Sunday, February 03, 2008

February Blues

Maybe it's just me, but I think February is a crummy month.

Now don't get me wrong, it has its high points: today is my son Matt's birthday, Tuesday is my son-in-law Vin's birthday, and Valentine's Day is coming up a week from Friday. Unfortunately, that leaves another 25 days of crummy month to get through.

Other months have it better. January has two Federal holidays (a pretty good deal for those of us working for the Federal government), March has St Patrick's day (when we can all wear those stupid buttons that say "Kiss Me, I'm Irish!"), April helps us ease into Spring, and May starts edging us into Summer. Kids get out of school in June, July starts the big picnic season (with the Fourth of July), and August is the hot month for swimming pools and walks on shady trails. September may be the official end of summer (on Labor Day), but the parents get to breathe a sigh of relief as the children go back to school. October starts the crisp days of autumn, when the leaves change colors and the mornings can be cool and bracing; November has two federal holidays (including Thanksgiving, my favorite) and my birthday. December, of course, has the Christmas holiday season.

And that leaves poor February.

It's short, having had days ripped off by various Roman emperors who wanted their months to be longer. The weather's generally lousy. Football season is nearly over. In an election year, you can't avoid being bombarded with political messages, most of them asking for contributions to keep the Satanic Opposition from triumphing over The Forces of Goodness and Light. We start worrying about getting our income taxes calculated. If you're a man, you start worrying about Valentine's Day gifts for your significant other (and heaven forbid you forget, or buy a gift deemed insufficiently demonstrative of the degree of your affection). If you're a lady, you start worrying that your significant other will expect ... uh ... horizontal favors in exchange for the gift he's bought you. I didn't even like this month's centerfold model in Playboy.

Yep. February pretty much takes home the loving cup for yucky.

Perhaps this explains my funk this morning. I know I'll feel better later, after I've called Matt to wish him a happy birthday, had the weekly talk with my Father and with my son and his family in Ohio, and after we've visited with Leya for a while to get our cuteness quotient elevated; but for now, sitting here at the keyboard, wondering when the phantom problem with my disc drive will pop up again (see yesterday's post), I think I'll just be grouchy for a little while, and blame it on February.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

4 comments:

John A Hill said...

Oh, Bilbo!

How can one be down on February? February marks the real beginning of the New Year. In just a matter of days pitchers and catchers will be reporting to Spring Training camps in the sunny south. They'll be followed by the rest of the team and BASEBALL will return to the US of A.

Oh, I know that there will be more scandal about drug use and there will be suspensions and suspicions...so what? The boys of summer are back on the diamond and all is right with the world.

I know that there will still be political commercials and debates, the economy still stinks and there is still that nasty business in Iraq, but at least there will be a place to go to escape all of that for a couple of hours at a time.
When your at the ballpark with a $5.00 hotdog in one hand and a $5.00 soda in the other...it's hard to imagine that there could be anything wrong in the world (other than the outrageous price for the soda. The ballpark dog is golden and a steal at twice the price!).

Cheer up, Bilbo. The Nationals will be in their new stadium and the Pirates will soon occupy the basement position once more.

Baseball is coming soon!
February is good!
Life is good!

Amanda said...

Don't worry. It will be over soon. I'm not crazy about February (and March) either because its the low activity months for me. Nothing exciting to look forward to.

The Mistress of the Dark said...

I'm not a fan of February either...and Valentine's Day..PAH! Plus I have not days off in this month...or March..or April for that matter.

WAH!

Anonymous said...

Bilbo, lad, how could you blame February when it is the birth month of two of our greatest presidents, men who made this country what it is? Although northerners do get cheated out of one holiday since the Feds promulgated President's Day (I don't think they celebrated Lincoln's birthday in Georgia before President's Day came along!), we still get at least one day off here at the Puzzle Palace. And February has the advantage of both being the shortest month and the only one that changes its length. Isn't that distinction enough? Besides, February is a wonderful month in Australia--just about mid-summer!

More kvetching from the usual anonymous poster.