lovin the lovin

i love valentine's day. no - let me be precise: i love holidays. i love solstice/xmas/whatever, i love easter, i love halloween, i love st.patrick's day... i love 'em all!!

ok, i know some of you may want to argue:
that valentine's isn't a "holiday".
that valentine's is a corporate cash-grab, a joke played on stupid unsuspecting consumers by greedy hallmarkers.
that couples should love each other every day of the year.

first, let me respond to the last one: duh. no fucking kidding. so if that's the way you think, why celebrate your birthday while you're at it? i mean, shouldn't you be happy to be alive every day of the year? retarded, eh. well, that's how i feel about people who refuse to celebrate valentine's. ok, maybe you're single, or freshly dumped, or just in general cynical about love. in those cases, i sympathize, i mean look at my checkered love history - believe me, i can relate.

but for couples, refusing to celebrate valentine's is just stupid or lazy or both. i mean, what is so wrong with taking one evening to do nothing but celebrate your love? is it really so evil??? frankly, i think it's beautiful. and no, it doesn't mean you can't celebrate it any other time. it doesn't mean the dues have been paid for the year, and you can go along taking each other for granted and treating each other like shit. it just means you've taken this one night to do nothing but be in love.

well shit man, sign me up!

as for those of you who rage against the corporatization (is that a word? should be) of the holiday, ok - you're right. but just because the capitalists are cramming diamonds and chocolates and red roses down your throat, doesn't mean you have to buy it. literally and figuratively... don't want to support the hallmark-created holiday? make your own card. don't wanna be a cliche and buy roses? don't! it's only a corporate scam if you let it be. same with xmas or easter or mother's day or any of the holidays. (i'm reminded of that simpson's episode with that fake holiday, what was it? that was funny...)

i say this so often, i should probably have it tattooed on my ass: our culture is desperately lacking ritual. for that reason, i find myself looking for any opportunity to create ritual. and i find opportunities in holidays. these occasions ask us to take a step back and celebrate something. ponder it. appreciate it. these things are not only wonderful, they're really important.

ok sure, you don't have to do it on some day that some religious zealot picked hundreds of years ago, but why not? are you so rebellious that you have to fight every convention, whether or not there's a rational reason for it? i mean hey sure, whatever floats your boat. but most of the people who don't celebrate valentine's aren't picking alternative dates to commemorate the great gift of love. they probably don't like celebrating anniversaries either, and i think they're just being lazy.

so anyway, i've been savouring the love vibe, and so i proudly wore my red blazer yesterday, shouting out to the world: i love love!!! and you know what? i had the bestest valentine's ever!!! sure, we bought into some of the hooha: he bought me lingerie, and i spent all my allowance on ridiculously overpriced (but also ridiculously beautiful and ridiculously yummy) Godiva chocolates. and we went full-cheese with candles and wine and fancy dinner, ooh la la. but most importantly, we shared a beautiful night doing nothing but being together and being in love.

it was... well.. a lovely night. and i'll celebrate that any day!