Blue Monday

I like winter...really I do. In fact, I like all seasons.  I spent my lunch break at work today thinking a lot about last year....not about bad things, actually quite the opposite.  I thought about how much fun I had last summer with my hiking, playing live out at the bars, prepping for grad school apps, taking classes, and seeing family and friends.  Normally I don't get in "ruts"...but today I really thought back to all those good memories and realized how apathetic I feel right now...particularly today.  I don't know why.  I just feel really unmotivated with little if any desire to "get out there" and "do things".   I just don't feel like doing much of anything.  My shows have been cancelled, Its too cold to hike, I don't know whats going on with grad school, and I'm only taking one easy class.  (among other things)

Then sure enough...I end up on cnn.com, or fox news or something and I read that today, Jan 22nd, is actually the most "depressing day of the year".  It's actually called blue monday.  Some professor in the UK determined some formula based on all these factors and determined that today, of all days, is when I should feel the crappiest. 

Does this explain this? Or is it just a my way of rationalizing it?  Heck, maybe its just a coincidence.

Mentality of a Pack-Rat

I have recently found myself going through all of my closets and cleaning up. A sort of mother-of-all spring cleanings. Throughout the process something became very clear to me. Let me explain...

I remember right after I graduated from college I lived in my own apartment for 1 year. When I moved, it took my 2 evenings to box stuff up, and a single day to load one UHaul truck. I moved my entire "life" in one truck load. It was simple....I lived simple. I had what I needed an no extraneous stuff. I liked it that way.

Over the course of the past 8 years I have been acquiring....and acquiring....and acquiring. With the extra room in the house, I would simply store something away in the attic if I didn't need it for a while. Well...if you don't use something for 3 years, you probably don't need it.

There are boxes and boxes of stuff in my attic. things I bought that I thought I needed, and things that I've acquired through various birthdays, christmases, and other occasions. Why do I have all of this crap? I don't need any of it.

Why don't we ever throw stuff away? Its just material stuff anyway. Most of it, we don't need. It's amazing how much our houses just "fill up".

Well, I'm done with it. I'm going on a Goodwill, Salvation Army, Purple Heart...rampage. Everything I don't need is getting donated, thrown out, or garage saled.

I made a 2007 resolution to start fresh and new....and I am. Sure there'll be some things I keep, but not many.

I am going to be very busy the next few nights. But it will all be over soon.


-john