thrift couch window-shopping
11: an industrial backwoods stroll
12: getting reinvested in Extant
13: obsession with a new Sims world
14: a dinner meetup with old coworkers
15: Matt saying of a coworker liking Guy Fieri, "She thinks frosted tips and barbecue sauce are the epitome of masculinity"
16: talking Modest Mouse and Pitchfork with Matt
17: hearing of the depravities of Rimworld
18: a video of my brother performing at a very underground venue
19: playing Cards Against Humanity and Scrawl on our "staff training day"
20: Ghosts & the visceral reaction I had to it
21: Happier Than Ever
22: last day of a four-day week before a four-day weekend
23: a critique session in our writing group
24: stocking up + starting some of the food a day early
25: quick thinking in a plumbing crisis
26: a walk around the patio while on the phone
27: watching the new season of F is for Family together
28: recreating the KFC bowl with leftover mash and Gardein chick'n tenders
29: the greater diversity of interactions in the Sims 3
30: the age disparity truly being revealed when I say Pride & Prejudice (2006) was my favorite childhood movie and Matt admits to writing a college paper on it when it came out

October

1: stumbling upon the La Cueva arroyo trail
2: JB getting excited about my juggling ability and showing off the juggling stash he keeps at work
3: Life's Work
4: sudoku at the desk
5: a trail stroll on my break
6: a discussion/debate over exploitation vs representation
7: Jack and Erin's podcast
8: absolutely vibing to Sylvan Esso
9: a Where's Waldo-style book of photos where a border collie is hiding in different landscape images
10: seeing the book I put on hold in the book drop and knowing I'm next in line
11: traversing gravel trails, dirt roads, and arroyo-side paths in the northeastern quadrant of the city
12: almost approaching JB's book tower record (and the stack tumbling and crashing down as soon as I walk away from it)
13: coming to a fuller appreciation of Feist just in time to start listening to another album of hers
14: after hearing "1234" and remembering it somehow, learning that it was buried in my memory from the 2008 Grammy Nominees album
15: a fuzzy-bellied roadrunner trying to catch grasshoppers
16: unexpected skellie in the back office
17: talking about The Lathe of Heaven with MB before his sci-fi book group
18: driving by apartments to scope them out
19: a near-essay of a book review
20: printing out my own staff pick labels
21: first apartment tours
22: following my apartment tour guide around the city
23: trying a script format to break writer's block
24: "TIGUANA" (or, the damn cleverest vanity plate I've seen to date - on a Volkswagen Tiguan)
25: two fairly solid offers after hectic searching
26: my coworker inviting me along to her writing group (& everyone sharing their prompt tidbits)
27: transposing the script format to prose
28: returning to a Sims family full of drama I don't remember instigating
29: Sims 4 binge day two
30: bunny snacking on fallen leaves
31: coworker JTA wearing a very cozy-looking Chewbacca onesie

September

1: my coworkers' personalities coming out little by little
2: a walk around Los Poblanos
3: catching vanity plates like Pokemon
4: mixing up my fast-food Beyond Meat tacos
5: slippery elm going down smooth
6: water guillotines, or, chilling in the Bachechi Open Space
7: videos of dogs using buttons to talk
8: nearly bringing a ninety-year-old woman to tears and my coworker giggling about it
9: the immediate difference in reading a book that captures my interest (as opposed to slogging through because I thought it might)
10: How Stella Learned to Talk
11: my coworker and I complimenting each other's blue raspberry Fits
12: making red curry at home near (though never quite) as good as Thai Vegan's
13: coming across the under-the-desk legal pad of 10+ years' worth of incident reports
14: JB teaching me step 1 in mending books
15: skull-shaped candles
16: making book lists on Goodreads
17: starting Dead Space 3 together
18: One Last Stop
19: Eamon & Bec's new cabin reminding me of my aunt and uncle's house + property
20: catching up with old and new library coworkers at Erna Fergusson for the new employee policy training
21: writing chat with my coworkers who are hosting the library's NaNoWriMo program
22: reminiscing and cross-referencing our book lists
23: reading from Educated while listening to Young the Giant
24: a 12-mile ride after a good long sedentary while
25: the homestyle bluegrass/folksy vibes of Feist's Metals
26: some much-needed journal venting
27: playing a Yusuf/Cat CD on the circ area boombox and stirring some nostalgia for a coworker
28: hiding in the far corner amongst the paperback spinners, book in hand and listening to the rain outside
29: judging a book by its cover (& title) and being inspired to pick it up
30: walking along parts of my commute route and experiencing it in finer detail

