October

1: black-market food dealings in class
2: organized marching bands (with feather caps, capes, and all)
3: kind of-sort of-maybe doing a climb-up (even if you hurt yourself doing it)
4: a "36 song golden collection" of Einaudi music
5: the game Flow
6: having a travel crew when you go on a trip
7: seeing how sets change from scene to scene and play to play
8: a restaurant breakfast of oatmeal and toast
9: sitting and talking with someone on a park bench
10: cafés that serve drinks in cups and saucers, with designs in the latte foam
11: exploring downtown, inner-city Portland
12: a home-cooked meal (after a week of restaurant eating)
13: National Coming Out Day posters at school
14: bio labs that make you feel like a doctor or chemist
15: narrowly escaping being tagged
16: finding Norma
17: a tenasketball tournament so brutal the askets snap into pieces and you get cut-up hands
18: half-napping while doing homework
19: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
20: cute crush stories
21: epic & awkward falls
22: "Due Tramonti" ("Two Sunsets") by Ludovico Einaudi
23: "Roots in a Parched Ground"
24: when someone backs you on your opinion when arguing with someone else
25: birthday parties with hiking, pumpkin carving, and card games
26: friends & birthday semi-parties
27: a crocheted, stuffed Ebola virus
28: watching a spider fight
29: Stevie and Sarah (on YouTube)
30: modern art with Cheerios
31: when somebody gets your costume

September

1: checking out house-like sheds at Home Depot
2: The Frames' The Cost
3: not getting drawn into the sequel of a dystopian book
4: Big Brother-/Survivor-type shows with a medieval twist
5: goofy laughing, grinning moods
6: when a dog curls up next to you and puts her head in your lap
7: solving more than half of the puzzles on NPR
8: dressing like a snappy little valet
9: homemade fried rice
10: guessing the right answer to a hard Pictionary word
11: empowering words
12: your best friend understanding, communicating, and being supportive
13: limo and tram rides
14: handsome brothers Zeus and Hercules waiting to get adopted
15: finding a shady place to read
16: standing up for Rosalind Franklin
17: giving to a friend, and your friend giving back
18: super lax auditions
19: an uncanny impression of Obama
20: pig pics
21: going crazy when the parents leave on Sunday night and doing the dishes
22: "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" in Russian (Это нет трубка)
23: pajama day!
24: condoned use of profanity in English class
25: creative writing for bio
26: being forever alone, riding a tandem bicycle
27: rooting for the other team at your homecoming football game
28: hiding out in Kona's kennel like a stowaway
29: you and your friend reading lines/acting out a play in English class with passion
30: waking up when you're cold so you can get a blanket

August

1: inner-city Seattle
2: barefoot walks in the surf
3: revisiting the same used bookstore you found six years ago
4: seeing glass-blowing in action
5: coming back from a big city to return to your ghost-town state
6: helping a neighbor's dog get back home
7: funny & friendly bankers
8: a stumbling toddler jumping into the foam pit after his mom and brother
9: a dog getting so excited to play fetch they chase the ball even if you only kicked it a few inches
10: friendly baristas at Starbucks
11: random people making rock & roll hand signals to you from another car
12: making a Jeep friend
13: videos of dogs playing on YouTube
14: "In a Station of the Metro" by Ezra Pound
15: watching documentaries and docu-dramas in class
16: a black widow eating a baby lizard
17: Ansel Elgort in The Fault in Our Stars
18: nobody seeing you epically trip
19: virtual evolution simulators
20: turning my HP into a TeaBook Pavilion
21: learning to play "Colorblind" on piano
22: el cortometraje "Cuerdas"
23: getting a dog prepped for the World Cup
24: Ludovico Einaudi's album Divenire
25: starting a part-dystopian, part-autobiographical story
26: when the new kid welcomes YOU in
27: that one kid in the class who uses Ubuntu
28: zucchini latkes
29: IQ and common sense tests on YouTube
30: feeding a pig carrots
31: Keira Knightley in Begin Again

