It's that time of year again -- romance is in the air. Come Friday, Charlottesville will be littered with flowers, chocolates and girls wearing pink and red accessories. That's right Hoos, Valentine's Day is upon us. And for those of you interested, my favorite candies are Hershey Kisses and blue M&Ms.
Now don't worry, I don't expect to get chocolate from all you adoring fans (all three of you). While I do love candy, the fact of the matter is that Valentine's Day decidedly is a holiday for the ladies. Quite honestly, I think the day is women's answer to Super Bowl Sunday. If men are going to devote an entire day to drinking beer and watching football, they can devote one evening to romance. That seems fair, doesn't it?
Well, I'm not the guy to ask. People who know me can tell you I'm not the romantic type. Maybe it's because I'm a guy, or maybe it's just me, but I don't see what all the fuss is about. Three years ago, my ex-girlfriend and I decided to break up on Valentine's Day. Whenever I mention that breakup to a female, she thinks it's horrible. I guess I just don't understand -- but maybe that's why my last Valentine's Day date was with Mama Celeste.
My cousin John, who goes to George Mason, recently started dating a girl who goes here. They haven't been dating for terribly long, but even he knows he has to come up with something good for her this weekend. But she's not the only girl with high hopes for Friday.
I was sitting in my psychology class last week, eavesdropping on a couple girls who were sitting behind me (as per usual), and their excitement was already brewing: "Our favorite restaurant was already booked! I don't know what we're going to do ... as long as I get flowers I'll be happy."
But perhaps the most convincing evidence that Valentine's Day is for the ladies came from AOL Instant Messenger. Laugh if you will, but AIM is an enlightening sociological tool. You can learn a lot about people through that little program. I have 45 girls on my buddy list (five of whom I've actually met in person). Of those 45, 43 of them posted an away message about Valentine's Day. And most of them were written in red or pink fonts. You can't tell me that's a fluke. We're talking a 96 percent clip here! That's better than Todd Billet!
By comparison, I also have 40 guys on my buddy list. Last year, only two had Valentine's Day related away messages. I'm no statistician, but that seems like a fairly big contrast. Don't believe me? Try it yourself this Friday. The numbers don't lie, people.
Now don't get me wrong. Even if the guys don't care about it, I'm well aware of how much February 14 matters to you ladies. Hell, I've known about the day's significance since my days as a kindergartner.
Back in elementary school, Valentine's day was a huge deal. Every year, the entire school spent a week making mailboxes, which ultimately would be filled with corny cards and those candy "conversation" hearts. I remember my school had the rule that if you wanted to
bring in Valentines, you had to bring one for everyone in the class. So if I wanted to catch that special girl's eye, it meant I also had to fill out love notes to 15 guys. Now, that shouldn't have been a problem. After all, most of those card companies give you plenty of platonic cards for such a situation. You know, the ones that said, "You're the coolest!" or "High Five, Buddy!" But it seemed like every year, I was a couple short. So every year, several guys were lucky enough to get cards from me that said, "My heart beats for you," "You caught my eye, Hot Stuff!" or "Your body is a wonderland."
Having an older sister didn't make things easier. Little girls live for that nonsense. Every year on the 13th, my older sister would run to the kitchen, and fill out her cards the moment she got home from school. There was one year where she filled out my Garfield Valentine's Day cards before I decided to get started late that night. So I was stuck filling out, and subsequently distributing, her Care-Bear cards. That's every third grade boy's worst nightmare. To save face, I strategically "forgot" to sign all the cards for guys, but I think most of them knew anyway.
Unfortunately, my understanding of the Valentine's tradition hasn't progressed much since those third grade days. Hopefully, this will be the year that some girl can help me figure it out. And hopefully, she'll have a bag of blue M&Ms.
Happy Valentine's Day.
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