RSS Feed for This PostCurrent Article

The festive season can be lonely for many

By Old Grumpy Guy on December 25, 2008 at 8:13 PM in Depression, Economy, Employment, OldGrumpyGuy, Open Thread

The Christmas to New Year period can be the loneliest time of the year for those not celebrating with family or friends, or who are stuck in the rut of depression. There are many more lonely people out there than most of us can imagine, and in the current economic climate there is no doubt a lot more personal depression to go along with the financial depression.

While I do not want to spread despondency or gloom, I wanted to try to give expression to the kind of isolation and emptiness that many experience during the Christmas period and through the winter months. This video is the result.

It is the second video in a series called “Painting With Music”, where I tried to match music to video footage that has been processed to look like moving paintings. The first one in the series is called “Sunrise” and is a much more cheerful video.

Once again I would like to wish all NQ readers a great new year and to express thanks for the kind comments about my previous videos and the pieces I have written specially for NQ.

  • http://investigatebarackobama.wordpress.com/radical/ kat in your hat

    Merry Christmas, No Quarter!
    xoxoxo

    (special positive vibes and good wishes to all those who are lonely, struggling and sad this holiday time.)

    • Obama the savior.

      Merry Obama Christmas. For he is the reason we celebrate so joyously this year!

  • andrew191

    OGG, this should be titled “Images to Open Your Wrists With”. If I wasn’t depressed before, I sure am now. (kidding). Nice work though, I liked the atmosphere it created.

    • Old Grumpy Guy

      I did wonder if it was too depressing to put out. Next time I’ll have something more cheerful.

      • andrew191

        How about a nice Greek tragedy? Watching Oedipus gouge his eyes out could be very cathartic this holiday season.

        • candymarl

          Othello could chipper us all up too!

          • andrew191

            That’s a wonderful choice! We could stick with thematic continuity and follow that up with the light hearted Anthony Hopkins movie “Titus”. Gosh, I don’t know about you, but just the thought of it has given me the urge to go out caroling.

            • Old Grumpy Guy

              Glad I cheered you up.

              • andrew191

                Thankyou!

              • andrew191

                “Deck the halls with rendered viscera, fa la la la la, la la la la.”

                • Old Grumpy Guy

                  and some fava beans with a nice chianti

                  • Old Grumpy Guy

                    And I thought NQ readers were sensitive, caring people!

                    • andrew191

                      Think again.

  • TexasMirth

    OGG, this video, coupled with the music, did a good job of conveying a sense of loneliness from isolation. The only thing that feels worse, I think, is experiencing loneliness when in the midst of a crowd. I agree with whoever said: “If I’m going to be lonely, I’d rather be by myself.”

    • Old Grumpy Guy

      yes, particularly around Christmas time.

    • andrew191

      Oh man! you really harshed my buzz dude! Now I’m back where I started. And Mirth is part of your name? Damn!

      • Old Grumpy Guy

        Your words reveal you as an impostor. NQ readers do not use terms like “dude”.

        • KintheNorthwest

          Ck out the dinner courts at the Homeless shelters — 2 or 3 hours is really a wake up call.
          The kids really make one understand the true meaning of Christmas as they gleefully talk about their presents(mostly small cheap and sometimes second hand. more clothes than toys usually.) But when you talk to them its like they won the lottery.

          • Old Grumpy Guy

            I didn’t think they had kids at homeless shelters

            • ritamary

              If they didn’t before they sure do now. Whole families are at shelters now.

              • Old Grumpy Guy

                that’s sad

        • andrew191

          I was being facetious. And I’ll resist mightily you procrustean efforts to classify me as a bot.(That last sentence alone should remove me from the ranks of botdom). I have teenagers, there’s a degree of osmosis. Need I say more?

          • Old Grumpy Guy

            Well, since you resist mightily, and have teenagers to cope with (that can be a lonely experience!) I will say no more

      • TexasMirth

        Oh man! you really harshed my buzz dude! Now I’m back where I started. And Mirth is part of your name? Damn!

        Sorry. I would never deliberately “harsh anybody’s buzz.” Mirth is the byproduct of embracing absurdity. It works for me.

  • Old Grumpy Guy

    “dude” is part of the bot vocabulary

  • http://deleted Buzz Latte

    Dang. Dude is bot vocabulary? We’ll have to rename our Betta Fish. Cuz he wouldn’t have voted for Obama.

    • http://baddemocrat08.wordpress.com obamastolemyboyfriend

      He might have. There was that case of a goldfish who was registered to vote. Did ACORN stop by your house last summer while you were out?

  • lark

    Obama was not lonely?

    Obama testifies for federal prosecutors

    “Obama sat down last week with four investigators looking into the alleged attempt to sell his former Senate seat. As a witness, rather than a target, Obama seems to have had an easier time with the experience than some of his predecessors. But it is certainly not the way he wanted to begin his presidency.”

    http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/12/25/americas/26memo-396233.php

  • http://uk.yahoo.com/?fr=fptb-bt Josie

    what is the music to this video, please?

    • Old Grumpy Guy

      The music is “Longing” from a symphonic suite called “Passion’s Progress”

  • teresainpa

    Oh, you did a diary about me? How nice! Yesterday was hell. I am in a lot of financial stress and I was really let down by a person I was seeing who I am just not going to bother with anymore….probably for the best. But leaving me alone on Christmas with no warning just two weeks after leaving me alone on my b-day with no warning (I think he has some issues with holidays) is just too much. No one you are sleeping with should be the final straw that sends you in to a wrist slitting fantasy on Christmas.
    I will clear up my financial mess somehow and he can take a hike.

  • Ron

    OGG, thanks for the cool video.

    My wife and I usually don’t have people over on Christmas day. They’re often elsewhere doing other things. Yesterday was an exception. I had a house full of people for Christmas afternoon tea and the lighting of the menorah candles on the 5th night of Chanukah. My wife needed me in the kitchen so I got up from the couch, walked across the living room, stubbed my toe and broke it. I’m 61 and that’s the first time I ever broke anything.

    Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays. If not, do something about it. I know what it’s like to be lonely and miserable on holidays but I did something about it when I was 23. I decided where the best place might be to meet my mate, a free university course. Sure enough, there she was. That was 1971 and we’ve been together ever since. Of course, I blame her for my broken toe but that’s what makes are for. ;)

    Happy Holidays, everyone!

    • Ron

      Oops, makes was supposed to be mates.

  • Pingback: chinese searches

  • Pingback: Jack