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Wed | February 07, 2007

Valentine's Day

For a long time I have turned over the question of Valentine's Day in my mind. Somehow this holiday season (nearly half year from Halloween through Chinese New Year) has turned out ok, one holiday after another. Partly because my expectations were zero, such that, for example, on New Year's Eve watching a (good) movie, driving about aimlessly for an hour, then having omelets and playing Scrabble was, to me, wonderful. But does the fact that the previous holidays turned out all right mean that the next one will be okay too?

And anyway, Valentine's Day is the one holiday that I can never really accept half-baked. The point that it might have turned out "okay" is moot. I have done the "date someone, anyone" thing a few times, actually. I am breaking that habit. Or trying. I thought about taking a trip somewhere. Prague, Montreal, England. But I had no one to go with, and going alone might have just killed me.

So. Just now, I purchased a bus ticket to Boston, to leave on Tuesday and come back Thursday, with Valentine's Day exactly in the middle. I am not staying through Friday, because that may be too much time to spend with my sister. Baby steps, baby steps. Plus, I got this 50% off thing from Greyhound that wasn't available on Friday, as far as I could tell. I just have to fill out a survey and make sure I get the bus number. And some other number that I don't even know what it is. Which would make my thirty bucks fifteen, round trip. Plus the 12.50 RTX to and from New York.

So now, at least, I have a V-day plan. Not one that I feel spectacular about. But, at least I have a plan. The plan is running away. Ideally it would have been to some place where they don't have Valentine's Day. But Boston it is. I like having plans. Part of what is horrible is not the holiday itself but the days leading up to the holiday knowing you have no plans. Even if something materializes at the last minute and makes the day okay, the preceding days were still not.

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