Effing winter!

I must be a huge ageist, because I loathe Old Man Winter.  Actually, I'm terribly fickle when it comes to winter: between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I appreciate cold weather.  It's a little depressing to celebrate Christmas in short sleeves; hot cider and mulled wine are less appealing when you're sweating.  However, by New Year's Day, my tolerance for cold weather disappears.  If only I could bend the universe to my will, spring would start on January 2.  So lately, I've been longing for spring and warm weather.  I knew it was bad when I begin opening my bottle of Bobbi Brown Beach perfume (which smells like the Bain de Soleil my grandmother used to achieve her enviable tan: the smell of a childhood beach trip) and just inhaling.  So the question is, do I wallow in winter misery or try to rise above it?  Lately, I've been opting to wallow: there's been lots of cookie baking and, of course, eating whatever I've baked.  In that spirit, here's the music that fosters my winter blahs:

Seasonal Affective Disorder Jams

• "The Drugs Don't Work," The Verve
• "Rockferry," Duffy
• "So Cruel," U2
• "The Killing Moon," Echo and the Bunnymen
• "Lover, You Should've Come Over," Jeff Buckley
• "And I," Boyzone (shut up)
• "Viva Forever," Spice Girls (seriously, shut up)
• "To Love You More," Celine Dion (God!  Would you please shut up?)
• "Bedshaped," Keane
• "How Soon is Now," The Smiths
• "Never Tear Us Apart," INXS
• "The Promise," Tracy Chapman

Of course, if in the middle of all of this moping, "Imma Be" makes its way into the shuffle, it is perfectly acceptable to shrug off the winter blahs and shake it.  Even the best of bad moods can't be maintained forever.