Wednesday, February 06, 2008

It's That Time of Year

Why is my spell check not working? Is anyone else on blogger having that problem? I apologize in advance for any future misspellings (sp?) until this gets fixed.

Anyway, February in Upstate New York is pretty bleak. At lunchtime today, I took a ride around town just to get out of the office for a little bit. It was rainy and cold and cloudy and dark, and dirty slushy piles of plowed snow were everywhere, along with all the garbage that gets revealed when the snow melts.

The boss has been out of town, so I've been keeping myself busy with paperwork. He just called and said I could go home early if I wanted to, and I actually mentally recoiled because, well, there's nothing to do at home! I'd rather stay here and get paid for being bored than go home and be bored for free! I just can't seem to get excited about any of the "artistic" stuff I'm working on, and I can't seem to muster any energy for dusting, cleaning, etc. Not even my magic steam carpet cleaner interests me at this point. I can't seem to muster any energy for anything - there's a Netflix movie that's been sitting on my coffee table for weeks, and I just .... can't........seem to getting around to watching it.

A funny thing happens with the sidewalks in my neighborhood. Back when the snow first starts to fall (in OCTOBER, thankyouverymuch), my neighbors and I are all prompt about going out and shoveling the sidewalks. By January, we're not quite as quick with the shovel, and by last Friday, when the latest shitstorm hit, NOBODY in my neighborhood bothered with their sidewalks. It was like some collective subconscious decision had been made: "Screw it. We'll wait until it melts".

Oh, and I am so tired of getting up in the morning and getting ready for work in the dark. That's just not right.

SO, does anybody have any coping strategies for this time of year? Because I'm hanging on by my fingernails and fresh out of ideas.

Updated to add: The other night, I was actually thinking about going to the drugstore, picking up a bottle of temporary hair dye, and ...... No! NOOOOOO! Step away from the hair dye! I am usually extremely good at keeping myself entertained, but this winter is just kicking my butt. Hard.

3 comments:

letti said...

when i first came here, i got really discombobulated by the different times it got dark and light with the seasons. In Malaysia, noon is always when it is hottest, the sun always rises and sets at the same time every day of every year. My system still needs to get used to all of that, and it IS weird to wake up and it is all dark when you KNOW it should be light. I don't really have any tips, but just a hug :)

rockygrace said...

Thanks, Letti!

Anonymous said...

We have that dark thing here too. Dark when you get up and dark by 3 in the afternoon in mid winter. However, we're coming out of that now, the nights are getting shorter and it's still light when I leave the office at 5.30! Woohoo, the worst is over!

Last year though I bought a light box for SAD because I felt as mean and down as heck. Not sure if it helped though...