09:25:58 Sunday February 15 2004 That VDay thing happened today. I am not a big fan of this particular holiday. I am not going to bitch about how it is a corporate plot by the greeting card industry, but I definitely think that Sara with no 'H' is correct here when she claims that no one is happy on Valentines day. "People in relationships are stressed or let down. People without them are frightfully lonely." The reason for this actually has something to do with Sex Drugs & Coco Puffs. Pundits are always blaming TV for making people stupid, movies for desensitizing the world to violence, and rock music for making kids kill themselves. These things should be the least of our worries. The main problem with mass media is that it makes it impossible to fall in love with any acumen of normalcy. There is no "normal", because everybody is being twisted by the same sources simultaneously. You can't compare your relationship with the playful couple who lives next door, because they're probably modeling themselves after Chandler Bing and Monica Geller. Real people are actively trying to live like fake people, so real people are no less fake. Every comparison becomes impractical. This is why the impractical has become totally acceptable; impracticality almost seems cool. In reality this is just echoing a sentiment that I first heard espoused in The Dao of Steve: Dex: (to Rick and Maggie) Do you guys ever worry your marriage is an obstacle to reaching enlightenment? Rick: (sarcastically) Do you ever wonder if your philosophy is an obstacle to having a life? Dex: Seriously, man, because romantic love for a lot of people becomes kind of religion. You know, face it: most people feel that their personal relationships are more important than relationship with God. We should just admit that romantic love is our national religion; it's like the state religion of America. And I think it is the truth. This is the real reason that we have such high divorce rates. No one expects a level of romance that is actually attainable. I feel bad for us as a culture. We are making a lot of people miserable. There are only two possible solutions to this problem (1) be miserable or (2) become a cynical bastard and laugh at it. As a result I held an Anti-Valentines Day party this evening. The invite contained the following. Beheading Day - On February 14 a long time ago some guy got his head chopped off. This no doubt had something to do with love as anyone who has had a significant other can testify. Thus every year misanthropic bastards such such as myself throw a party and play Mario Kart out of respect for all those poor dumb saps out there who have dates and are most likely due for a beheading any minute now. The Rules of Beheading Day -------------------------- (1) You do not talk about "Love" (2) You DO NOT talk about "Love" (3) You DO NOT come with a date. If you are in anything that can be remotely described as a romantic relationship YOU ARE NOT INVITED. ... I wasn't going to write about the events that led me to hold this party, but I was mentioned so I thought I would comment briefly. Erica was my high school girlfriend and first love. As a result of coming through a difficult patch in her life she showed up back in my life several years ago. Since then we have been dating off and on. We haven't been anything that could reasonably be called boyfriend/girlfriend, but we have done the Valentines Day thing together each year. This year she elected not to. The reasons for this are not entirely clear to me, nor are they entirely unclear. She is WELL within her rights to choose as she has. However last time I drove down to see her we both realized that there was something wrong with the way our relationship was idling and neither of us could come up with a solution.