July

1: writing on the whiteboard in the doctor's office
2: drawing interpersonal drama webs for soap operas
3: when books & movies make you shudder
4: putting smoke bombs in a bucket of water
5: winning Minecraft Hunger Games
6: dogs getting adopted
7: Dogs 101 clips on YouTube
8: a solid hour of heavy drizzling
9: the Extant premiere
10: Nintendogs
11: stride-and-jump practice
12: having the park to myself for five minutes
13: your parents letting you pick out two things exclusively for yourself when you're at Costco
14: making intense future-life spreadsheets
15: doing a somersault/front flip off the diving board
16: finding your way back home in survival (Minecraft)
17: helping out "the crew"
18: trying out toys at ToysRUs
19: when a dog successfully performs stay
20: the golden-honey triplets (Ivy, Toby, & Diego)
21: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
22: day trips and bike rides
23: making vacation plans
24: organizing papers in folders and file cabinets
25: Ben's tearful confession on The Young and the Restless
26: taming and naming wolf packs in Minecraft
27: when a dog gets so sleepy they start swaying and falling over on you
28: checklists for packing
29: writing directions to all your desired destinations within a city
30: balcony & window views of the water
31: navigating backward through an unfamiliar city

June

1: how the two halves of the sky glow in complementary colors at sunset
2: bushwhacking through the wilderness, carrying a bike over your shoulder
3: when an author puts a dog into a story without effort
4: Queen Latifah
5: killing the night beasts of Minecraft
6: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book
7: meeting all the shelter dogs and learning their names
8: finally drying/mopping up the two inches of water on your kitchen floor
9: the Tamagotchi fruit characters
10: melty-cheese nachos
11: glue-stick and marker projects
12: when the moon turns the clouds silver
13: returning to something you've been apart from for a long time
14: playing with and baby-talking to a dog
15: writing Russian Father's Day cards
16: flipping a tire without the teacher's help
17: watching people cry on Dr. Phil
18: The First Part Last by Angela Johnson
19: studying русский
20: designing party invites
21: being "that guy" & asking employees if their products have gelatin
22: watching World Cup games
23: watching New Mexicans compete in American Ninja Warrior
24: Dog Whisperer
25: Skyping a 12-year-old from New Zealand
26: The Cat Returns
27: seeing someone from your favorite TV show in real life
28: actually being put to work at a volunteer event
29: dogs coming over to say hi to you
30: finally being able to see (in sunlight) after an optometrist's appointment

May

1: a friendly acquaintance sitting by you and making friendly jokes
2: turtles smiling at you
3: having conversations and pretending to be valley girls
4: regressing to a past life
5: poem exposés on PBS
6: when friends make up a game but don't even know the rules
7: blowing so hard into a wind instrument that your teeth ache
8: "Traffic Racer"
9: the animations for "Goodbye Blue Sky"
10: hanging out with and talking to a friendly stranger
11: mini timelines
12: Tori Amos' "Crucify"
13: coming up with "life is precious" slogans
14: apathy with friends & true emotion with family
15: how Gordon Ramsay hates everyone
16: avenging your brother in Minecraft Hunger Games
17: playing with a balloon
18: alternating between Let's Be Still and Waiting for the Dawn
19: being a totally chill bro
20: trying to write a not-too-sentimental goodbye letter
21: a goodbye party for a good friend
22: drinking Earl Grey tea and writing
23: when a friend writes you a birthday card using mostly Beatles lyrics & song titles
24: Ian McKinnon's "S F-squared" acronym
25: Kona selfies
26: renovating your room for the summer
27: almost losing $300 but then digging through recycling and finding it
28: filling out a zillion job apps
29: finding out weird/cool facts that you never knew about musicians
30: exercise breaks to relieve the burning-chest feeling
31: playing pretend with dogs

April

1: Minecraft's April Fools' prank
2: sneaking into rooms to play piano
3: wearing Joker makeup nowhere near Halloween
4: Friday night junk food & movies
5: crying at Gravity
6: Mozilla Firefox
7: finishing a school textbook
8: easy sightreading
9: the character of the Joker in The Dark Knight
10: an award for loving Shakespeare
11: "Love is an Open Door"
12: used-book-sale treats
13: taco night
14: Monday night sitcoms
15: trying to ride a bike backwards
16: "waking up" during meditation & not knowing what you were just thinking about
17: patio furniture at CostCo
18: mini cheesecakes
19: filming in the rain
20: "Love is a Mystery"
21: cellentani pasta
22: the journey of a little bug (on the car window)
23: the Bard's birthday
24: being able to relate with a peer
25: waking up too early and getting to "sleep longer"
26: chillin' with a dog
27: reenacting "Let it Go"
28: giving yourself pep talks
29: cheering for your friends when they appear in the school slideshow
30: "City of Delusion"