Happy V-day, or Three-day, or whatever...

I am one of those girls who doesn't buy into the cynical disapproval of Valentine's Day.  Yeah, yeah, I get it.  You're so cool that no "hallmark holiday" is going to cause you to spend money, or emote, or plan a fun date.  RAD, gee I'm so jealous of the girl who gets to date you.

I mean really, I'll get off this rant shortly (mostly because it seems like no one is ever interested in my defense of Valentine's Day), but SHUT UP.  Nobody cares. You aren't saying anything interesting, and your lack of participation is neither impressive, admirable, nor shockingly independent.  Go home.

Here is why I like Valentine's Day. 

1) There is seasonal candy associated with it.  Good candy too. Don't take that away from me.

2) It's an excuse to have a nice date.  No it shouldn't be the most interesting, or even the most romantic night of the year. But we all need a little reason to make reservations and spend more time thinking about dinner with someone we love than looking up the number for our favorite sushi takeout place.

3) Who cares if its made up.  Mother's Day is made up and you still honor her with a card, and sometimes even brunch... Let's see, what else is arbitrary... St. Patrick's Day (yup, you get shitfaced for that holiday), Mardi Gras, Flag Day, Black Friday... all willingly celebrated without any compelling personal factor or religious belief as far as I can tell.

SO STOP WHINING.  It's just another excuse for a good meal and fun evening.  You are not being persecuted, you are not being tortured any more than green beer and bagels on St Patty's day is an unwelcome (although delicious) tradition for some reason.. so buy a cheap flower, put on a nice shirt and have a nice glass of wine.  you're FINE.

(ok, I'm done)

So let's get back to this year's Valentine's Day.  Past years have brought weird events.  More than a couple of years have seen ex boyfriends show up unannounced to varying levels of reception.  Recently though I've limited myself to just the one boy I was dating at the time, and a usually a decent dinner.  My last boyfriend was a Valentine's Hater and it was all I could do to get him to pay his usual attention to me on V-day.  I mean really.  Not celebrating is one thing, but actively avoiding me? that's just sort of mean.

Now, The Boy is not that sort.  He doesn't really go over the top or anything, but so far he's made a good show of planning dinner, putting on a nice shirt and at least remembering to wear his "dress" converse for the occasion.  Last year I even got an orchid with candy stuffed all around it.  (double win).  This year however presented a new challenge. - The Ex.

Unlike past ex appearances, this one was invited, and in fact, the V-Day overlap wasn't planned. Its just that Valentine's Day happened to overlap with President's Day (yet another arbitrary day, but this one you don't have to work on.. unless you want to protest that by putting in a 12 hour day..).  So the Ex was here for a fun long weekend which left the question of how to handle plans for V-Day.  He was only here for 3 days, so blowing off one of those days completely seemed weird, but it also seemed contrary to my Pro-V-Day attitude to sacrifice my moral high ground and skip date night all together. 

So I compromised.  The Boy and I had our Happy Hour date (he knows me so well).  Then we joined the Ex (and McCloud) for post-dinner drinks and hang time.  Not the most traditional way to spend the evening, and in fact almost everyone I know offered up some form of "Are you INSANE."  But it worked, and it wasn't weird (at least, it wasn't weird for me). 

The possible weirdness between The Boy and the Ex, caused me to lower my standards and back off my usual V-Day zeal, so I wasn't as festive as I like to be, but it eneded up being a night for the scrapbook.  After about 3 (more) glasses of wine, McCloud departed (it was a sunday afterall..) and left me and the boys to continue with the rampage. 

I'm not sure when the dynamic shifted, but at some point I lifted my head out of my wine glass and realized that they were ganging up on me and that me (and my quirks and oddities) had been the subject of ridicule for the last 45 minutes.  I don't know what I was expecting, but I think it was something closer to unfailing adoration from both of them, and not that I would become some common enemy that bonded them together...

So the boys continued their common attack and "forced" me to leave my cute comfortable trendy Asian Bistro for a crappy dive bar. in a strip mall. with gross carpeted floors.  vomit.

We spent the next couple of hours drinking beers and "swapping stories" of who had dealt with the most obnoxious part of me UM HELLO, I'm RIGHT HERE. I CAN HEAR YOU.  Before we abandonded the bar for a late night Rock Band session. 

So yes.  I drank all night with my current boyfriend, ex boyfriend and then attempted to hammer out some butchered version of Beatles songs while they continued to bond over the trials and tribulations of dating a girl like me.  At least I had already gotten my martinis and oysters ...

I guess I can call V-Day (or three-day) 2010 a rousing success.  If nothing else it was wildly entertaining and rendered me mostly useless for all of Monday.

Thanks Cupid.