Thanks a lot, Hallmark!

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, perhaps one of the most divisive holidays on the calendar. From what I've seen over the years, people tend to respond to Valentine's Day with one of the four following emotions:

1) Excitement. These are the people who are really in love. For these people, it's a day full of flowers, candy, baby-talk and an almost full guarantee of red lace being almost immediately removed for a night of hot monkey jungle lovin'.

2) Dread. These people spend the day in fear that either their gifts and gestures will be judged poorly or rejected outright. I've been in this boat many times before by virtue of the not-that-sentimental girlfriends or crushes-that-were-just-that almost every year in the past.

3) Bitterness. I seem to be running into a lot of these people this year. 2008 has definitely been a year of change for many people in my life, and that has mostly fallen under the category of break-ups. These are also the people who are more excited about President's Day because at least then they'll be able to get a new mattress fairly cheap.

4) Confusion. Technically, this is a subcategory of dread. These kind of people are either at the larvae stage of a relationship, where they don't know if Valentine's is supposed to be an obligation... Or, they're just not sure if their established relationship is at a happy enough stage to warrant anything. At this point, it's too early or too late.


Personally, I kinda fall under Category 4. There's a girl I've been psuedo-dating, we know we like each other a lot, but we're both still trying to figure out where each other fits in to what we've each planned for our respective immediate futures. Those that know me know that, historically speaking, complicated and confusing seems to be my modus operandi on a basic level.

At least this time, we're communicating on the situation instead of bullshitting ourselves into thinking that every thing is going great until we ultimately realize it isn't. We have our ground rules, we have our eggshells, we each have walls that will have to come down... But thankfully, we're being honest about it, and most importantly, taking it slow.

I know I'll probably catch holy hell for posting this on my blog, but other than bitching about work, this is the only thing really going on in my life right now. I don't really write on this blog to satisfy all of my readers. This is, after all, journaling therapy for me, and if I don't get it out there, it'll rattle around in my head like a pinball until I go absolutely insane.