ich liebe freigtag der dreizehnte

guten tag, meine damen und herren ...

wow, total flashback to the "deutsch actuel!!!" videos we used to watch in high school. "das ist thomas huber. er wohnt im hamburg ..."

anyhoo. friday the thirteenth - traditionally one of my favorite days. and the weekend approaches ... and what a hectic weekend it shall be. becca arrives this evening for her night at casa victoria, where she will finally be able to experience all that is the apartment's pineapple-furnished goodness. on saturday, i spend my least favorite of calendar holidays at st. michael's, where i will experience hour upon hour of cheerleading for the story i'll be writing. seems somewhat appropriate - at least i'm not spending a good holiday on it, right?

saturday also marks michelle's arrival in northern vermont, where she'll also experience casa victoria and the pineapple apholstery. it should be a fun visit and will include returns to various haunts i have not explored in ages (including a return to red square grippo mondays, which will become a much more regular event once my new work schedule goes into effect).

i'll likely continue my valentine's tradition of wearing black on the hallmark holiday - although i expect to, per tradition, find some way of fitting red into the mix.

since tomorrow is sure to be a day of hectic activity and little blog time, i thought i would offer up my annual analysis of valentine's day a day early. beat the rush, if you will (which really isn't beating the rush at all, since we've been seeing valentine's items everywher since the second of the year, but hey).

i was looking back on old posts around this time to see if my opinion of the holiday has changed at all. it turns out it has, although only more in the direction of annoyance or indifference, depending on how many hallmark ads i've seen on a given day. i can remember being younger, filling out all of the store-bought cards so i could be sure to hand out one to everyone in my class (and know that everyone would, in turn, hand one to me). i still have the best valentine's card i ever received - a small card with a little green monster on the front, a hand-drawn cartoon of myself falling down the stairs on the back. andrew gave it to me in sixth grade and i loved and hated it at the same time - i knew i'd keep it for awhile. over a decade later, it's still packed away in a box with other childhood keepsakes.

other than being teased about a pre-teen reminder gravity's forces, i've had few, if any, truly memorable valentine's days. the closest thing i've had to having a valentine would be the long-distance call i received from someone buzzed and feeling alternately gruff and sentimental two years ago. i'm not exactly a juicy source for successful v-day drama.

but even if i did have a valentine, i think i would find the day just as annoying. why do people feel the need to devote one day to telling people how they feel when they should really spend the other 364 calendar days doing just that? why force chocolates and flowers down the throats of those in and out of relationships? and why have a day that, in its own sneaky sort of way, is designed to make those who do not have someone special feel somehow inferior? oh look, there's the girl with the roses - and there's the girl without.

there's too much pressure on valentine's day - for everyone. i don't intend to spend tomorrow evening thinking about how i'm not in a relationship, but i'm sure i'll walk by some lovey dovey couple and the thought will at least flutter through my mind. and for those who are in relationships - whoa. what are you going to do for valentine's day? how are you going to make it Special? how much money are you going to spend? bah.

i'm going to spend at least a portion of the day (the portion that's not drowning in a sea of pom poms) laughing and enjoying a saturday night. i intend to exchange hugs and smiles with the friends i'm with, make and receive phone calls from the friends farther away. if i'll celebrate valentine's day at all, it'll be a celebration of love for the people who are in my life that i care about. it may not be hallmark worthy, but it's good enough for me this year.

"Wann faehrt der naechste Kuh nach das Congo?"

***please note the edit on the interview post***

***additional edit: anti-valentine's day tirade aside, i will say that it did make me smile when i arrived home from work to find the two red envelopes waiting in my mailbox. neither was from hallmark and both were from people prone to sending me bits of thoughtfulness, so i attributed it to sweetness rather than anything completely prompted by v-day. - vmw, 6:41 p.m.***