Well, it is the annual Pepto-Bismol themed parade at every store I have gone to.
In other places of the world it's called Valentine's day, in honor of St. Valentine, the man who wed people, when it was unlawful to do so unless it was done in a specific way, specific time, specifice place, specifically.
And how on earth we got all these icky pink and white and icky, yucky, blecchy, themes from that I don't know.
It's interesting, though, what people constitute to be romantic for Valentine's day, my ex included.
1. Buy a box of over-priced chocolates from a store shelf that have been there since around December/Christmas. Yeah, baby, nothing says love like chocolate that has been collecting dust on a store shelf for over a month.
2. Buy a dozen or 2 of roses, which are also over-priced at this time of the year. And, if you really love your loved one, castrate the thorns off of the roses, so they don't injure the frail hand of your maiden fair.
3. Buy a stuffed animal, one of hundreds, off of a store shelf. Make sure it is battery-operated, and annoying as hell, so the first 300 times you play it, she'll say awww, how cute, and then it'll wind up at the back of her closet with her forgotten shoes, bras, socks, slips, previous holiday mementos.
4. Buy a piece of jewelry. Walk into a fancy, schmancy jewelry store, clueless as a baby horse, and be talked into buying the most expensive piece of jewelry they have possible. Of course it will be the wrong size, cut, style, piece. But just tell her what it cost, and baby, she'll get hot for you.
5. Go out to dinner at an overcrowded, understaffed, above-whisper conversation restaurant setting. Nothing says love, and can guarantee to make a woman randy like waiting an hour to be seated, be told they are out of this this and this, not to mention knocking back countless alcoholic drinks as you wait for your appetizers to get there, cold, and even more to get your entree, possibly cold, or over cooked, and not even what you ordered, but you're too soused to realize that it's the wrong thing, and, to top it all off, you have to yell at each other to be heard above the dull roar of the other inebriates, and 1/2 of the conversation is lost in translation. Work in few drunken mindless statements of flattery, and impress with paying for the meal with a charge card, and working in a hefty tip, one you probably won't realize you made in your euphoric mood until you get your next statement in the mail. Ouchies.
All in all, I guess I am bitter with this day, though even when I was married I did not see the whole to do about it. I thought it was a waste of time, effort, money. I would rather wait for something more important, like April Fool's day. What a way to celebrate being me, and crazy. Wa-hoo!!
