Life-changing books & Valentine's Day

Currently listening to:
Sway - The Kook
Stolen - Dashboard Confessional

Books really do take a toll on me. They shape the way I see things; and even help clarify my original thoughts.

So there’s this brilliant book I can’t seem to finish, The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. With every turn of a page I reach another conclusion regarding myself and/or life in general, even if it occasionally has nothing to do with the book itself. I’m currently at a part where the author writes a ‘short dictionary of misunderstood words’, a sort of “dictionary” where he defines what certain words/events mean to the characters of the book, enlightening how words have an individual, personal meaning to each person based on experience and introspection.

This brings me to Valentine’s Day. (Word’s spellchecker just made me capitalize ‘day’. Psh.)

I’m sure everyone has been at one point or another in the middle of the Valentine’s craze… whether it’s eating sushi and ice cream and watching The Notebook alone or raiding the city in search of the ideal present for that special someone. Personally, I’ve been scrambling under the bed sheets in search of fallen popcorn in front of the telly for the last seventeen years. I can’t say I’ve been thrilled over this as I’ve watched friends work for days on hand-made, glitter-infested cards and show up the next day with a half-heart engraved necklace spelling out the boyfriend’s name. But I’ve always found it to be mildly absurd… I know, I know, I sound half-way through bitter and all the way jealous. Don’t get me wrong, I love small gestures, terms of endearment, and chocolate renders me helpless, but why celebrate a relationship the same day as the rest of the world?

I suppose that’s why I take anniversaries to heart. An anniversary is a couple’s individual, personal date… It commemorates a day that changed their lives for the better; as it holds its own meaning regardless of the cupid-shaped balloon held every February by lovesick couples. It’s almost like an evolution, a step up on the ladder of closeness, not a day you have in common with the rest of the world. Besides, I’d much rather do something nice for my boyfriend any random day of the year than have a month’s day define how he and I should act towards each other. I guess I’m a rebel like that. This would be the first year I have a Valentine. I mean, assuming he doesn’t mind my oversensitive words…

In conclusion, this pretty much displays the duality of Valentine’s Day for me. As it may be a crucial day of the year to some, it simply resembles another mass-holiday lacking personal significance. Or as he puts it, common. Don’t get me wrong, I do appreciate the gestures that accompany the day, but it simply feels impersonal and less worthy than the more exclusive anniversary.

So, be my Valentine, dear sir?


Salutations from the streets of whole-hearted romanticism,
What’s Her Face.