D-V Day

Not D-Day. Or V-Day. Or even VD Day. (Ew.)

"If I love someone, they know it. If they expect something from me because it's halfway through February, they can fuck right off." - jesteR

Preach it, brother.

In light of Butch's most recent post, I fear that this may come off as sour grapes.

But I've always despised Valentine's Day. Wait, that's really not true... I shouldn't say "always" - it's more like "since I was old enough to know better."

Because it starts out the same way for everyone, I think. You're six or seven years old, you're in school, your teacher passes out a mess of red and white construction paper and tells the class to go to town. By the end of the day, you've got a bunch of asymmetrical hearts (enough for all the girls in the class, of course - except possibly the "yucky" ones) and everybody's happy and it's forgotten about the next day.

This pattern repeats itself for about five years. Then, something happens. That one girl who you always made a sub-conscious effort to cut the perfect heart for has suddenly blossomed into a Perfect Vision Of Adolescent Loveliness. Or one of the "yucky" girls has suddenly blossomed into a Perfect Vision Of Adolescent Loveliness. And that "forgotten about the next day" bit suddenly doesn't sound so good anymore. There's no more construction paper.

At this point, if you're a boy, you can go one of two ways:

1) The way that leads to being the first to date the newly-formed "It"-girl, making you the envy of all of your peers;

2) The other way

But either way, you're screwed. Because either way, the pressure is enormous. If you're coupled, you're bound by social law to get your girl something romantic and special, and it's not like you can really get the equivalent in return (You can't get guys flowers. It just doesn't work). And God help you if you get it wrong or worse, forget.

And if you're single like me, you're overwhelmed with reminders of that fact. Ska called it, I think, "Singles Awareness Day". It's everywhere - the radio, TV, movies, out on the street, among your friends and neighbors. It can seem like literally everyone in the world is in love but you.

The fact is it's all one big commercial racket. It's bigger than Christmas, and it's WORSE because at Christmas, you don't NEED to be "with" someone to enjoy it. Plus, any crappy gifts can be returned and the giver will likely never be the wiser. You screw up Valentine's Day, you're gonna hear about it. Or worse, you may not hear anything but a cold, cold silence.

(And I think I'd be more willing to get behind Easy's Saint Halfoffheartshapedcandy Day if most Valentine's candy didn't suck ass. The ONLY candy that matters is Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs at Easter. I will NOT argue about this.)

So FOUR thumbs down to that. Love - REAL love - isn't dependent on a date on a calendar or a pre-written message on a card. True love is 24/7/365. Or 366, since this is a Leap Year.

We have all year to love someone. The only day you should have to single out is "today."