February 14, 2007
From the desk of Jane Galt:I've never had a great Valentine's Day. Those of you in the audience who have dated me may be sitting up right now in a startled fashion, but I don't mean that you failed me, darlings. It's just that the whole thing has a certain kabuki aspect. I knew you were going to buy me an overpriced dinner and flowers, just like every other couple in the country, because the failure to do so would somehow mean we don't care. Indeed, no matter what was done, up to and including amazing proposals involving rose petals and a skywriter, it would have had a somewhat scripted feel. Maybe that's why the best Valentine's Day I ever had was the one where my date was two hours late, so we missed our dinner reservation and spent two hours wandering around a very cold Manhattan looking for somewhere to eat, finally landing in an out-of-the-way French place in the Theater District named, I kid you not, "Pierre au Tunnel".
I had a lot of fine Valentine's Days . . . adequate Valentine's Days . . . nice Valentine's Days . . . but never a great Valentine's Day. The great days were the ones where there was some spontaneous overflowing of romantic emotion, not mandated by the calendar or anything else. In fact, as far as I can tell, almost no couple ever has a really romantic Valentine's Day. We didn't fail Valentine's Day, darlings . . . Valentine's Day landed on us.
So today I got an email from Zipcar, ordering me to broaden this whole looooooove thing. Give a friend a ride from work, tell someone you care, that sort of thing. Well, I'm working from home today, and all my friends are being lamely not on IM, like they have jobs or something. So I'm telling you guys. Thanks for reading me. I heart you all.
Have a great Valentine's Day.
Posted by Jane Galt at February 14, 2007 4:34 PM | TrackBack | Technorati inbound linksThanks Jane! Back atcha!
I don't care to have someone else (from Hallmark to my favorite restaurant) dictate my romantic timing either. Call it libertarian love: on our schedule, the way we want it.
(Gratefully my significant other sees it the same way ...)
I've never had a *great* Valentines Day, either. And I'm the one on the purchasing end of the deal. Alas, no one gets to read *me*...
Well, we love you, Megan, and we would rather read your blog when you are wrong than anyone else's when she is right.
Happy Valentine's Day, Jane. How about you tell us about when you wuz robbed?
Have a great Valentine's Day today, Megan!
I have found that delight can be found in elegantly and amusedly following a script, even one you might find absurd, as much as by tossing said script in the trash. What do you have against kabuki, after all?
Certainly we love you.
Strategy for Valentine's Day is to avoid restaurants. Someone should make dinner (or you both can) and then do a few couply things before... A way to have a great valentine's day.
Restaurants and roses are just an atrociously bad idea. Prices are far above the usual, the crowds are horrible, and expectations are just not at the right level. Plus there's a far too high probability that several people will be proposing, and if you aren't proposing that could just cause lots of problems.
Especially for people who go to restaurants on a regular basis, avoiding their big nights is critical. Any event or promotion that brings in the very infrequent customer reduces the quality of the experience, the food, and the service.
An involved, dramatic menu at home (rack of lamb perhaps), a diverse cheese plate, and some very good and interesting wine makes for a much better experience and gives much better price/value ratios. You can have vintage Dom, 2 good bottles of Cab/Bordeau and a great menu for much less than a restaurant meal with one decent bottle of wine. Sharing a bottle of champagne the night and next morning is a recipe for a great holiday.
This is only applicable for people without kids or roommates.
In the popular culture, romance is dead but February 14th lives on.
my wife and i, and a substantial number of our smarter friends, have ignored Valentine's Day for several years now, instead choosing to celebrate St Patty's Day twice. people take Feb 15th off of work to get nice and toasty; people sleep on my sofa; it's makes for a much better time, with no silly obligations and no trivial "see i DO love you. Really!" bullshit rites.
Feb. 14 is much more enjoyable these years.
Actually, Pierre au Tunnel looks quite nice; but closed, alas. I was going to say how pretty you looked in your video but I decided that this was a better place to mention it. And I like women who play with their hair. (Don't worry, I'm not a stalker.)
"Those who have dated me"...would this be tree-ring dating, carbon dating or some other method?
Ok, ok, ok, I can take a hint...
It's only a day. Don't take it so seriously.
We haven't paid any attention to Valentine's Day in 15 years, which includes the time we were just getting to know each other. We don't go out New Year's Eve, either. Or celebrate Halloween (when did a night for kids become an adult event?) , except to toss some chocolate bars into the bags the neighborhood kids lug around.
There are 362 other days a year in which to have a lot of fun. Celebrations on those days is like vacationing in August. If it's the only time available, fine, but otherwise you are better off going when the crowds are down.
I'm fortunate. My refers to Valentines' day as Amatuer Night. In her eyes if you're doing what you should,relationship wise, you don't need the day. If you're not, wine and roses on one day won't make up for the other 364.
This year's Valentine's Day is also the 5th anniversay of my wife and my first date.
We met online at a dating service, both of us in the two week "free trial". I noticed my wife's profile and zipped her off an email. Her trial was about to run out, and she checked her account one more time an hour before it ended, and read my email. It was they day before Valentine's, and I proposed that we enjoy a first date together the next night. I said that nothing feels lousier than a lonely Valentine's day, and it would be a perfectly good time to meet someone new.
We met the next night, and were immediately smitten with each other - it was electric. I was able to get a last minute reservation at a nice local restaurant, after which we went back to my house for a glass of wine in front of a roaring fire...
We got married two months later, were pregnant another month after that, and we have never looked back. And each year, we always make a big deal out of Valentine's day, and celebrate it much more elaborately and SINCERELY than our "legal" marriage anniversary a few months later, because we both feel that in all the ways that count the most we were married from the moment we met.
So, I'm sorry to tell everyone, it is entirely possible to have a FABULOUS Valentine's Day, one so great that it becomes a life-altering event.
I will never be on time to anything again. ;)
You sound like the perfect woman for me. I'm late for everything.
Happy Valentine's Day. See, late.
(Oh, and, unlike Alan, I am a stalker.)
I like to see Valentine's Day as an opportunity, not an obligation. If you want to be silly and romantic, it's can be fun. And if you have other plans that day, so be it.
Holidays are only a let-down if you build them up.
I am not keen on Valentine's Day.I do like the idea of extending the love to everyone and reaching out in some way.
Something very Christlike about that.
My fiance doesn't usually give a flying flop about any day of the year, unless there is a family obligation.
He sent me flowers and a note that I hope to keep for years.
This is unusual becasue he's in the middle of the pacific. *Grin*
Any time a day becomes an obligation, not a celibration, it's not that great.
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