to put it mildly

Today at work I sit amidst the Christmas decorations and listen to all the comments from the passers-by. The most popular seems to be a sort of whiny, snarly, "Christmas already!?!" Sure, we put them up a litle earlier than most, but shut-up about it. Isn't it nice to walk in from the damp fog to a sea of burgangy and gold ribbons, dark green boughs and lights? It's cozy and warm and bright and makes me feel at home here. People are so bah-humbug these days.

Reading the paper there is an article about a study done by Kate Harkness (Queens University). The study sought to prove that mildly depressed people fail to recognize the feelings and emotions of others. This was based on the assumption that mildly depressed (mildly being the key word), while still functional, tend to have more conflict and negative feelings towards those around them. The results of the study, however, proved the opposite. Apparently mildly depressed people are so in tune with the emotions of other people that they tend to lose track of the larger picture. Their abiliity to interact with others is diminished because they are constantly misinterpreting the intentions of other people. According to the article, the researcher was so surpriseed by the findings that she ran the study twice just to be sure. Having been mildly (what a term) depressed for most of my life the findings of the study don't surprise me at all. My perpetual discomfort around people has always stemmed from over-analysing the messages I get. Serious sensory overload.

The fog. Every morning when I wake up I see sun and clear sky. My house is in a magic valley apparently. Then I have to drive to work and I don't see the sun or the sky again for the rest of the day. Last night I was actually shocked to see the lights on the mountain; that's how accustomed I've become to this short-sighted living.

Here's a picture of J's new truck. In a stunning display of creativity I've knick-named it the "Silver Bullet".