Valentime Out
What are the lovebirds doing for Valentine's Day this year? Well, Simon wants to watch Conan the Barbarian on VHS, but I think two Arnold Schwarzenegger movies in as many months is a little much, don't you? Also, the dialogue seems to be lacking in traditional holiday romanticalness, e.g.:
Mongol General: What is best in life?
Conan: To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.
I was thinking more along the lines of love, family, and ice cream sandwiches, but to each his own.
Loincloths aside, I have no problem with the stay-in-and-watch-a-movie Valentine's Day plan, provided we can agree on something less barbaric and a little more tender, although even that contingency reeks of hypocrisy since our other option for tonight is attending a mass pillow fight (thanks, Bloopy, for the suggestion!), at which there is bound to be much crushing of enemies and lamentations of their women, albeit with Sobokawas™ instead of scimitars. On second thought, maybe it's better if we stay home after all.
My stuttering over the whole Valentine's Day gift thing this year is just an extension of a trend I've been noticing in myself lately. Let's call it Premature Curmudgellation. Basically, I am consumerism's worst nightmare because without any effort at all I can completely talk myself out of engaging in frivolous material culture; in the face of spending money on anything, it seems I prefer to quash all sprouts of Need or Want and instead be content to eat and clothe myself (and those I love) with whatever leafy greens I find growing between the cracks in the sidewalk. Happy Valentine's Day, honey! Here's a bit of muffin I found on the stairs outside the bank! I know how you love blueberry!
To prove that I am not completely insane, let me clarify. On the one hand, I don't want to collect more Stuff because we are, all of us, full up to here with Stuff, and so when buying things for myself or others I try to think in terms of what's both thoughtful and disposable--flowers, a nice dinner, mayflies in a biodegradable container? I'm by no means a dedicated treehugger, but I'm often bothered by waste (of money, of resources, of space, of time), and I try to be efficient when and where I can. But then I think to myself that if I'm going to spend money on anything, isn't it equally wasteful to spend it on something that will wilt, die, or turn into poo somewhere between my duodenum and jejunum? So then the task becomes finding something that will last but is also needed and necessary. And it should probably also be small too. And affordable without being cheap. And, for Valentine's Day, romantic.
So, yes, I'm pretty much hopeless. Last night while we were at the supermarket picking up a bottle of wine to take to a restaurant, I pointed to a Spongebob Squarepants balloon that said "I love you THIS MUCH" and told Simon that was his virtual V-day gift from me and I hoped he liked it. In his head he was probably giving me a virtual kick in the pants in return, and I totally deserved it.
How on earth did I become such a humbuggy spendthrift?!
I do it with food--"Why spend $9 on a gourmet salad when I can have a bowl of cereal ($.75 including milk) and be full just the same?"--and I do it with entertainment--"Why spend $20 on movie tickets when we can rent from Netflix?"--and I'm pretty sure I don't like this about myself. Efficiency? Great. Practicality? Fine. Stingyness cum increasing inability to enjoy the acquisition of something new/fancy/indulgent now and then? Not cool.
Lucky for me, Simon is just as happy to have me covered in whipped cream with a cherry on my head as he would be to get a card and, say, cufflinks. We'll probably just stay in tonight as planned and be perfectly pleasant, and maybe, after we've crashed through another bottle of champage, we'll play the home version of Pillow Fight Club. There are certainly worse ways to spend the holiday.
All that said, I do like Valentine's Day. I get to wear my pink heart socks with purpose, and I enjoy the thought that even though there are millions of haters and eyerollers gagging themselves with spoons today, there are also millions of schmoopers and snugglers, all of us thinking lovely love thoughts about the ones we love and like and lust over, and sometimes all of the above if we're lucky. Surely I don't need to drag a jolly cartoon sponge into a threesome to illustrate the boundlessness of my affection. Unless, of course, the champagne-and-whipped-cream pillow fight gets really out of hand, in which case, Spongebob, you are more than welcome.
Well, no matter what you did tonight, time with a loved one can't be wasted. Even wasted time that way has its purpose.
I find myself passing on the trivial to spend time and money on fewer, more important (and more expensive) things. Time flies when you are in love. It zooms by in a Mach 12 blur when you've got two kids, too. And don't get me started on all the STUFF we have. Sheesh. We have a baby-wipes warmer, forgoodnesssake.
Actually, it's "hear the lamentations of THE women," not their women. I effing LOVE Conan. The screenplay was written by Oliver Stone.
I didn't mean to do anything, but seeing as how I had a gazillion dollar steak that was going to get even more freezerburnt, we are having a sorta fancypants meal. Hopefully there will be photos.
Oh, and I also scrubbed years' worth of rust-and-GOD-knows-what off the toilet bowl. We're talking a good 30-40 minutes with Limeaway and steel wool and a lotta elbow grease.
That's love.
I had a lovely non eventful Valentines too. It was just wonderful to have someone to spend it with. Its the simple things in life really!
Just an aside - one of my staff has that movie quote up at his desk, in big bold letters. And it scares me. A lot.
"Conan the Barbarian" is very romantic. It did the whole "Death cannot stop true love" thing, like, five years before "The Princess Bride" came along. It's all about true love.
And beheadings.
And James Earl Jones turning into a giant snake.
Dude, that movie has everything!
You know, I have been trying to enjoy small indulgences as well; I am turning into somewhat of a Scrooge. Monetary-wise, not generosity-towards-fellow-man-wise.
I was supposed to work but we got a very bad snow/ ice storm and I didn't have to go in. I did, however, get to shovel for about three hours, attempting to chip three inches of ice off my driveway, which is no small feat because we fit eight cars back there. I mean, it's HUGE. Then my Bri and I watched Jeopardy! and The Office season 2 on dvd. It doesn't get much better.
All I got for Steve was a box of cookies. They were NEW! digestives by Lu's and on SALE!. What's the point of a Valentine's day balloon? It's just going to shrivel. A card? money spent on something that says what you should learn how to say yourself.
So it was turkey sandwiches and American Idol capped off with some cookies. And we were both happy as can be. :)
I had a wonderful Valentine's day. It was a snow day and I got to sleep in with my man. Although the rest of the day was spent shovelling our way out, but we did it as a couple.
I too am frugle. I will keep birthday money for months, sometimes almost a full year while I look for the perfect item because I just don't want to waste it on anything. I have to justify every single purchase I make.