What Is Love?

Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me, no more....

I'm sorry, but it's impossible to read or say that without the song coming to mind.  Anyway, Happy Valentine's Day to you if you're into that, Happy Pity Party Day if that's your bag (really, though?), and Happy Tuesday to everyone.

If you've somehow managed to blank on what day is, and are currently panicking about what to get for your special someone, well done, you've managed to forget one of 3 days you must remember when in a relationship (Valentine's Day, their birthday, your anniversary).  You're probably rushing around trying to scrape together dinner plans and a gift, so I appreciate you taking time out of that to read this, I really do.  To thank you, I will give you a gift suggestion he/she will love:  my custom tattoo sleeves.  As a special Valentine's Day promotion, they will come included with your name on the inside of the right arm so your significant other can pretend to have an immortalized poor decision.  It's the perfect gift.

Unless your name is Brad, in which case, this will do.  But you should probably get her chocolates too.  And a teddy.  And a nice dinner.  Basically I'm saying that this isn't a very good gift.

Back to the question in the title though, and it's a tricky question.  I love lots of things - Doctor Who, bacon, basketball, tea, etc. and I certainly have love for many people, but not in the way this day stands for.  I absolutely love my parents, my sister, and several of my friends, but sorry guys, don't expect a card.  As for love-love, I've only been in love once, so I'm drawing from a quite limited reference pool.  I wouldn't even be able to define what "falling in love" means; for me, all of a sudden I just realized that I was indeed in love.

The tricky thing about love though, is what defines "being in love"?  I'm not going to pretend to have the answer to that; after a near-2-and-a-half year relationship, I'm not proud to say that, in all honesty, I don't think I was still in love with my ex near to the end (although she does now fall into the aforementioned several friends for whom I have love category, so there's that.).  All I know is that it's a wonderful thing to have, so if you're in a loving relationship right now, take a moment to think of just how wonderful your significant other really is; don't take them for granted.

I don't have a real reason to include this photo, I just like it.

A few things that pop to mind when I think of Valentine's Day:

• I don't believe in the idea of soul-mates; I find it extremely cynical.  Think about how depressing it really is to imagine that there's only one 'right' person for everyone.  In all probability you would never meet them.  I also find that people use the "they just weren't the one" excuse far too often.  It's not that they weren't your soul-mate, it's either that it didn't work out, or you're in all likelihood an idiot.
• Valentine's Day was my anniversary with my ex back when we were dating.  I wish I could say that I had ingeniously planned this so as to cut down from 3 super-special days to two (if her birthday had been February 14th, it would have been perfect), but the reality is that our first "date" was at a Canucks game.  But, the take-home message here guys is that you can cut down on those special days if you want a shortcut; just make sure that it's extra special.
• I must give a shout out to Alexandre Bilodeau every year on Valentine's Day.  Two years ago today he delivered Canada it's first Olympic gold medal on home soil.  Merci M. Bilodeau!

Just makin' sure it's real; I'm gonna sell this on Ebay.

So again, Happy Valentine's Day.  I for one will be working, and then coming home to the series premiere of Cougar Town, which is, in my opinion, pretty much perfection.  On a side note, I want Laurie from Cougar Town to be my Valentine.

She seems excited about it.