Oh Valentine/Go F&@k Yourself

February is a funny little fellow. All short and weird. It is also home to the one stop regurgitation parade known as Valentines Day.

I am well aware that we are now past the romance gauntlet. My mind is not so removed from social reality that I think it's January. However recently I witnessed a lugubrious image. A visual representation of futility. The Valentine related Sale items, cordoned off in the corner of a shop. Languishing in some kind of Amorous Blue Cross Shelter.

Associated Image Insert. Go.

I am well aware that the image has no relevance to the subject. It is awesome. That cat is awesome. There is no stopping awesomeness.

So anyway. Back to Emotional Consumer Fest. I stood in the shop staring at these items. all hastily arranged and covered with 50% off stickers. The stickers serving as a welcome discount for the thrifty and a reminder of the percentage of couples/customers who will end up in mediation dividing their assets. This array of courtship novelties are similar in their approach. 'A Rose for A Rose' 'A Teddy Bear for a Teddy Bear' 'A Mug for a.....' Along with the saccharin gift wave engulfing February came the swinging shit axe that is FunkyPigeon, Cardmaker/Diluted Sentiment Conveyor Belt.

By now you may have the impression that I am not enthused. It is a known fact that I like very few people on this earth. those that I do like are subject to my factual approach to life. It is a safe assumption that I am not a fan of any consumer driven celebrations. If you ask me, saying that a human being is one half of another human being is an affront to mathematics. It is things like this that lead people to lose their minds and partake in unspeakable acts of ridiculous such as speed dating, or as I like to call it Unguided High Velocity Desperation Night.

Tonight I will seek to close my drivel with an articulate point. Here it goes. The word 'Alone' comes from the Middle English meaning All One or Wholly One. The word dates back to the 1200's. It is a representation of one who stands alone. The word 'Lonely' was created 400 years later. It was influenced by the first term but was in no way similar in its description. Just because you are Alone it does not make you Lonely. There is nothing shameful in standing Alone. We were doing it successfully for 400 hundred years before a letter rearrangement associated us to something we are not.

If you remove yourself from the arena of influence I think you may find that you are much more the first than the second.

I wish you all a good evening.