It's Valentine's Day, and I don't have anything going on. Not that I care. If you read this blog regularly, you know how I feel about holidays, especially fake holidays -- they're just not a big deal to me. I don't think S cares that much about Valentine's Day either, particularly this year as the vast majority of our time and energy recently has gone into child rearing. We're too tired for an elaborate fake holiday celebration.
It has snowed heavily here in DC the past two nights, so Lil' S's daycare has been closed. That means two straight days we've been cooped up inside with a hyperactive 17-month old. It's enervating. S has gotten the worst of it as I've had to work (no snow days when you can work from home), but trying to do actual work with your wife and toddler in the same house as you is, well, trying. And Monday is a holiday so we've got three more days of this. Well, at least it's warming up. If not for the half foot of slushy, melted snow on the ground, it has actually been quite pleasant today. It was nice from the ankle up.
It's funny to me that Valentine's Day is the relationship holiday when the only time I've really enjoyed it is when I was in grade school. (Some kids back then actually had a boyfriend or girlfriend -- they were "going" together -- but not me. I was briefly going with a girl in 2nd grade, and then it was nothing until the summer after 7th grade.) I used to love giving and getting all those little valentine cards. I was so diabolical in how I handed them out too. I'd rank the valentines' messages in order of suggestiveness, and then I'd rank the people in my class in order of attractiveness, and then I'd pass them out accordingly. If the words "love" or "be mine" appeared on a card, I'd give it to a cute girl in my class; if the words "friend" or "buddy" was on it, I'd give it to a boy or a so-so girl; if it was just a generic "Happy Valentine's Day" card, I'd give it to a homely girl, or worse yet, I'd stiff her altogether. Yes, I know that sounds awful, and I'm not proud of it, but in my defense I was between the ages of 6 and 10 at the time. I didn't really have a concept of doing damage to somebody's self-image during their formative years.
I think the teachers caught on to what kids like me were doing (which was probably most of us), because they kept changing the rules to prevent this type of gerrymandering. Like one year it was announced explicitly that you had to bring a valentine for everybody. Then it was you couldn't put names on the envelopes (no matter to me, I could easily remember the order I had carefully sorted my valentines into on the bus on the way to school). Then it was you couldn't put your name on them (this lead to a lot of amateur handwriting forensics). Finally, you just had to give everybody the same generic valentine with no personalized message. And that's when Valentine's Day stopped being fun.
In other news, I'm currently wearing a wrist brace because of the hand discomfort I mentioned in my last post. I have no faith it's going to do anything. But it's doctor's orders. The specialist I saw Tuesday wants to try all the "simple things" before doing a bunch of tests. I agree with that philosophy in general, but in this case I'm very skeptical it will work. If simple things were the solution, it would be healed by now. Having no medical experience (I'm an academic doctor, not a real doctor), I'm convinced I have a torn tendon in my hand -- a very small tear that's just irritating me enough to where I have to do something about it. We shall see. For now, I'm saddled with a clumsy wrist brace and a steady dosage of ibuprofen.
In other other news, S and I have started watching a new show, Orange is the New Black. It's really good so far. S was surprised that I like it, which is strange because I love TV shows/movies that are character driven stories. I like it when there is just a loose plot and most the "oomph" comes from your investment, as a viewer, in the lives of imperfect characters. That's basically this show to a tee. Maybe my wife just doesn't know me very well. Or maybe I don't even know myself. Deep.
Alright, it's time to watch an episode now. I'm gonna pour a glass of wine, flip on some Netflix, and cuddle up with the wife. Actually, not such a bad Valentine's Day at all.
Until next time ...
[It's Greg "The Hammer" Valentine's Day]
It has snowed heavily here in DC the past two nights, so Lil' S's daycare has been closed. That means two straight days we've been cooped up inside with a hyperactive 17-month old. It's enervating. S has gotten the worst of it as I've had to work (no snow days when you can work from home), but trying to do actual work with your wife and toddler in the same house as you is, well, trying. And Monday is a holiday so we've got three more days of this. Well, at least it's warming up. If not for the half foot of slushy, melted snow on the ground, it has actually been quite pleasant today. It was nice from the ankle up.
It's funny to me that Valentine's Day is the relationship holiday when the only time I've really enjoyed it is when I was in grade school. (Some kids back then actually had a boyfriend or girlfriend -- they were "going" together -- but not me. I was briefly going with a girl in 2nd grade, and then it was nothing until the summer after 7th grade.) I used to love giving and getting all those little valentine cards. I was so diabolical in how I handed them out too. I'd rank the valentines' messages in order of suggestiveness, and then I'd rank the people in my class in order of attractiveness, and then I'd pass them out accordingly. If the words "love" or "be mine" appeared on a card, I'd give it to a cute girl in my class; if the words "friend" or "buddy" was on it, I'd give it to a boy or a so-so girl; if it was just a generic "Happy Valentine's Day" card, I'd give it to a homely girl, or worse yet, I'd stiff her altogether. Yes, I know that sounds awful, and I'm not proud of it, but in my defense I was between the ages of 6 and 10 at the time. I didn't really have a concept of doing damage to somebody's self-image during their formative years.
[I distinctly remember giving Ziggy valentines once. This would've been for a kinda cute to really cute girl.]
I think the teachers caught on to what kids like me were doing (which was probably most of us), because they kept changing the rules to prevent this type of gerrymandering. Like one year it was announced explicitly that you had to bring a valentine for everybody. Then it was you couldn't put names on the envelopes (no matter to me, I could easily remember the order I had carefully sorted my valentines into on the bus on the way to school). Then it was you couldn't put your name on them (this lead to a lot of amateur handwriting forensics). Finally, you just had to give everybody the same generic valentine with no personalized message. And that's when Valentine's Day stopped being fun.
In other news, I'm currently wearing a wrist brace because of the hand discomfort I mentioned in my last post. I have no faith it's going to do anything. But it's doctor's orders. The specialist I saw Tuesday wants to try all the "simple things" before doing a bunch of tests. I agree with that philosophy in general, but in this case I'm very skeptical it will work. If simple things were the solution, it would be healed by now. Having no medical experience (I'm an academic doctor, not a real doctor), I'm convinced I have a torn tendon in my hand -- a very small tear that's just irritating me enough to where I have to do something about it. We shall see. For now, I'm saddled with a clumsy wrist brace and a steady dosage of ibuprofen.
In other other news, S and I have started watching a new show, Orange is the New Black. It's really good so far. S was surprised that I like it, which is strange because I love TV shows/movies that are character driven stories. I like it when there is just a loose plot and most the "oomph" comes from your investment, as a viewer, in the lives of imperfect characters. That's basically this show to a tee. Maybe my wife just doesn't know me very well. Or maybe I don't even know myself. Deep.
Alright, it's time to watch an episode now. I'm gonna pour a glass of wine, flip on some Netflix, and cuddle up with the wife. Actually, not such a bad Valentine's Day at all.
Until next time ...
I think S is surprised you like Orange because you are a complicated guy. I grew up with you and I'm surprised to hear you put so much thought into Valentine's Day. I would have assumed you were more the type (like my oldest son) who would begrudgingly fill them out as quickly as possible because Mom forced you saying, "it's not fair for you to get cards and treats and not give them."
ReplyDeleteBut I totally ranked my valentines too although I wasn't brave (cold hearted?) enough to skip someone entirely. ; )
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