Ahh. . .January.

I thought I'd write an Ode to January, a difficult task seeing as it is definitely my least favorite month. Isn't it funny how all the snow and chilly weather that was a must-have for the Christmas season is suddenly unbearable once the clock strikes twelve on New Years Eve? Darker days combined with that never-ending list of New Years Resolutions ( I have recently heard them deemed "aspirations" and I like that much better) can feel ever so heavy.

As I was thinking about this yesterday (definitely a dull, blah day for me) I happened upon this excerpt from The Phantom Tollbooth. Anyone remember that one from elementary school? Anyway, with the constant flutter of snow coming down lately and the less-than-cheery overcastness of it all I think we can all relate to Milo's visit to the Doldrums. So even though the sun has begun to shine this morning and I'm feeling much more alive and ambitious, I decided to make this little snippet my Ode to January, the Doldrumiest month of them all! Happy Reading!



"Well, if you can't laugh or think, what can you do?" asked Milo.
"Anything as long as it's nothing, and everything as long as it isn't anything," explained another. "There's lots to do; we have a very busy schedule-
"At 8 o'clock we get up, and then we spend
"From 8 to 9 daydreaming.
"From 9 to 9:30 we take our early midmorning nap.
"From 9:30 to 10:30 we dawdle and delay.
"From 10:30 to 11:30 we take our late early morning nap.
"From ll:00 to 12:00 we bide our time and then eat lunch.
"From l:00 to 2:00 we linger and loiter.
"From 2:00 to 2:30 we take our early afternoon nap.
"From 2:30 to 3:30 we put off for tomorrow what we could have done today.
"From 3:30 to 4:00 we take our early late afternoon nap.
"From 4:00 to 5:00 we loaf and lounge until dinner.
"From 6:00 to 7:00 we dillydally.
"From 7:00 to 8:00 we take our early evening nap, and then for an hour before we go to bed at 9:00 we waste time.
"As you can see, that leaves almost no time for brooding, lagging, plodding, or procrastinating, and if we stopped to think or laugh, we'd never get nothing done."
"You mean you'd never get anything done," corrected Milo.
"We don't want to get anything done," snapped another angrily; "we want to get nothing done."
"You see," continued another in a more conciliatory tone, "it's really quite strenuous doing nothing all day, so once a week we take a holiday and go nowhere, which was just where we were going when you came along. Would you care to join us?"
"I might as well," thought Milo; "that's where I seem to be going anyway."

The Phantom Tollbooth
by Norton Juster