BUSH'S WIN ADDS TO SEATTLE'S GLOOM

Washington Post via Mercury News ^ | 11/7

[ambrose]

Posted on Sun, Nov. 07, 2004

BUSH'S WIN ADDS TO SEATTLE'S GLOOM

MOOD-CRUSHING WINTERTIME ARRIVES, AND JOLT OF COFFEE MAY NOT HELP

By Blaine Harden

Washington Post

SEATTLE - It has been a SAD week in Seattle, city of rain, darkness, caffeine, secularism and an 82 percent majority that voted in vain to fire President Bush.

SAD, as just about everybody here knows, is an acronym for seasonal affective disorder, the mood-crushing curse of wintertime existence in the northernmost major U.S. city in the Lower 48. An estimated 20 to 30 percent of residents experience some degree of the disorder, which researchers believe is triggered by the body's reaction to reduced natural light. Symptoms include sadness, irritability, gluttony, weight gain, menstrual difficulties and interpersonal strain.

As expected, suffering began last Sunday, with the end of daylight-saving time. Like a guillotine blade, darkness fell at 5 in the afternoon. It was the pitiless annual reminder that by midwinter, there would barely be eight hours of daylight, almost all of it sponged up by thick blankets of concrete-colored clouds that, on average, squat over Seattle 226 days a year.

The next day, election eve, it rained hard. The wind blew, roofs leaked, basements flooded and Seattle seemed to slip irretrievably into the dank funk that has given birth to the SAD resistance movement, otherwise known as excessive caffeine consumption. That movement gave birth to Starbucks and scores of other, lesser-known local purveyors of overpriced coffee.

-snip-

As election returns sank in, the city's seasonal slough of despond seemed to deepen. A local public radio talk show kicked off a lugubrious afternoon of post-election whining with a saxophone solo of ``Am I Blue?'' Several callers said they would be moving to nearby British Columbia.

[dfwgator]

LOL, that looks like any typical day in Seattle.

[GW and Twins Pawpaw]

I know of one in Seattle. He is exactly a gloom and doom idiot!!!

[ezo4]

that pretty much nailed it. All true

[albee]

"...Symptoms include sadness, irritability, gluttony, weight gain, menstrual difficulties and interpersonal strain."

Geeeez! That sounds like Seattle all year around!

[paulsy]

well my parents live in Snohomish and they are NOT blue. I'd say for them and at least 1/3rd of those like them up there, the election results were like Prozac on Steroids! My poor little brother though... he lives on Capital Hill (need I say more?). I better go visit him.

[ElkGroveDan]

I believe there are many high bridges in the Seattle area.

[Mr.Atos]

They'll be dancing naked in the streets of Fremont and stroking their giant bronze statue of Lenin again by Spring Solstice, don't you worry.

[Volunteer]

W 1!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!

[FreeRadical]

IMHO, SAD is a bunch of BS manufactured to sell Lights, Drugs and Misery. (BTW: I've lived in AK for 7+ years, now.) I think there are maybe 5-10 people per bazillion that actually have some problem, the rest are just whiners, wimps and other malcontents. This article says 20-30% of the populace of Seattle has a problem with SAD. I'll bet that 95% of those SAD sacks fit most, if not damn near all, of this profile:

• little to no exercise
• little to no outdoor time
• little to no religion or faith
• too much caffeine
• too much pot or alcohol
• too little attention to blood sugar and other nutritional basics
• too much or too little sleep
• too many or too few lovers // ie generally screwy love life
• too little or too screwy of a family life, if any at all
• too much willingness to believe articles that start with "a recent study suggests"
• too eagerly gobble up zoloft, zanax, prozac, ambien and other new school "my pussy hurts" drugs // ie generally screwy, pharmacologically stunned brain chemistry
• etc etc

  Now, if I only didn't believe it morally wrong to pursue such govt teat foolishness, I'd seek a big fat federal grant to do the research and prove this common sense stuff. Wonder if these shameful, woe is me, screw ups would read a paragraph that begins "A Recent Study Proves You're Simply a Dumb Ass with Fairly Easily Solved, Mostly Self Induced Problems".

[ElkGroveDan]

Seattle has a much more pleasant daytime than California .. the sunlight is softer, more filtered by the atmosphere, and easier on the eyes.

Having grown up in Southern California and having lived at various latitudes above and below Seattle, I can honestly say that is one of the silliest things I have ever heard.

[valkyrieanne]

Good for "menstrual difficulties" too, I hear.

[avenir]

Living in DFW area of Texas, I cherish my gloomy days and sometimes wish there were more.

Years ago a friend of mine was very depressed, and moved home to stay with her parents for awhile...in Seattle! Let's just say it didn't cheer her up much. Eventually she wound up in San Jose, CA, married with kids and happy for years now.

[Parmy]

Let me tell you, we who live on the RED side of the state are ecstatic. Red starts at the crest of the Cascades. Out side of the occasional wounded democrat who for unknown reasons lives on this side of the Cascades there is euphoria.

[badgerlandjim]

[moehoward]

LOL!!

I live here, had a small party the weekend before the election. Invited all our lib friends. It was a kind of Tex/Mex party except no "Mex". Small Texas flags were tastefully displayed and we served southwestern dishes. I don't think a single one of them got it.

[Malleus Dei]

Hearing the lamentations of Seattle is just so sweet.

[Tax Government]

I refer to days in Seattle when the sunlight is not obstructed by clouds. "Bright" days are much easier on the eyes. Much less squinting. I've been both places -- Seattle and So. Cal. -- long enough to know the difference. What part of any of this sounds silly?

[Annie5622]

could be why they drink all the time? HAHAHAH

[Keith]

Post of the day...a very accurate assessment.