July & August

July

1: breezing through a relationship self-help ebook while at the desk
2: visiting two of the eighteen Albuquerque library branches that I haven't been to before
3: switching gears to a new audiobook: a new narrator with new cadence, a new story with different style & pacing
4: hiking the Chamisa Trail
5: buffalo taco + kale wraps
6: speechless moments at work
7: "Mickey's Descent into Madness"
8: chatting with my coworker during the last hour of our workday
9: Foals - What Went Down
10: playing darts with my brother
11: seeing the scene in Django Unchained that inspired the meme
12: when the book is basically a recap of stuff I learned in college 
13: CloudNone's Last Train Home EP
14: seeing the Karen haircut in the wild
15: him mixing me up an Arnold Palmer to take with me to work
16: starting the Take a Hint, Dani Brown audiobook
17: Supernova
18: watching some Disney/Pixar before work
19: roasted cauli + Brussels
20: an after-work nap
21: trying a new multiplayer game
22: the predictable misunderstanding that almost fucks everything up right before the end of the book
23: watching him get his hair cut
24: eating out at a new-to-us New Mexican place
25: tiptoeing through the night sprinkle
26: getting hit in the feels by Atypical Season 4
27: artichokes and olives on salad
28: returning to an OG eating spot
29: my coworker's invention of DVD Jenga
30: Outer Wilds
31: the South Valley Library

August

1: money counting
2: chili mac for lunch
3: bitchin' about the service even as we keep coming back for the food
4: Hour of the Witch
5: ice cream and sorbet
6: Sweet Tooth
7: eating out at Rosemary
8: a documentary about the romance novel industry
9: Transparent
10: roasted chickpeas and veggies
11: crispy cauliflower sandwich
12: when the comic is way darker than the tv series
13: blustery winds through rolled-down car windows
14: Boardwalk Empire
15: his arrogance completely snuffed by the first stall-out
16: a few moments of cuddling, even at the price of there-and-back lunch-rush traffic
17: braid looking absolutely TIGHT (with barely enough hair to pull it off)
18: observing a fledgling pigeon with its parents
19: a unique narrator voice in a novel
20: finding my way to the anglerfish fossil (with a little helpful nudge)
21: when the character you thought was being strung along was actually the one who was lying
22: another Fit parked by my Fit at my workplace
23: Barry
24: first time seeing someone's gender as X on a driver's license
25: jaywalking over to the AutoZone for a compressor to solve my low tire pressure situation
26: well-wishes and send-offs from my coworkers
27: finding Feldspar in Dark Bramble
28: playing Island Saver again for the first time in a year
29: listening to Tea for the Tillerman 2 with my dad
30: his impromptu breakfast for me on orientation morning
31: starting work at a new* branch

June

1: flamingo 'fit with pink Crocs 

2: shooting the shit with our server at the Acre

3: everyone saying goodbye and congrats to a retiring coworker

4: an unprecedented diversion to the Beyond

5: hiking in the badlands (El Malpais Nat'l Monument)

6: a vlog of a Tesla roadtrip through the southwest

7: taking a walk during my afternoon break

8: calling in to recoup

9: firing off at twilight

10: 77,777 miles

11: chonky pitbulls walking around the gun store

12: finally getting the Incredibles 2 memes

13: baking buffalo bites (cauliflower + tofu)

14: "Tap Dancer" (as a sign of my growing love for the album)

