Grow some funk of your own

I have been in a kind of funk for the last couple of weeks. It seems to grow worse by the day. Initially I simply thought it was PMS. Then I thought it was a combination of PMS and some real issues.

I really do like the work that I am doing at my (relatively) new job. Unfortunately, my boss is a volitile Mr Hyde/Dr Jekyll combo pack, with definite emphasis on the Mr Hyde persona. Plus, my sixty minute commute is sucking the life out of me.

The good side to the horrendous commute is my audio book time. It really does make a huge difference in my sanity. The week before Thanksgiving I listened to "House of Sand and Fog". What a depressing depressing DEPRESSING story. I nearly gave up on it several times. The writing was great, but I didn't think I could ride the train wreck of events until the end. I was grumpy enough without hearing about stupid people doing the most stupid things they could could do in every horrible situation they found themselves in.

Today I started Cormac McCarthy's The Road, a somewhat depressing post-apocalyptic story. I love the genre and the writing is great. However, the tone may not be in my mental best interest right now. Maybe the physical book I am reading will help counter act the downer to the McCarthy book.

This morning I started The Good Good Pig by Sy Montgomery. This non-fiction work is about how an amusing runt pig changes the author's perspective on life just when she needed it. I forget how I stumbled on the title, but I have been wanting to read it for a while. I like non-fiction about animals. Also, the author is a New Hampshire native. I was so warming to the author's voice this morning that I was annoyed that the timer on the stationary bike was beeping at me telling me it was time to go take a shower and start my misserable day.

I have been extra touchy around my family lately too. It's not fair to them, I know. I'm not sure what's causing it, so I don't know how to make it stop.

Unfortunately, my son is really starting to act like a sullen self-absorbed teenager. I had errands planned on Friday, that I expected my son to accompany me on. However, his attitude demonstrated that coming along would be a massive burden, so I uninvited him, in a snit as I stormed out the door. Then, my husband and I had planned a family outting on Saturday, which I categorically uninvited my son on, since he didn't seem all that interested in and I didn't want him sullying my good time (which I did have, thank you). Then, this evening, my son and I were discussing the latest topic in his school music class. Apparently, they are about to start a unit on music from the 1950's. When I offered to pull out some music from the era from my collection, he shot me down, saying that he really wasn't that interested in that music and would just take notes in class to meet the requirements for the unit. This really bummed me out, since I LOVE music and love to share it with others.

The day was also darkened a bit by an argument I got into with someone regarding Middle East politics. My undergraduate major was in history with a dual focus on both Middle Eastern and Jewish history. However, the person I was arguing with treated my knowledge and opinions as if they were meaningless. They know what they know and would not hear me. This has happened on this topic before with this person, even though my academic background on the topic is known.

So, grow some funk of your own, amigo.