02.14.05

Got all inspired and giddy the last couple of days. I put some new poems up on Moon in the Mouth. The Beat Revival challenge was issued, met, and despatched with all due haste.

And I got my free drink. Whee. And cheesecake. Whee, whee and whee!

Today, as I walked through the Lloyd Center Mall, I saw Valentine madness. Men sheepishly carrying balloons and teddy bears, plastic-wrapped bouquets of roses and baby's breath, and looking lost and adrift in the lingerie shops.

There was one guy, a Suit through and through, carrying a two by two foot, heart-shaped, Mylar balloon and a small, white, teddy bear with red hearts on its feet. He held the two things away from his body at a weird angle; the balloon on a short ribbon, and the bear by one arm so that it flopped with each step he took.

A steady stream of roses and balloons and Cinn-A-Bun (r) deliveries came into the office building all day. It was bizarre.

I dunno, I don't quite get Valentine's Day. The pressure to be part of a couple seems to be getting more and more every year.

Did you hear about the guy in Oregon (why am I not surprised?) who tried to arrange a V-Day suicide pact? Check it out: V-Day Pact.

Wouldn't it be more lovely to appreciate those we love every day in quiet ways than make a big damn deal about it just one day a year? It's another chance for conspicuous consumption--no longer about love, but about quantifying that love. "If you love me, you'll buy me the five pound box of chocolates/dozen roses/diamond jewelry." Yeah, that's great.

Have you heard about the right hand ring? What the fuck? It's like a going steady thing. Actually, it's a transparent marketing ploy by the diamond industry to sell more rocks.

Argh.

I did succumb to the whole heart thing. I bought a t-shirt that reads, "I (heart) nerds." It made me smile.

Go be fabulous. I'm going to eat some bittersweet chocolate that Mater left in honour of the day. *laugh*

Back one. ||||| Forward one.