Fall and Rise

My first choice of where to live is an easy one.  I’m from the Caribbean and live in the Midwest region of the United States of America.  All the hype about living in America aside, my choice of living places has to be back in Trinidad and Tobago.  For people who come from the northern part of the world,  I suppose there would be hype surrounding the Caribbean islands too.  To me, it is home.  A note of interest would be these terrible snowstorms we experience where I live.  But more specifically, my choice, in Trinidad is an area called Diego Martin which is my home town.

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Being a superhero by choice would probably make me want to have the ability fly.  Above all else, my super power would be the ability to fly.  Well, I’ve always dreamt (sometimes literally, while sleeping) that I could fly.  If I could fly, I could travel places where you can’t on roads.  But being a superhero means crime fighting which means I could possibly act as a lookout in a similar way to a helicopter; with my flying powers.  Of course, I could always do the routine “rescue a cat from a tree.”  act and make firefighters look like mere wannabes.

The coolest gift I have ever gotten just happened to be for Christmas this year (2010).  I went to my uncles place for Christmas day to have a proper lunch.  The gift he gave me was a set of two things, which include a bottle opener and a black polo shirt.  Both of the items have the logo of a Caribbean beer brewer popular in Trinidad (where we were visiting for the holidays).

The second coolest gift was, again, for Christmas.  Spending the holiday in New York City enabled me to visit a childhood friend from when I lived in Trinidad.  He gave me Resident Evil 2 to go along with my play station which I also got for that same Christmas gift.

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Why is it that levels of depression and sadness tend to go up during the long, dark and cold days of winter?  Could it be the lack of bright sunshine,  or the feeling of discomfort when the winds blow the cold right up your spine?  I have always felt sad and uncomfortable during the winter months for December – March,  and from talking with others,  this feeling is quite common.   Granted that we cannot really do much about it,  unless we become “snowbirds”,  people who live in one place for the summer,  then go south to Arizona or Texas for the winter ;  but are there things we can do to get our minds off this?  I find that doing more reading,  drinking more hot chocolate, and snuggling up in bed with a warm blanket does a great deal to help.  If money were no object,  I would become a snowbird,  but that is unfortunately not a luxury that I and most others can afford.  So, I arm myself with lots of hot chocolate  and coffee,  lots of books,  and make sure my blanket is fluffed up and ready.  At least we can be comfortable while we wait for the weather to improve.