`presenteeism:' the lights are on but nobody's home.

"It's the same thing as when you're not mentally functioning at your peak," says Jurgens. "You're not on task, you're easily distracted. It's a wider phenomenon than absenteeism."

One theory says that only people who tolerate the cold can stay in such a place, and over eons you get a very hardy group, says Levitan, who studies the role of genes in adapting to seasonal changes.

Meanwhile, we cope by sleeping and eating more, though it's not entirely clear how a plate of creamy risotto and duck confit helps relieve winter boredom (it has something to do with dopamine).

http://www.thestar.com/News/Ideas/article/308542


so that's the excuse for low productivity in canaydiuh when it hits the winter months. the article says that people in iceland dont have the same problem. but they dont have hot summers like we have in canadia.

in trinidad what's the excuse for absenteeism? or presenteeism? a general laziness? i'm just as bad as the next person. i've mentally planned my next use of my personal days for the purpose of maintaining my mental health in the 6 week stretch of no holidays from april to may.

but as for the rest of it? i get lots of vitamin D thanks to the fact that the sun has a fairly direct line of attack at this latitude. my mother was not ....pleased... to hear about me waking up to the sound of my neighbor doing laundry outside and the birds twittering and the increasing heat in my room due to sunlight outside. she responded in a tone that said 'yeah THANKS a lot for telling me that'.

later i learned that toronto had another weather hell week: -20 to -30 and a snowstorm on friday that delayed traffic all over the place during rush hour.

as the kids said in montreal in november 'MISS ITS COOOOLD! how do you people LIVE here?!?!?!?!'

we responded that that's why we moved to trinidad.

unconvinced, they said 'YEAH, but you're moving BACK!!!?!'

so true, young socrates, so true.

next year if anyone is looking for me during winter, i'll be curled up in a ball, rocking in a corner, with my ipod plugged in blasting 2k8 soca and mumbling "its so cooooold! its so cooooooold!!!"

i definitely appreciate every day of sunlight as my time here draws to a close. its not to say that i wont be back. but living here and visiting are two different things as everyone knows. (see my tour guide post for more on that)

at work though we definitely feel the drudge. i would like to say that its because as canadians we're programmed to equate sunny days with vacation times and not with work times so we loathe being at work when teh sun is shining - because that happens so rarely throughout the year. apparently 18 months of living in the tropics isn't enough to undue our psychological makeup.

OR it could be post carnival depression. not everyone participates in all the festivities, but its hard not to get caught up in it in some way shape or form. and of course, you get 3 days off in that whole deal.

toronto needs to pick up some holidays. trinidad has at least 1 a month (with the exception of april this year). sleeping in or liming one day extra a month is good for your health, in my professional opinion.

yeesh.
i shouldnt be up now. but i am. eh well.