Valentine Shmalentine

One of my best friends has a serious problem with New Year's Eve. In fact, she and her husband have stopped going out for New Year's entirely. No matter how great the invitation, they stay in for the night. Because, otherwise, the evening would always end in a fight. One year, he even punched her in the nose (on a crowded dance floor, totally by accident, but still, not the makings of a great night). The point is, it's all too much pressure. The pressure to go out have the most fun and the biggest party of the year was just too much. And when things inevitably went wrong, the level of bummerhood was just too much to bear. Throw in some drunken hysterics and you can see why she's banned the New Year's Party.

That's kind of how I feel about Valentine's Day. Now, normally, I would be all over any holiday on which I receive chocolate. And rest assured, I won't be turning down any chocolates should they come my way tomorrow. But I do rather resent the pressure of it all. The implicit pressure to be all romantic and lovey-dovey and Valentine-y this one day a year. Maybe it's all those years I spent as a single gal, but it irks me that one must spend three times as much on dinner or roses as one would spend for the same dinner or roses on February 15. It is, as a movie character once observed, the most Hallmark of holidays.

So, in that spirit, stay home and watch a movie. I love romantic movies, and I'll give you a list of the very best one of these days. But for tomorrow? Say, Fight Club. Too bleak, you say? Silence of the Lambs, then. It does have a character named Precious. Enjoy.