Monday, November 13, 2006

It's Odd What You Find

This weekend I was taking some time to clean up in my room. This wasn't just the normal vacuum and dust, take out the trash, toss the odds and ends clutter in the closet type of cleaning. No, I actually didn't do any productive cleaning, but instead decided to go through some of my drawers, cabinets, and other storage units.

As I was rifling through junk I'd tossed away ages ago, I found a ton of crap that was ripe for the tossing. It was amazing some of the crap that I decided was worth keeping whenever I put it where I did. At times my inner pack rat comes out and I get the urge to save things that no sane being would ever imagine holding on to. That or I thought, in some crazy state of mind, that whatever I hid away I would eventually use for something later on... which I obviously didn't since it's still hanging around unused and taking up space.

While I was cleaning out my computer's cabinet, I ran across something interesting--a small wad of cash. Now it wasn't very much money. In fact, it was quite the small sum. Seven dollars to be exact, coming in the form of a fiver and two ones. Wracking my brain, I tried to come up with a reason as to why I'd tuck away a few scant dollars into my computer cabinet. That it dawned on me, it was a gift from back in the day. A gift that has a somewhat interesting back story.

So you know how guys are expected to do really nice and sweet things on Valentine's Day? They're supposed to buy expensive crap for their girlfriends, take them out to nice places, and treat them like goddesses. I've never had a problem with that mentality as I like to do nice stuff for girls on Valentine's Day, but along those lines I also would expect a little something on that day as well, even if it is only something little and cute, as long as it's heartfelt.

As you probably guessed, the seven dollars was a Valentine's Day gift that I got from a girl I was dating at the time. It was mailed to me in a card with a ripped off portion of notebook paper with something like "get something fun on me" written on it. Now in defense of the girl who sent this, we weren't able to get together on Valentine's Day as we were in different cities at the time, but with that being known, imagine for one second what would happen if a guy had sent that as his Valentine's Day gift.

I could totally see the girl opening the card, seeing the rumpled up odd amount of money, the scribbled note, and start fuming instantaneously. What girl would ever let a guy get away with this? I'll tell you--none. But since I was a guy, somehow I'm guessing the girl thought it would be ok because guys don't like Valentine's Day or something. I don't really know, but I remember getting it and being simultaneously disappointed, furious, and overcome with laughter.

So with that little story told, what's the worst or oddest gift you've ever received? Bonus points if you got it on Valentine's Day.

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