Post-Winter Break/Pre-Spring Break Slump
January, possibly the lonliest month of the year. The Holiday season has left you with 80% liver function, less for some of us, and now the only thing that you have to look forward to is... MLK day? Certainly not Valentine's Day for those of us that are and will continue to be single. V-day is a touchy subject sometimes. I feel that I teeter back and forth on whether I think that it truly is a capitalistic holiday, a brain child of the people at Hallmark, who right now sit in their $2,000 leather office chairs and chuckle at our desire to fulfill what has become a cultural norm of chocolates and cards for a gloomy day in the shortest month of the year. OR... I sometimes think that it represents a day when you should gift things to the ones that you care about most. Not gift in the capitalistic Christmas sense, which has also become a cultural norm (more about that later), but more like a true appreciation of one's wellbeing and friendship, a sort of Thanksgiving for the beginning of the year. Of course my feelings on the issue tend to depend on whether or not I am dating someone at the time, and on the amount of Elliott Smith that I listen to in the days or weeks preceeding the holiday.
Here is my aside for Christmas, and how it has become so little of what it was intended to be. One of my friends, who is Hindu, asked a doc at the hospital how his Christmas was. Innocent question, aside from the fact that the doctor was Hindu as well. He responded that it went well and both went about their business. I said to my friend, "Dude, you don't believe in Christmas." He responded with, " No, I don't, but we put up a tree and have presents underneath it at home." I was taken aback for a second. This is the kid who's mother won't touch meat because she is such a strict vegetarian (a Hindu norm), and he's telling me that they have a freaking Christmas tree? It took maybe half a second and then we talked about how it was not a Christian tradition any longer, but an American tradition, well... maybe I should say a Western tradition. Ponder that my sociologically inclined friends.
Back to the lonliness of January. I got up the other day to pitch black skies and a brisk breeze blowing into my face when I left my apartment after 8:00 A.M. (I usually leave much before then. I had a late class.) What a shitty deal. I don't get home until its dark either. So, during January, I see the sun in passing through a hallway or walking to the hospital. Possibly some other time for a brief moment I get an occasional glimpse. All told I will probably see the sun for less than 7 hours a week, and that is probably being too generous about it. That is less than an hour of sun a day. I now know why Alaska has the highest suicide rate among the 50 states. It is either black for months or the sun is up all night and you can't sleep. Not that I'm having suicidal ideations, but it sucks nonetheless.
Out of TH in less than 5 months...
Music selection: What else? Elliott Smith. If I'm never going to see the sun, I might as well play the depression music. My favorite line right now: "Cut this picture into you and me. Burn it backwards. Kill this history." -"Sweet Adeline"
Closely followed by: "I haven't laughed this hard in a long time. Better stop now before I start crying." -"Twilight"
Here is my aside for Christmas, and how it has become so little of what it was intended to be. One of my friends, who is Hindu, asked a doc at the hospital how his Christmas was. Innocent question, aside from the fact that the doctor was Hindu as well. He responded that it went well and both went about their business. I said to my friend, "Dude, you don't believe in Christmas." He responded with, " No, I don't, but we put up a tree and have presents underneath it at home." I was taken aback for a second. This is the kid who's mother won't touch meat because she is such a strict vegetarian (a Hindu norm), and he's telling me that they have a freaking Christmas tree? It took maybe half a second and then we talked about how it was not a Christian tradition any longer, but an American tradition, well... maybe I should say a Western tradition. Ponder that my sociologically inclined friends.
Back to the lonliness of January. I got up the other day to pitch black skies and a brisk breeze blowing into my face when I left my apartment after 8:00 A.M. (I usually leave much before then. I had a late class.) What a shitty deal. I don't get home until its dark either. So, during January, I see the sun in passing through a hallway or walking to the hospital. Possibly some other time for a brief moment I get an occasional glimpse. All told I will probably see the sun for less than 7 hours a week, and that is probably being too generous about it. That is less than an hour of sun a day. I now know why Alaska has the highest suicide rate among the 50 states. It is either black for months or the sun is up all night and you can't sleep. Not that I'm having suicidal ideations, but it sucks nonetheless.
Out of TH in less than 5 months...
Music selection: What else? Elliott Smith. If I'm never going to see the sun, I might as well play the depression music. My favorite line right now: "Cut this picture into you and me. Burn it backwards. Kill this history." -"Sweet Adeline"
Closely followed by: "I haven't laughed this hard in a long time. Better stop now before I start crying." -"Twilight"
posted by runrMD08 at 5:23 PM
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