valentine's day

I shouldn't let it get to me; my chances of finding "twoo wuv" now are less than those of me winning the lottery, but still it does.

Some random thoughts:

 - people who have their v-day gifts sent to the office mainly so they can rub their co-workers' noses in the fact that they got something are tacky.

- both the pajamagram and Vermont teddy bear commercials are really icky. They both imply that if you (the man) buy her (the woman) something from the company, you're get a little "somethin' somethin'." And while I don't doubt lots of sexytimes go down on V-day, it makes it seem prostitutey to make it so open as "if you give her a gift, she'll give you something."

- also one of those commercials says, "Girls can't resist our product." Yeah, what about women? Or ladies? I'm not really a feminist in the sense the term is usually used, but got-dang, I'm almost 45. I'm not a "girl" and haven't been one for 20 years.

- the last-minute "desperation" gifts that are up near the checkout lanes of the local Wal-mart are really sad. One year they had cheap frypans (!) with saucy slogans written on the bottom. I cannot think of a single person that gift would suit: a person who loves to cook and is serious about their pots and pans really wouldn't want a $7.98 cheap-o pan from the Wal-mart, people who hate to cook would be offended by it, lots of women would be offended by the "make me a sammich" implication implicit in it. And people like me would just roll their eyes over the stupid slogan. (And I am one of those people who is serious about cooking, so I'd probably look at a super-cheap frypan as sort of a "you tried, but you really don't understand" gift).

- I miss the grade-school parties we used to have, where there were sugar cookies and red Hi-C punch and you gave little paper valentines with punny sayings on them to your friends. That's about my speed for the day.

- Our culture so "privileges" (to use a usage I normally hate) romantic love so much to the exclusion of other forms of love - familial love, friendship, agape, that those of us who may have all those other forms of love but just not that romantic kind, feel a little at a loss on Valentine's day. Or at least I do.

- I bet it kind of sucks to be a waiter on Valentine's Day. Everyone is out at the restaurant and everyone wants it to be "special" and they're more about themselves than they normally are, so waiters probably wind up having to deal with all kinds of special requests and people acting entitled, and then probably some people stiff them on tips.

- I bet it also sucks to be a florist on the days leading up to Valentine's Day. On the one hand: job security and probably making lots of money. On the other hand: having to work 'round the clock and having to deal with last-minute orders.