Wednesday, February 14, 2007

The Valentine's Day Edition

"This morning I woke up
From a deep unquiet sleep
With ashtray clothes
And Miss Lonelyheart's pen"
—Lloyd Cole & The Commotions, "Lost Weekend"

I've never had a romantic Valentine's Day. I've only had one significant relationship in my life, and that was with a CPA. While I loved him and love him still, we never had a memorable Valentine's together. That is, I literally cannot remember anything we ever did for the holiday.

As such, you might think I despise this day like so many other single people, but to be entirely honest, I've never really cared about it at all. Never having been particularly lucky in love, I think a syrupy, gushing, over-the-top Valentine's Day would just make me puke, even if it were with someone I love. I've been feeling a little low this year, though I think that I'm in a lonely phase in general, rather than being done in by the holiday. Also, I've been hitting the booze prettly hard since the beginning of the month, which is why I haven't been able to completely shake the cold I've had for a couple of weeks now and why I've been stalled in my book writing efforts.

Of course, considering all of the people in Iraq and around the world whose lives and families and bodies are being blown to pieces, the ambivalent mooning of a fat American isn't particularly significant. However, though I accept this as a truth, it doesn't make me feel any better.

"Papers in the roadside tell of suffering and grief
Fear today forgot tomorrow beside the news of holy war and holy need
Ours is just a little sorrowed talk, just blown away"
—Duran Duran, "Ordinary World"

1 Comments:

At 7:33 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Recently found a live Lloyd Cole mp3 somewhere on there on the internets, it was the first time I thought of that dude in 15 years; second time was reading the quote in your post.

Valentine's Day is the day everyone loves to hate. And yet anyone in a long-term relationship is doomed to participate. You HAVE to. Societal pressure demands it. I made Jackie dinner this year, but the day after V-day. The pressure in that alone was almost too much to bear, and I don't mean pressure from your SO, I mean pressure from all those frakkin' people rushing home with flower bouquets in the backs of their cars, and you got nuthing, and it's like being back in junior high in 1983, and that one kid comes to school with the parachute pants and they look so AWESOME with his Members Only Jacket, and the pressure to ask your parents to buy YOU parachute pants is so overwhelming that you could just hang yourself.

Kinda like that, but different cause you're not in junior high anymore.

Chris

 

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