Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Post Valentine's Day Thoughts

It occurred to me this morning, as I was making my coffee in a cold medicine induced haze (yes, I'm still sicker than a really sick thing that is covered in sickness while eating a bowl of sick and wallowing in a vat of sick), I realized that I never had my annual "sit back and reflect upon Valentine's Day" post. I'm guessing the reason for this is a comilation of many different things, such as me being sick, and Kristin being in another country, and my putting in a 12 hour workday, and my not being surrounded by Valentine's Day "stuff." Usually I'd either be all gung-ho about the "holdiay" because I got to celebrate it with a lovely lady or else I'd be railing against it with a passionate fire, scalding the consumeristic and manufactured nature of the day. Oddly, I don't really feel either this year.

Sure, I hate the premise of Valentine's Day, or more appropriately, I hate the materialistic and manufactured feeling of the day. It's expected that a guy will get a girl flowers or a card or chocolates or all of those things and maybe take her out to dinner or a play or something. It's always the same thing every year and that's part of what I hate. When Valentine's Day rolls around, the last thing I think about is doing something traditional like that. I don't like be one of the crowd. Instead, I try to do something unique or get something unique... either that or I'd go party with the guys and play really violent video games to drown out the fact that we didn't have girlfriends, but those times are behind me.

It saddens me as well that Valentine's Day has become such a one sided day in the eyes of the majority of the populace. Guys are supposed to get things or do things for the ladies while the same ladies aren't expected to do anything more than say "Thank you, honey, I love you." Where's the effort from the ladies? Now before I get a bunch of angry comments from the ladies out there that do do wonderful things for the guys in their lives, I want to point out that I am only speaking in generalities because it seems that this is how the majority of the populace is supposed to act on this holiday, not that everyone does.

Personally, I just think Valentine's Day needs to be celebrated more creatively by people. Candy, cards, and flowers are all nice... but they're also extremely cliched. Guys, be unique and do something special that your girl will remember. Ladies, if you feel so inclined, do something sweet for your guy. Even if we act all macho and complain about Valentine's Day, we actually really love it when you do something for us. It helps us to remember that we're special too, and that we're loved.

Anyways, I'm going to return to being sick now and leave you to think about what way-cool, super-neato things you're going to do for Valentine's Day in 2006. You've got plenty of time to start thinking, so make it something special. I know I've already got my thinking cap on!

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