Thursday 14 February 2013

The Dreaded V-Word.

(Source)
So it's my first Valentine's Day as a singleton (in a while, at least), and I'm cool with that. I actually have always quite liked Valentine's Days myself, I've had some lovely ones and I don't feel like I can begrudge it to anyone who's still enjoying it now. I definitely don't hate the day, don't hate being "constantly reminded I don't have a significant other" as a lot of people seem to moan about, don't really mind it at all. And yes, I know it's completely commercialised, but then again what holiday isn't nowadays? The thing I've always liked is looking outside the hearts and flowers and chocolates to buy someone a gift they really want and will cherish, a gift that really says 'I Love You' or 'I like you' or 'I want to get naked with you and do the no pants dance together' or whatever sentiments you wish to convey. Regardless, this isn't what this post is about.

What this post is about is this: I found a cool thing and I want to share it. This is the cool thing: NaBloPoMo (sounds ridiculous, I know) which means National Blog Posting Month (I think)-encouraging bloggers to post every day for a month on a theme. I've discovered it too late to join in this month, but I might in the future if there's a theme that captures my inspiration. They have created a list of 20 prompts to help you along and I've decided as a Valentine's treat for you all (haha) to use the prompts to create a mini Q&A on the theme. Basically just because I can.

[NB: This post is loooooong. I won't be annoyed (or indeed know) if you skip to the end!]

Prompt 1: When was the last time you said "I love you"?
Honestly, I don't know. It was probably as an exasperated response to one of my parents to get them to finally hang up the phone. I definitely tweeted it at a friend earlier in response to a silly thing she did that tickled me, does that count?

2: Tell us about your first crush.
We were in infant school together, and I was his girlfriend and he was my boyfriend. We held hands and played kiss chase and he deliberately let me catch him so I had to kiss him on the back of his neck. He let me play with his Transformers toys and his Mum gave me Vimto for the first time. Ah the heady days of young love.

3: How old were you the first time you fell in love?
Sceptics amongst you won't believe me but I was 15. It was a very immature kind of love, but I definitely loved him. It was why I was so scared of letting him go for so long.

4: Do you remain friends with ex-boyfriends after you break up?
Apparently not, no.

5. Describe your ideal date night
Well for starters my ideal date night would be with someone I already knew well enough to talk to, because the idea of going on a date with a stranger scares the pants off me. I think maybe a trip to the theatre or even just a night on the sofa watching silly DVDs and eating takeaway-something relaxed and fun to take the pressure away from the fact that OMGTHISISADATEAAAH. Which is what would be happening inside my head.

6. Name the most romantic movie of all time.
Ugh, I dunno, I don't watch soppy love films. I'm going to go with Love Actually or Bridget Jones because they're ones I've actually seen (and they're funny too, which is a plus!)

7. What's your ideal Valentine's celebration?
Probably the same as the date to be honest, something fun and relaxed. As long as I got to spend a good amount of time with the person I loved being horrendously soppy and romantic and then later show him my (undoubtedly) new underwear, I'm all good.

8. What's your favourite Valentine's Day candy?
I'm a chocolate girl, milk if given a choice. I once got given a giant chocolate heart for V-Day, it was over a centimetre thick and about 20 centimetres tall. AND REALLY YUMMY.

10. (9 wasn't really applicable to a Brit!) How do you feel about Valentine's Day?
See above really. I happen to like it because I can ignore all the commercialised crap and just enjoy spending a day with someone where they're trying to be romantic if they wouldn't normally. It's a day I can have them all to myself without complaint, and no-one expects anything other than you to be totally engrossed in the person you love for a day. I think that's nice, really. I don't begrudge happy couples a happy day.

