Lemits time is here

It's Wednesday night, so I can stay up late. And I don't feel like doing my homework right now, so I decided to blog.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. It was rather uneventful. I was feeling a little sad that the only Valentine candy I had was the end of my conversation hearts, but my roommate came home and gave me a jar of cinnamon lips his mom gave him, since he doesn't like candy that much. Valentine's Day is pretty pointless.

But it's no more pointless than the next holiday. There are eight holidays I formally celebrate, and of these eight, St. Patrick's Day is the most pointless one. I mean, it's a day to wear green, eat green food, and think about Ireland. Which is so ironic because no one in Ireland even cares. If you're not a Mormon it's a day for drinking. And drinking is purely idiotic--what's the point of having a holiday if you can't even remember it?

St. Patrick's Day is the only holiday for which I have no music. The only show I have is a leprechaun-themed episode of Bewitched that aired on March 17, 1966. Most of the candies and desserts I eat are available year round, and usually consist of mint things, but also include pistachio, lime, and green apple. I also eat gold-wrapped candies, like Rolos, Werther'ses, and chocolate with almonds. There's not much uniquely St. Patrick's Day.

This is a really weird time of year, and it's not just because of this green-themed holiday. Ever since I was eleven, I've found I always have weird feelings at this time of year.

I came up with a word to describe the weirdness of this time of year: lemits [LEE-mits]. You know how when you are almost but not quite asleep you think nonsensical things that sometimes strangely make sense? A few weeks ago I had one such incident when I thought of this word. Don't ask for an etymology. There is none. It just coined itself in my head.

Lemits usually starts after Valentine's Day (although in recent years there have been hints of it before then), climaxes around St. Patrick's Day, and diminishes by Easter. It comes with intermediate temperatures, unpredictable weather, sunsets that are later than they were but are still relatively early, and stresses usually with nothing else to look forward to. Here in college the projects start piling up even though there's still another month of school. In high school you had to start preparing hard for tests, but the tests were still too far to look forward to them being over.

Lemits often manifests itself in the form of depression. Even though it is getting warmer and the days are getting longer, it is more depressing than full-blown winter. My mom is convinced it's because you've been a long time without sunlight. Maybe for other people, but I don't think this is the case for me, because it is often sunlight that compounds the lemits depression. In recent years, it hasn't been so depressing. One of my professors said that February is the month with the most suicides of college students. I'm not at all suicidal, but I can see how this could be, since it is the onset of lemits.

Lemits, however, is not always depressing. But lemits is, by definition, always weird. I don't know how to describe it. There's just something about the shadows, the air, and the smells that says, "This is sure a weird time of year." It's not always depressing, but it's never completely positive. There's always some bit of uneasiness or unhappiness associated with it. I don't know how many people feel these lemits feelings. Because of that, I really wish I could describe them. But I can't! I know it when I feel it, but I can't describe it.

It's time to brace myself for lemits!