FRIDAY, 5.10.02

Have you ever noticed that bad days come in clusters? And that when you have a bad day, in the midst of the damn thing you keep saying to yourself "I can't believe how bad this day is," and that of course only makes it worse. Maybe it's just that when a string of bad things happen in a row in one day you take notes of them in your mind. Once you've decided in your mind that it's a bad day, it immediately becomes one and then you naturally find fault in so many things you might not have found before.

Bad days as an adult are so incredibly different than when you're a teen or a kid. When you're real young, a bad day means you don't get dessert, a kid calls you a name in the playground, you have to visit an annoying relativefriend or a rainy day when you're supposed to go on a fun field trip. The teenage years are filled with bad days. Issues like a lot of homework, getting in a fight with your parents, getting a bad grade, finding out the boy you like doesn't like you, visiting an annoying relative/friend, getting beat up by your sibling and not speaking with a good friend.

As an adult, bad days are bad but I often find that they are bad because of materialistic, inconvenient reasons, which doesn't seem so bad if you think about the other option. Money is a big issue, bills, saving it, spending it - so when bad days happen it usually has to do with something that causes you to lose money in some way - a car accident, a nasty wisdom tooth that has to be removed when you have no dental insurance, your rent increasing, that damn Massachusetts exise tax and the fact that your salary sucks. Then there's the time factor - feeling like the weekends are too short, not having time by yourself, not having time to spend with your friends, feeling like time is going faster and faster.

Does anyone have any advice on how to handle bad days? Maybe I take life too seriously, but when I find myself up against a bad day I just don't know what to do sometimes. I feel helpless and out of control. If you have some words for me, e-mail me because I welcome any opinion I can get. And don't tell me to go take a bath. I've already tried that one.

Oh - and if you want to listen to the song "Bad Day," by the Shelley Winters Project, click here and scroll to the bottom of the page. And if you want to read the lyrics, go to this lyrics page and drown yourself in sorrow.