15: him frantically looking for his phone while it's in his hand

16: first marksmanship lesson

17: Love and Other Words

18: an adult-establishment adventure

19: trying to find the nastiest local apartment listing on Zillow

20: Lego-style picture guide for furniture assembly

21: The House in the Cerulean Sea

22: watching Invincible together

23: slipping into a pocket of pitch black

24: a patron telling me my mohawk reminds her of an Ethiopian braided hairstyle

25: a surprisingly fast visit at the packed urgent care

26: him calling in so we can spend the day with my fam

27: jumping into my parents' Broadchurch binge

28: starting the Good Omens audiobook & Amazon prime series in tandem

29: the opening paragraphs of Smoke Gets In Your Eyes 

30: stormy evening hike in the foothills

x

May

 1: online shopping on my phone while sitting in a store parking lot 
2: a book that I stumbled upon by chance brilliantly and uncannily expressing my current existential dreads and feelings
3: the new straight-to-carts check-in system
4: trying a menu-offered vegan option at Scalo
5: finally getting an interview for one of the  environmental internships I applied for
6: moving some tables and chairs from the piled-up covid stash
7: a momentary storm
8: a hike in the Jemez
9: sort-of recreating the papas rústicas I loved from this one Chilean restaurant (and trying out Bitchin' Sauce)
10: talkin' cars and ABQ drivers with my fave Uber driver (I've only ridden with him twice, but still)
11: browsing Craigslist cars
12: We are never meeting in real life
13: running to meet my on-time Uber driver
14: Battleship Rock
15: checking out the Fit in person
16: reflexive expression of my book characters' nervous anticipation
17: my car story coming to its happy ending
18: bringing home the Fit
19: vibing to CDs checked out from the library
20: driving to the end of the road(s)
21: ridealongs with the fam
22: car stuff with my dad, music with my mom, and projects with my bro
23: a mini road trip to & from Elephant Butte 
24: knowing Bojack so well that I can enjoy it even when the TV is smashed to absolute hell 
25: sharing Izi on the Honda Fit subreddit
26: eating out at one of our OG restaurants
27: season 2 of Special
28: climbing the rocks to look over the stream & falls
29: downhill coasting but having to weave through a dangerously narrow labyrinth of cacti
30: Dear White People 
31: three Fits in a line on the highway (one of them being my car's twin)

April

1: a friendly neighborhood cat accompanying me partway on my journey
2: my wrecked legs giving the illusion of a hard workout even though I bailed early
3: revisiting songs from my 2020 playlists
4: the Uber driver letting me DJ on his unbelievably bass-heavy sound system
5: DoorDash delivering lunch to my work
6: rental minivan giving me flashbacks to driving on school trips
7: a spirited little disagreement over whether "grey" or "gray" is the proper spelling for the color
8: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
9: car detailing videos
10: the grotesquely suburban experience of buying a full shopping cart's worth of groceries and bringing them home in a minivan 
11: 50/50
12: "Dudes who are down bad"
13: going to Target after work for some Ben & Jerry's Netflix & Chillll'd non-dairy ice cream
14: doing a phone interview from the comfort of the minivan's third row seats
15: being commissioned for a children's room project
16: Such a Fun Age 
17: David Attenborough's A Life on Our Planet
18: the dealership deploying the suave salesmen only on the repeat visits
19: him rolling over to check the time on his phone, then casually commenting on it being a year
20: morning moments in the civic plaza
21: the lady at FedEx coming over to the copy machines for a chat
22: the insurance claim finally feeling somewhat taken care of
23: a growing obsession with Geoguessr 
24: rest stop at a gazebo at the midway point on my bike ride
25: the fact that Bryan Cranston's autobiography opens with the letting-Jane-die scene from Breaking Bad
26: learning about RAGBRAI from a coworker and adding it to my bucket list
27: filling six book donation boxes
28: a romance featuring elderly protagonists
29: when the settlement check gets posted
30: hiking around the Santa Fe Canyon Preserve

March

 1: tiptoeing through puddles on the back road by way of moonlight
2: reading Jim Gorant's book about the champion frisbee pitbull, Wallace
3: nostalgia from my old 8tracks favorites
4: somehow making it to work on time after missing my alarm
5: sneaking into Costco
6: new trails along the bosque
7: adding some queso to the mac 'n cheese
8: the 'where are they now' segment on the dogs rescued from Michael Vick
9: Alani Nu watermelon wave fizzy energy drink
10: "Heavy Hearted"
11: a burst of inspiration for epilogue brainstorming and cover letters
12: the alternately hilarious, educational, and philosophical memoir of a guy who started a dog rescue in Chimayo, NM
13: scrappy lil baby mohawk
14: coming across a trilogy on the YA shelf with an almost-too-similar plot to my budding novel idea - then reading a boatload of angry 1-star reviews about it on Goodreads
15: balloons lifting off on the way to work
16: mild blizzard and the light cheek-sting of winter
17: going downtown for work training and being reminded of uptown escapes
18: new license plate
19: body awareness and spatial problem-solving when clambering over the rocks
20: crossing the I-40 bridge
21: a dog coming over to say hi (and her owner complimenting my mohawk)
22: comfort-buying junk food
23: coworkers' sympathy and indignation on my behalf
24: a surprise home-cooked lunch
25: oversaturating my brain with research on used subcompact cars
26: Solar Opposites Season 2
27: heading out to the beyond to fire off some rounds
28: enjoying some basic-bitch vanilla ice cream
29: writing in memoiristic essay style, inspired by the autobiographical nonfiction I've read of late
30: chatting with my Uber driver
31: an internship opening that aligns with my niche-af major (*fingers crossed*)

February

1. a coworker trying out maple syrup in her tea after hearing me talk about it
2. him showing me the Euphoria special episode to articulate his struggles
3. discovering a coworker knows sign language
4. buying chocolate after having a dream craving for it, and the guy at the cash register saying "Enjoy those candy bars"
5. locks on bridges
6. *sad Don Cheadle noises* (the end of The Guard)
7. learning about hygge
   
