While getting ready for work this morning, I was listening to Adele singing Skyfall. And I thought "Hmm. This sounds like a fantastic lapdance/striptease song." It'll be worked into the V-Day plan to wear new slutty lingerie. All I care about is getting laid on Thursday. Dinner? Sure. A gift? Why not. Sex? Not negotiable. The boyfriend and I won't be spending much time together until Thursday thanks to my screwy work schedule this week. So what if the night we get naked and plow each other happens to be a holiday?
Well I got my plans locked in. Took Friday off, flying down to see the girl (she moved, ugh). Since her friend down there has been in a 6 year LDR with a guy in Costa Rica (I have no fucking clue.) We're going to hangout with her the first night by going to one of the two big brew pubs. That will get the friend thing out the way, plus all the restaurants will be open on Saturday. We're going to one of the highest rated restaurants in Lawrence, Kansas. Spoiler You guessed it. Long Jon Silvers. Then Sunday we are not leaving her bed except for food and water.
Flying to San Francisco and spending a week with The Husband. I land at 1:30 and he won't be there til later in the evening. I expect to be good and giggly by then. After that we will do wineries and beaches and hiking and the like. Not because its Valentine's Day, but because he has a 4day weekend.
FOCUS: As long as you have a good time and don't take it too seriously, Valentine's Day is alright. Just don't set yourself up for disappointment, and be realistic, which is advice you can use any day of the year. ALT. FOCUS: I'll be into work at 4am for the morning bake at a friend's cake shop, hammering out cupcakes, whole cakes, cheesecakes, truffles, sugar cookies, and all the other shit you usually see on the 14th. I'll leave at 2pm and head to my night job where I'll set up my station, and then proceed to get fucked good and hard on the pans until 11pm or so. I will then have a celebratory beer with the night crew, walk home, shower and then bang the ever-loving shit out of my wife. I managed to score the day off on the 15th, so I'll cook a lovely breakfast and go from there.
Oh no, if you're having ANY fun with a significant other on this weekend, you're celebrating Valentines Day, if you want to admit it or not. If you don't want to celebrate it, you have to fight, not do anything nice and not dare fucking smile once. NOT ONCE! Otherwise you're giving that little fat chocolate eating bastard with wings exactly what he wants...
I'm not doing anything for Valentines day and I made this especially clear to the special lady I'm seeing. I got her flowers yesterday because it was a random day. Here is the text verbatim I sent her when she found the flowers: "I want to make sure you understand why I got them for you. I didn't get you anything for Valentines day because I think a man should be making a woman feel special every day. I don't think a man should do something nice just one day because some arbitrary person says so. I want to make you feel like my royal queen every day. I want you to know I care for you every time I wake up in the morning. I hope our affection for each other blossoms from a small seed into the beautiful flowers you see one day." I think that sums up my thoughts on the "holiday" quite succinctly.
I'm dying to know how many other times you do this in the next year. Just saying. Still in the same week as Valentine's Day. Still counts. Flowers in my office started arriving on Friday and some yesterday for the sake of surprise.
Met the to-be-wife 7 years ago on Valentine's. Browned out at a bar. Marrying her Friday in Vegas. I wanted to get married on a day I wouldn't have a hard time remembering. There's always reminders about valentines. But - reservations are more expensive. Thus, the day after. We technically met after midnight, I'm told, and that's what I'm sticking with.
You want to know what I'm doing for Valentine's Day? I'll tell you what I'm doing for fuckin' Valentine's day: I'm going down to an office to shell out seventy five of my hard-earned dollars for a breathalyzer on my car. That, and taking a test for my air-brakes class, which I know I'm going to ace.
I do things like this often. Last month I got her an actual 12' vinyl record of her favorite band. When she saw it, she almost cried. I was going to get her tickets to the local venue to see them but the fuckers aren't touring around my neck of the woods. She was going to get the flowers last week, but she has been out of town. Yep. I'm a total romantic at heart and I don't care who knows it. Cheesy stuff like holding hands, being kissed on the cheek, and leaving notes in each other's lunch are the types of things I like doing. I don't subscribe to the whole macho bullshit and seeing her face light up when I do this makes me happy. It's funny because I don't exactly look like the type of guy who would do things like this.
Well then, I just called you out on that only because 90% of the people who say "V-Day is stupid, you should do special things all the time!!!" never fucking do it. They're usually bitter because 1) They've never had someone to celebrate V-Day with. 2) Something bad happened on, around, or related to V-Day so they start tossing around "OMG it's a Hallmark Holiday! So stupid, its just for money!" No one that has had consistently awesome V-Days is going to stop and think "You know what? This holiday is full of shit."
I know why you called me out on it and that is usually the case with most people. The reasons I do this are mostly reasons from childhood tied into philosophy which I learned as an adult. Growing up in a cult (Jehovah's Witness) makes for a strange environment. That and mostly because I wasn't hugged enough as a child. If you're genuinely curious about the backstory (everything I said above is genuinely true), PM me. I don't want to clog this thread up with boring philosophy and religion.
People just have this vehemence about Valentine's Day that they don't hold for other comparable institutions. "You should be romantic every day, forcing it into a gesture on this one day is crass commercialism." Sure, true. But do you people not participate in any other symbolic gestures? Do you refuse to be patriotic on July 4, because you should be patriotic every day? Refuse to participate in Thanksgiving, because you should be thankful every day? Skip Mass on Easter and Christmas, because you should be religious every day? Refuse to celebrate New Years, because "gosh the Gregorian calendar is completely arbitrary, guys"? Refuse to celebrate birthdays, because "I'm your friend every day"? Symbolic gestures and appreciations are everywhere, everyday.