Rant #1,042: I Don't Like Mondays

Looking back at Yom Kippur this year, I can say it all very briefly:

I fasted, I cleaned up my daughter's old room, and I broke the fast like there was no tomorrow.

Moving on ...

I could have slept today, I really could have.

It was a cool night, and I was very comfortable in my bed.

The problem is that I have work, my wife and son also have to get up to go to work and school, respectively, and the day must move on.

I don't like Mondays.

After two days where I can sleep late, Monday is the day that sets the tone for the rest of the week, where I have to get up early.

On Monday, I have Friday on my mind, and I am working for the weekend.

The brings up two old songs, the first by the Easybeats, the second by Loverboy, and I could go on and on with similar songs about the week, including "Monday, Monday" by the Mamas and the Papas.

But there was another tune, this one not a very big hit in the U.S. but huge overseas, that really spelled out, to the extreme, the stigma that Monday, the first day of the work week, has for many people.

Remember the Boomtown Rats' "I Don't Like Mondays"?

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if you didn't if you live in the U.S., because the song barely got into the Hot 100 here, making #73 during early 1980.

Elsewhere, the tune was a #1 record, including in England, one of a slew of hits the Irish band--led by Bob Geldof, later of "Live Aid" fame--had there during that period of time.

The song was very American, though, or at least the subject was.

The song was about a San Diego, California, teenager, Brenda Spencer, who one Monday in 1979 decided that she would get out a gun and start shooting people for no apparent reason.

When she was asked why she would do such a heinous thing--she ended up killing two innocent people--she replied, "I don't like Mondays."

Well, most people don't like Mondays, either, but we would never go to that extreme, would we?

Monday is supposedly the day that the most work gets done, as opposed to Friday, when the least work gets done.

I guess people get hyped by going back to work, but by Friday, they are all tapped out.

So have a good Monday. Pace yourself as you get closer to Friday.

And don't do anything rash, like the Spencer girl, who I haven't heard about in years.

I guess she is spending her days in jail, where I would assume the days of the week kind of blend into each other.

Happy Monday!