I just hate January

There are no pictures accompanying this blog today because frankly, I'm not in the mood. You see, it's January, and only the 5th day, but I'm already completely over it. New Year, Shmew Year. I want out.

I was driving home yesterday after two unbelievably bad days and I started thinking about what the rest of the month was going to be like when I remembered how much I just hate January, and it's a combination of multiple things really. 

One: It's winter.  

And I don't care where you are, it's not the fun kind of winter. Yes, there is fun in winter. When a chill is in the air and you need to wear a scarf, but the sun's still out and the leaves are falling...and it's still like fall, just a little colder...that's good winter. When you live in snow country and the snow is falling lightly and frosting the trees...that's good winter. January winter is crap. It's cold, it's gray, there's very little sun and here in California, it's rainy. Yuck. 

Two: It's after the holidays and usually after some time off work.  

For me this year, I was off for about a week and a half and enjoyed not even thinking about work during that time. Going back to work after time off is always hard, but when it's also after celebrating Christmas and ringing in the New Year, probably seeing friends and family and catching up on your life, it's even worse. In fact, it's depressing. Christmas decorations are coming down, de-festive-izing everything, and the bills are coming in for all the gifts you gave. And you were happy to give the gifts of course, but paying the bills is crap. Maybe this is why I leave my trees up a long time. I can't stand for my house to suddenly go back to its normal state. I need some of the joy to linger.

Three: It's the month leading up to my birthday.  

And don't get me wrong, I truly have no issue with my age and am more than happy to tell you what I'm turning if you ask me nicely, but there's just something about birthdays, at least for me, that make me think about everythng I'm doing in my life and wonder if I'm on the right path. This can naturally be a bit melancholy and just adds to the blah that is January.

Also, January is a long month and most people don't get Martin Luther King, Jr. Day off. I'm one of the lucky ones that does, but even that isn't enough to make me like January. I hadn't really put this all together until yesterday but that's really what's going on here. Bottom line: I just hate January. I just didn't realize it was going to knock me over so badly this year...staffing issues, bad traffic, forgot my purse at home, overslept, Sharks lost, Stanford and Ohio State won...I could go on, but I have to stop listing the things that happened in the last two days or I'll actually hurt someone.

I'm trying to figure out how to have a truce with January since there are so many days left in it, but so far, I've come up empty. It's possible that a trip to the mall will help, and Yahoo tells me it's supposed to be 60 degrees and sunny today. I'm certain that will help. My bills are all paid, and my trees are still twinkling, so I'm going to hang in there, but if I had the choice, I'd punch January right in the face and move right on to February.