January 18th is the Cruellest Day

I thought that it was just me but apparently January 18th is called Blue Monday and is said to be the most miserable day of the year. Seems some cheery soul with a mind for equations whipped up a methodology for determining what day of the year lined up the perfect storm of lousy elements including debt, weather, lack of sunshine, post holiday pudge, affliction of SAD, etc.
I kept checking the lunar calendar last week and wondering why I felt so down, depleted and outright depressed. On the bright side of misery ( shadenfruede:)) I was not alone. I noticed that just about everyone else around me was in a crotchety mood. Public transportation commuters -- crankier than usual, sideswiping backpacks and bitching away on the Blackberry. Toronto Transit Commission employees -- this doesn't count -- it's part of their job description: they have to be miserable or they don't get paid. Usually benign co-workers -- not a laugh in sight. Even the happiest of non-chemically induced happy optimists, man with the rose coloured glasses (my darlin' husband) was pretty down...though to be fair he did discover, by week's end, that most of his woe was due to an infected root canal. More than enough to get most folks knickers in a knot.
I guess it didn't help matters this weekend that we're still anxious over Hank, canine son # 2, who is working through seasonal aches and pains, arthritis, etc. He's no youngin' and I worry about him constantly. Then there is the debt retirement issue in our house (this is somewhat connected to the previous issue and I wonder if I should just keep our veterinarian on a retainer)....we are living plastic free and it's an adjustment to be shaken by the constant reality that you can only buy what you can afford. Really? I haven't lived without a credit card since high school and nowadays there's nowhere to go when you need an advance on your allowance. Finally, my mood was not greatly improved by the selection of movies that we rented this weekend: The Hurt Locker and Moon. Great movie and good movie respectively but not exactly The Sound of Music. I wonder if they could be re-written as musicals?
I'm going to do some research into the science of Blue Monday and find out if I really have to wait until June 23rd (supposedly the happiest day of the year) to smile.