Was last Monday particularly blue for you too?

Well according to Cliff Arnall, a psychologist from Cardiff University in Wales, that would make sense since according to his calculations, January 21st is the saddest day of 2008.

According to the shallow news reports that covered his discovery his equation goes like this:

His formula reads [W+(D-d)]xTQ MxNA, in which W is the weather, D is debt (minus the amount of money to be paid on your next pay day); T is time since Christmas; Q is the failed attempt to quit a bad habit; M is general motivational levels, and NA is the need to take action and have something to look forward to.

As a ying to January 21st’s yang, Arnall has also come up with some basic maths to calculate the happiest day of the year. Here’s that equation:

The formula, O + (N x S) + Cpm/T + He, calculates the variables of being outdoors and outdoor activity (O), nature (N), social interaction (S), childhood summers and positive memories (Cpm), temperature (T) and holidays and anticipating time off (He)

Which works out to Friday June 20th. Of course you could argue that this is all kablooey what with sketchy variables like “childhood summers and positive memoreis” and “general motivational levels.” I mean, really? REALLY??? Back in high school my friends and I would dorkily graph the attractiveness of men along various variables and how kickass the year was going against time. Now I see we should have submitted our sketches to the local science fair in expectation of making the news.