I was listening to Q on the CBC yesterday, and they had a performance artist on there from Iceland who recently did an installation where the band The National played their song “Sorrow” over and over again, live, for six hours. The host asked the artist why he was drawn to such a sad song, and he said it actually made him feel happy – that the song had more of a feeling of melancholia, and that melancholy is the “joy of being sad.”

It’s been a cold, bleak January, but sometimes it’s kind of nice to hibernate with big fluffy socks on and your sixth cup of tea and rosy red cheeks, and wallow in the joy of being sad, don’t you think? July and August leave no time for wallowing. Sometimes I just need a good wallow.