It's Saturday night, you're home watching DailyKOS on the computer - do I even need to ask, "What's Your F*cking Problem?"
WYFP is our community's Saturday evening gathering to talk about our problems, empathize with one another, and share advice, pootie pictures, favorite adult beverages, and anything else that we think might help. Everyone and all sorts of troubles are welcome. May we find peace and healing here. Won't you please share the joy of WYFP by recommending?
Shall we begin with the obvious?
Yes, it's Valentine's Day. That's the day when people who are in a relationship may feel compelled to spend money they don't have to ensure that Hallmark and Hershey's have a good month in February, and maybe even a restaurant and a florist as well. It's a month when people who are NOT in a relationship may feel like they're somehow less worthy of love and respect, because they're not the inadvertant beneficiary of the largesse that so benefits Hallmark, et. al.
I've always had mixed feelings about this day. Years that I've been in a relationship have been worse in many ways than others, because I've never been able to get into the obligatory nature of the day. Sorta like my birthday, it's always meant a lot more to me to know that I'm loved & cared for on days when we're not culturally conditioned to show that affection. In fact, Valentine's Day killed one youthful relationship, when I asked why it was so important that I get stuff on that day - when I'd taken her to Seattle for the weekend the week before and we had plans for the 15th. Did it matter that much that it be the Valentine's Day? Evidently so.
A year or so after that, a friend & I started a tradition - we'd go out together on V-Day, getting Garlic Eggplant at the now-sadly-closed Marco Polo Chinese Garden in Old Town Portland, then find the cheesiest, dorkiest mainstream movie that was playing and go see it together. Coneheads, Wayne's World - ah, those were the days.
These days, it has different significance for me. For example, did you know that today is Oregon's Sesquicentennial? That's right - my beloved state was founded 150 years ago today! Or, of a more personal note, my first day of work at the borg (my high tech employer that shall remain nameless) was nine years ago today. This past week was definitely within the "top three crappiest weeks of work EVER" (or should it be "bottom three"?) in those nine years - FPs at every turn - but y'know, as I look back on it from the perspective offered by it finally being over, it was still manageable. Hey, my paycheck was auto-deposited on schedule yesterday. These days, that's not a bad counterbalance to FPs.
And this year? Well, this evening I'm sitting at home writing WYFP. One pootie's on the table, the other's dozing in a box a few feet away. Kid Pax is over at his dad's; the paternal grandparents are in town, so he's there 'til tomorrow night. Around 7pm Portland time I'll take off for a bit to go get tacos with a friend at a little place across town - quite the drive, but the next best thing to getting 'em in Mexico - as real as it gets. Then I'll head back here and check in with y'all before watching a movie or something.
FPs? I have a few... but will sling 'em in the comments later, maybe. How about you?