8. a conversation about covid vaccination (though a little awkward) to break up the normal work monotony
9. Michaela Coel in I May Destroy You
   
10. adorable mustachioed man
11. watching Better Call Saul together
12. riding the path winding through the depths of the bosque
13. thundersnow
14. him helping me search for cars and file my taxes
15. my first car
16. Valentines from my coworkers
17. midnight joyride in a loaner car
18. getting him some birthday chimichangas from Allsup's
19. a spur-of-the-moment walk on a snowy trail
20. the rare moment of the wind blowing at my back as I ride uphill
21. toning down the spice imbalance with milk and sugar
22. getting overexcited about a topic and putting an excessive number of books on hold
23. a specially-commissioned meal from the restaurant where he works
24. snuggling in to watch a new show together
25. him organizing the drinks in the fridge by brand
26. cruising diagonally across the city grid
27. showing my parents the new ride
28. him calling the circulation desk to get ahold of me at work

January

1: watching the last candles burn themselves out
2: Russian Doll
3: Grand Theft Auto IV
4: some cheating drama and an illegitimate baby (in the Sims 4)
5: homemade granola
6: pumping it up to 20mph (on a downhill)
7: shower-fresh curls
8: Kelsey Tries the 100-baby Challenge series
9: completely inverted sleep schedule
10: stealing little naps to make it through an all-nighter
11: first day at my new library job
12: a fresh Sprouts location on the west side
13: a children's book about a girl who couldn't get a pet bonding with a dog she spends time with at the shelter
14: overlooking the dog park while on my lunch break
15: a self-help book in the style of a Socratic dialogue
16: turning my bathroom into an at-home fitting room for clothes bought online
17: making brunch before work
18: celebrating my vegan birthday a day early by making my favorite pies
19: putting slips in books
20: binge-reading Psychology Today articles
21: sushi after work
22: an 18-mile bike ride, passing by the flood control facility, through Bear Canyon, and up and down Tramway
23: a quote on why 'unfree' people judge those who are living freely
24: an Opal apple
25: "Permanence" by Maybeshewill
26: him understanding the 'wait in the parking lot and dawdle in the store' to avoid going home
27: looking up the best houseplants for beginners
28: grocery store clerk curiously asking why I'm buying so many beans
29: District 9
30: moments of solitude on the channel trail through the industrial zone
31: "The Next Best American Record" by Lana Del Rey

December

1: Mad Max: Fury Road
2: learning a new convoluted strategy game
3: The Queen's Gambit
4: the vegan Beyond Meat burrito at Del Taco
5: Chex Mix and mango ginger Zevia
6: talking to a guy in line at the grocery store about what's for dinner
7: Upload
8: stocking up on canned goods following a fiasco of needing corn after the stores closed and having to run to the gas station
9: an in-person interview (finally, a new place to go)
10: pushing my high score in Fruit Ninja
11: some much-appreciated closeness after a tough conversation
12: mattress shopping
13: surprising myself with how much ground I can cover while biking around the city
14: a dope-ass "Mexican pizza" quesadilla
15: new mattress
16: the Royalty Free Christmas Songs mega compilation
17: Raised by Wolves opening titles theme
18: sriracha on sushi
19: sippin' back to a slightly corrupted childhood via CapriSuns
20: casting some YouTube to the big screen
21: playing The Sims (3)
22: the nostalgia of the Nintendogs theme songs
23: extra strong hot chocolate
24: playing The Sims (4)
25: a cup of chai at the end of the day
26: the annual candle scramble
27: insecure
28: stuffed butternut squash
29: recovering a lost Sims world
30: putting on songs I haven't heard in years
31: get rich cheat codes

November

1: the permeating smell of green chile as the 18-lb bag continues roasting in the trunk
2: The Danish Girl
3: shucking, chopping, & bagging the green chile
4: when he comes early to pick me up from work and I get to eat with him once I'm off my shift
5: being called in as a translator
6: the Pixel 4a
7: eating pizza while driving
8: a walk & new-phone-camera photoshoot
9: membership cards
10: hitting up a vegan-friendly restaurant thanks to my bf's coworker
11: The End of the F***king World
12: him making me a lavender seltzer drink
13: tap-to-pay with my phone
14: the vadai taco
15: a fresh-haircut-and-waffles kind of Sunday
16: playing Borderlands 3 together
17: him raving over me wearing glasses
18: Avenue 5
19: sambhar, lunch & dinner
20: PicsArt edits on photos of my cutie
21: my coworker getting bean'd by another coworker
22: a few minutes inside a mansion in downtown ABQ
23: tea & soup
24: adventures at the laundromat
25: wandering into the exurban wastes
26: replicating my mom's cranberry sauce recipe
27: Rick & Morty Season 4
28: the development of side characters in Lovecraft Country
29: learning cool science shit through Reddit memes
30: extra butter* and garlic salt on my mashed 'tatties

