Where is the fucking sun?

Vitamin D supplements only go so far in helping me keep my head above water in these weary, bleary, dreary days of late fall and winter. Here are some other suggestions for surviving in Ithaca or other places that are bereft of sunshine for days and weeks at a time. Of course if you like to freeze your ass off in winter, go skiing or skating or ice fishing or snow shoeing. But if you're like me (poor circulation in my fingers and toes, a crappy knee and an abhorrence of the bitter cold), those aren't really options, now are they?

• Pandora.com - The music genome project allows you to create "stations" that play the kind of music you want to hear. I rely on this as a free alternative to the music in my iTunes that I've heard a hundred times. Currently I have a number of stations that provide me with everything from ambient trance music to 70s R&B to trip hop to classical.
• Movies - Go to a theatre, not just Netflix. Yes, it's expensive, but it also gives you the full experience of being absorbed in another place and with other people's adventures for a time. Just remember to make your popcorn at home and bring in a paper bag, and pick up your Hot Tamales at Target before you go.
• Build a fire - but only if you have a fireplace or one of those outdoor fire pit thingies.
• Get up earlier and go to bed earlier - I know it sounds crazy, but I do find that I have more energy in the day if I force myself to get up early.
• Join a gym with a pool and sauna - Swimming is awesome, and saunas rock.
  
• Eat less meat - In my case I don't eat any, but eating less meat and more leafy greens and complete grains will make you feel less lethargic and have a little more energy. Of course, talk to your doctor before you make any radical changes in diet. For some folks, though, a little less bacon and butter would prolong lifespans regardless of the time of year. And if you have kids or grandkids, there's no excuse for eating like shit, smoking, or any other stupid, selfish endeavor.
• Phew, that was a bit of a rant, sorry.
• Learn something new - an instrument, singing, how to play basketball, how to crochet, whatever. Give your brain and your body something new to do.
• Go outside between the hours of 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. when the light is brightest. Don't wear shades unless it happens to be really sunny. The goal is to let as much natural light into the optic nerves as possible, which is how the body is able to produce Vit. D. It can also be revitalizing to get some deep breaths of fresh air.
• Don't become a couch potato. You'll get fat and ugly, and by spring you'll feel like complete shit. This has a cumulative effect, year after year, by the way. It's not that you're getting old, it's that you've spent too many winters on the couch.
• Celebrate Yule. This is different from Christmas. Kind of closer to (C)Hannukah in spirit. Welcome the coming of the light: the shortest day of the year, after which the days get longer, the sun gets up earlier and stays up a little later, and next thing you know, it's time for backyard barbecues and string bikinis (woooooo!)

Or, you can do what I'm doing to beat the deep winter blues: MOVE TO L.A.