I’m in the glider, under the full spectrum light and flannel sleeping bag, listening to Robin Guthrie/Harold Budd’s “Before The Day Breaks”. I feel a depression coming on. This grey, frigid weather will be the death of me. I understand why people move south, although I maintain a dogged and stubborn insistence that winter is part of my very soul. January and February can be a bitch. This depression is formless and different than my usual depression, and I suspect the lifeless darkness’ genesis stems from Shadow’s death, a lack of light, the impending start of the semester, and my perennially fucked up biology. Yay.

Last night we visited J and M’s house for dinner. M is an almost-retired executive/founder of a locally important institution. Let me leave it at that. You might think he would be an arrogant asshole, but he really is a laid-back, thoughtful individual, and I don’t mind sitting in his well-appointed living room and listening to him talk. The boys and his son sprinted through the halls and drew in an office while we ate a quiet and not unpleasant dinner. I normally don’t like to leave the house for social visits on cold Friday nights but if I have to go anyone M and J’s house is better than most. Unfortunately, J and M (my wife M, this time) told the kids they could sled at a nearby hill after dinner. We didn’t arrive home until after eight and the boys didn’t get to sleep until after nine. N, of course, was up by five. Can you see why I don’t like to go out on Friday nights? Well, that’s one reason, anyway.

This morning I decided I didn’t want to waste the morning sulking on the couch, so I reviewed a book (Architecture of Happiness) on GR before burning some discs for the mail. Later I took S to basketball (some frustration because S left his shoes in the van, M took N and T to the Y in the van, and M left her cellphone at home) and talked with R on the sidelines while S’s team decimated the opposition with poorly contained glee. Afterward S and I relieved M and N at T’s game (T is improving). The boys didn’t want to visit the post office and Best Buy with me so I dropped them at home and drove to Grafton to use their super cool self-service package mailing machine. I skipped Best Buy (I want to see tomorrow’s ad beforehand) and drove home. The mailman delivered the new Blender issue, which I took into the bath and read cover to cover while under water. Later I curled up on S’s bed with Waiting For the Barbarians. I like the book so far, but I’m not blown away.

Tomorrow is N’s delayed birthday party. I hit the ground running at work Monday morning. I’m tired. Good night.