it's combination. lack of sunshine hours, plus cloudy weather, magnified by the fact that the rain hangs around making the earth spongy, leaves stay soggy for a few months, driving you inside and shut in, becuase in reality you can't really roll around on the ground playing football or jumping in leaves. fall in seattle should be called Sog. Then, usually if you bring it up some social politeness nazi tells you "I like the rain!" or some other nonsense and giving you the seattle freeze face, a grimace pretending to be a smile that says "it's not so bad. shut up."

throw in the traffic problems and flus and colds and my god, this season in seattle sucks big time. it's not our area's best feature.

[so move outta here in 4...3...2...1....and other not-exactly open-and-hospitable comments....]