The Most Depressing Day of the Year?

According to a few sources, today, January 24, 2011, was supposed to be the most depressing day of the year. The sources claim that on this day, the majority of people who made New Year's Resolutions realized that they have not followed through or made sizeable progress on their plans for the year. Apparently, the sudden realization that yet another year will probably pass that they won't lose those stubborn 15 pounds or learn to salsa dance or go on an African Safari. Add bitterly cold temperatures and dreary weather to the equation, and this just pushes some people over the edge. And it just magically happens on January 24, so the sources say. I take it with a grain of salt, personally, because I have never really been the kind of person to make resolutions, but I am only 17-going-on-18, and maybe one day I will be in that position. Who knows?!


Anyway...
After hearing this news on the radio while I was driving to class, I decided to just see how the day actually turned out, and whether or not I would be in extreme emotional turmoil by the time I got home. So my day began with my Comp class. We are currently discussing classification essays, and today we read an example essay in class. The essay was entitled "No Wonder They Call Me A Bitch". You can't make this stuff up. No lie, that's what the essay was called. The essay was written by the food editor for Spy Magazine, which is no longer in publication. She wrote about her adventure of taste-testing various brands of dog food. She was very explicit in her descriptions of the appearance, content, and TASTE of these types of dog food. I'll spare you the gory details, because it honestly makes my stomach turn to think about it. The author obviously did her research, and she also wrote about the things that dog food is made of. That, in itself, is a deeply disturbing thought, although no worse than considering the content of, oh, say, bologna? It was not the best reading material for 8:00 on a Monday morning, but I survived. (Somehow, I feel like I'm overdramaticizing this a little, but it was gross.) After we read the essay, Ms. McCoy (my teacher) began to discuss this essay with my class. We had quite the conversation, and commented on various elements of the essay. As we were discussing advertising techniques that dog food companies use to entice consumers, Ms. McCoy brought out a box of dog treats. She told us that she wanted to know how they tasted and if the advertising was accurate. She asked if anyone in the class would be willing to try them. Finally, one brave soul ventured to the front of the room, and said that he would try a dog treat on the condition that she would too. They both took a bite, and the look on the guy's face was one of utter disgust. To see this unfold, it was one of the most hilarious things I have seen in a while. I was laughing so hard from his comments about the dog treats, that I was almost crying! On that note, our class was dismissed! After leaving the class, I had the comfort of knowing that if my day was to suddenly fall to shambles, at least I had one hilarious moment from the day to keep in my back pocket.

Eventually, I got back to Pioneer, and continued on in what I was thinking would be a normal day of school. After lunch, I headed to Mrs. Strickland's Class, and waited patiently to begin our typical Monday vocabulary assignment. Mrs. Golay was standing in the doorway to the room, talking to a few people, and suddenly the lights began to flicker a little bit. Mrs. Golay was right next to the light switch, so I figured that she accidentally bumped the switch with her elbow. That's about when I realized that the lights were also off in the next classroom, and that the lights weren't coming back on. This meant one thing: BLACKOUT!!!!! (As a side note, there was another blackout during my 8th grade year that included a food fight and having to practice basketball in the dark gym.) It was just what we needed to break up the monotony of the school day! With the sudden darkness, two things happened: 1) Everyone pulled out their cell phones or other light-generating objects, at the request of Mrs. Strickland. 2) The majority of my class reverted to a childlike state (more so than usual, actually) It definitely brought some humor to our day. After sitting around for a while, all classes were moved to the gym, since virtually none of the classrooms have windows and were pitch black. The time spent in the gym was great, because everyone got to hang out with their friends and just talk for about 1 1/2 hours. My friends and I had all kinds of profound discussions..well they weren't really that profound, because they were mostly about prom. We were sorely disappointed that school wasn't let out for the occasion (We are such seniors!) When we finally made a venture to the bathroom, the lights magically returned. Everyone was disappointed that the power returned, but life goes on. As it turned out, there was a squirrel that bit into a wire at the Waukomis power station, that caused a small fire and much chaos in the greater Waukomis area. This will be a memory that I will hang on to for quite some time. I'm sure that this will be brought up at my ten-year reunion, and any other subsequent reunions. I'm also sure that, provided I have children in the first place, I will pass this story on to them, looking back with a sense of nostalgia.

So the most depressing day of the year, eh? My day was not horifically traumatic by any means. It was actually one of my favorite days of the year, so far. (Yes, there isn't much to compare this with, but even so...) I honestly think that January is much too early to have the most depressing day; the year just began! February or March would seem more plausible, perhaps, but I don't find March to be depressing at all, because it contains Spring Break and my Birthday! Also, spring begins, and warmer weather slowly creeps our way.

No matter the case, I hope that everyone managed to hang in there for the day, and embrace the joy found in the little things in life!