February

February is a low time in my mood cycles. Winter, and February in particular, saps all the energy from me. My entire psychosomatic being wants to go into hibernation until the sun comes out again. I once wrote a poem describing February:

February is the unshaven month:
It lies around in a tattered gray undershirt
Too dispirited
To even finish out a full thirty days.

Not exactly a firework in the literary firmament, but I liked it.

And yet life goes on. Responsibilities don't hide under rocks even when we wish we could. I've found great solace in studying music. Music has always been the one solid comfort in my life. I remember when I had to work for a living (before my liberation into self-employment), jobs I despised, yet on my lunch break I could go out to my car, listen to Bach, Wagner, Beethoven for an hour, and survive another day. When I'm sad, music uplifts me. When I'm scattered, it grounds me. When the world breaks me, it puts me back together.

If it's a good day, music can only make it better.

Fortunately, February is a very good month for opera lovers. Three transmission this month in the Metropolitan Opera HD season. Not to mention all the great radio broadcasts.

Valentine's Day was good. Wife and I ate chocolate and watched movies. February isn't all bad. I just wish I had more energy. Yet the month is halfway over, and March just around the corner. In the meantime: