Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Did I seem snappish on Monday? Well, I’m sorry. So sorry. Turns out what I really needed was some hot cocoa along with a reassurance that all this ice will melt, perhaps against a backdrop of music propagated by woodland creatures, and form a killer icicle capable of skullfucking a pedestrian eight ways to Friday.

It’s not so much the winter blues, though, so I just wanted to make this clear. Those of you in the Midwest or Canada, my comrades in these inhospitable hinterlands, know we are party to a beast who will not leave for a good third of the year. It knocks on your door, sets up residence, and then the freezing begins. But at the same time, you can predict the blues, and this takes the edge off somewhat.

I’m sure you’ve heard of the Zeitgeist. The term’s a little nebulous–the spirit of the times isn’t exactly concrete, after all–and it’s often presented as a kind of engine for the major movements of an era. The idea I’m kicking around tonight is more like the ugly stepchild of the Zeitgeist. Let’s call it a Litegeist. I’ll define it as a phenomenon, usually lasting a couple days, which affects multiple people simultaneously.

Do you ever call friends or family and conclude, much to mutual amazement, quite a few people are having a bad week? You know those conversations, I’m sure. They usually go, “Wow, it sounds like everybody’s having a bad day.” That’s the Litegeist or, if we want to keep our variants in pristine order, it’s the Shitegeist. I think it’s here now, actually.