April

I am not particularly fond of the month of April.

First, because it is clustered with more appointments and family gatherings (which only result in my anger and head pain) than every other month put together. Have I mentioned I'm an introvert? I happen to like solitude every now and then. Or almost always.

Second, because my birthday is in it. I know, that makes me sound like an annoying teenager refusing to admit her birthday in the hope of gaining attention as others attempt to discover the date. However, rest assured, that is not my intention. I just hate that we choose to celebrate birthdays. Bringing so much attention to the date leads us to expect that it be a good day--that people stop and say nice things or give presents. With such high expectations, we're easily disappointed when the day isn't spectacular. And when it's a bad day? Then it will live in your memory forever because you expected it to be fantastic.

Granted, I may be bitter because I've had some revolting birthdays that I can't seem to purge from my memory. But, what sort of opinion isn't based in experience?

What else do I hold against April? As an AP student homework and studying for the test typically gets more voluminous around now. (I remain grateful that I'm not taking as many as last year. Now I get to pretend I've retained some sanity from that decision.)

Also, my allergies start up in April. And I don't mean that pathetic I-feel-like-I-have-a-cold-because-I'm-horribly-congested-and-dammit-I-want-medicine sort of allergies. True, it becomes hard for me to breathe, but I become so full of mucus that every five minutes I have to blow my nose (and somehow I never seem to run out of enough mucus to over-fill multiple tissues) unless I feel like ruining whatever homework I'm doing. (And, no, I don't mean the pathetic, clear, dripping stuff.) Lately, like a friend of mine, my eyes have begun watering and, since I get migraines already, I get headaches all too easily.

In short, I hate April. Detest, execrate, excoriate. . . feel free to add any synonyms you know.

In light of that, I've been searching for some thing good about it. Thus far I've found that it's national poetry month and a month to celebrate Samuel Johnson for compiling the first ever dictionary.