October

 1: uncovering itty bitty animal friends
2: rocking on lawn chairs in the sun
3: journaling to hold me down amidst the craziness
4: "God's Country" and its sequels
5: (panicked) squat-walking around in the crawlspace
6: fucking around with what are basically giant rolls of saran wrap
7: going home early and napping the rest of the day
8: hearing his coworkers roast the 'stache over video call
9: Odd Man Out
10: dry sarcasm over shitty products
11: having some Netflix downloaded for the plane rides
12: kitchen supplies for the new apartment
13: a man passing us in Walmart & responding to Orynn's hoodie with "we're all cuddle sluts"
14: a comedic near-walk-in
15: walking through a nice little commercial district with the sweet smell from the General Mills factory wafting through the air
16: going out to the restaurant he works in and meeting all his coworkers
17: getting the chef's special as my on-shift meal
18: him teaching me how to shoot
19: him making each of us our respective teas
20: watching sovereign citizen compilations
21: a Philly cheese steak-style sub with mushrooms & vegan mozz
22: countin' dat coin (lit'rally)
23: getting in good with the cooks just by speaking a little Spanish
24: an Albuquerque Breakfast tea latte
25: assembling some cube shelving
26: a night walk through the snow (to the store)
27: green chile stew for a cold day
28: a vegan version of a Milky Way
29: popping into a Zoom chat to see the old gang
30: people being pleasant, polite, & patient despite the hectic disordered rush
31: James & the Giant Peach as our spooky movie pick

September

 1: the contrast of white baseboards against cream walls
2: teaming up with a stranger in Rocket League and playing some matches together
3: crouching inside the closet to help install the doors
4: snuggling in the backseat on the car ride back from the airport
5: finally checking out the vegan restaurant I drive by every day on the way to work
6: Sunday brunch at a local hipster eatery
7: him snuggled in the blankets & napping in my bed
8: little lizard outside on the windowsill
9: wrangling the hammer drill
10: cooking our separate dinners (staggered for the time difference) over video chat
11: when the dust finally settles
12: biking to midtown
13: bf video-calling me from work for a short bit
14: surviving a mini breakdown during one of our first solo pickup trips
15: jewel-like caterpillar eggs
16: the satisfaction of hammering nails
17: two remixes of the same song with very different vibes (1, 2)
18: sneaking in a drive around uptown
19: Portal 2, 2-player
20: out apple-pickin' with the gang
21: listening to Jubilee middle ground discussions while touch-up painting
22: virtual meetings eating up most of the work day
23: the sheer force of the pressure washer
24: installing a railing for the porch steps
25: getting adopted by our partner work team for a day
26: the increase in confidence and competence over the course of my first day
27: bustling around between people-watching
28: hot lunch thanks to a thermos
29: watching the debate livestream together
30: a rant/discussion about Helen Keller

August

1: Bonza
2: shoe painting
3: learning about the ship the album Mignonette was named after
4: piggyback through the bosque
5: peachy sunrise, orange midnight moon
6: already recognizing some new places thanks to Google street view
7: driving tour of Charlotte with my roommates
8: games and chatting with some people in my hall
9: playing a space shooter video game while it storms outside
10: watching workplace safety videos and wishing they were the JonTron parody
11: biking down a tree-lined street toward uptown
12: visiting other Habitat builds in the city
13: putting up posters he sent me
14: hammering up in the attic we built
15: him taking me along virtually on his commute to work
16: meal prepping for the week
17: busting into the boarded-up house next door (and immediately reinstalling the locks)
18: installing cabinets
19: settling for "good enough" on nitpicky adjustments
20: the fact that the caulking gun has a hook that perfectly fits ladder rungs (very helpful while up on the ladder)
21: glovin' up for tub scrubbin'
22: trying out chairs at the ReStore (or, "Sweet Seats" irl)
23: 100 Humans
24: putting in new doors
25: random and slightly creepy findings among the things left behind in the abandoned house
26: finding lined-paper pages of an unknown person's novel
27: getting into the deep existential discussions with my work teammate
28: jamming to Akrasia while rolling some fresh paint on the walls
29: new desk setup
30: black bean sweet potato chili
31: talking about my options