11. How did this Valentine's Day compare with previous ones?
Well. See this is a weird question to answer because due to the amazing powers of scheduling blogs and insomnia I'm writing this a week before the day itself (Hello from the past!) so I don't actually know how this V-Day has turned out. This year though, the big difference is that I'm single, so I probably won't be doing much apart from getting a card from my best mate that she'll pretend she had nothing to do with AGAIN.
Last year's was fun, me and my housemate both had our boyfriends over and acted like giddy schoolgirls all day because we were so excited. We made Exploding Chocolate Gateaux  which was really yummy and we cooked together and generally the day had a bit of a community spirit to it, which was rather fun-getting to share your happiness with someone else being happy is nice.

12. What's the most romantic book you've ever read?
Again, as with the films, I don't really read romantic books. I read books with murder and gore and tired policemen in, they don't really go in for romantic. I know I've read books where the protagonists fell in love and I felt it alongside them, the kind of books where you're just a bit too engrossed in the story and it's actually happening to you. But outside of that moment I am hard pushed to remember any.

13. Martin Luther King Jr. said "I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear." Which is easier for you to feel: love or hate?
I think it depends on the situation; I fall fast and hard when I'm falling in love and then it's difficult for me to feel anything else. However I think it's easier to hate someone than love someone, because hate is a much more simple emotion. You know you don't like someone for X, Y, Z reasons and therefore you don't want to spend time with them. With love, it's a bazillion times more complicated and can leave you feeling on top of the world or shattered into pieces depending on the situation. And who can ever really say with any certainty what made you fall in love with someone (unless you break it down to simple brain chemistry) and what keeps you falling in love with them every time you see them? Hating someone is simple, loving someone is much more of a mind-fuck.

14. Immature love says 'I love you because I need you.' Mature love says 'I need you because I love you.' How do you define mature love?
I don't know. Does anyone? Relationships are constantly evolving and changing and so is the way you love someone. I'm not sure I have experienced mature love yet, if there is indeed such a thing. Ask me again in 10/20 years.

15. Do you think people can live without love?
No. I mean in the short term, yes. But over a lifetime? No. Being in love is one of the best things, and I certainly couldn't go forever without feeling that again. I think it's one of the things we all live for.

16. Aristotle said "Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies." Do you agree or disagree?
Hard to say really. I think if I said I agreed then I'd have to admit to believing in the notion of soul mates, which is something I am still undecided on. I love the idea of soul mates, that person that's the other half of your jigsaw piece, and I also believe that they don't have to be romantic-that person could be your best mate, or even someone you can't stand. However, if I did commit to believing in that, I'd also have to admit to myself that I may have met mine (at the start we were like two halves of a whole, male and female equivalents of each other), gone out with him for 3 years and now don't even speak to him, which is a bit galling.
So I think I'm going to disagree with Aristotle. I'm going to say that love is a connection between two people that no-one else can experience, for every love is different and you won't love two people in the same two ways. It's two heartbeats beating the same rhythm, two brains thinking the same thoughts, two bodies matched perfectly together. The jury's still out on souls.

17. Do you think you would enjoy being a "sex symbol"?
Ha! Probably a bit too much. I'd certainly be an nontraditional one-I doubt I'm a lot of people's idea of "sexy". Still, I imagine it would be fun, for a while.

18. Do you think sex education should come from the parents, the school or both?
BOTH. (I rant about this here) This is really hypocritical of me but I think parents and children should talk about sex without it being awkward (hypocritical because I still basically run away if my parents mention it, and I'm 22!), and should certainly discuss contraception and how to protect yourself against unwanted babies and unwanted STIs. And personally, I don't care how religious the school is, I think it should be mandatory that all educational establishments have to teach Sex Ed, teach kids that Penis + Vagina often = Baby plus a host of other nasties, and Penis + Condom + Pill/other form of contraception + Vagina is a much more sensible way to go about things. I'm amazed how often people my age don't know about contraception, and wonder how this is possible/allowed, then proceed to fill them in on everything I know.  School kids need to know this people, 'coz they're going to start trying sooner or later and surely it's better they try safely than obliviously?? </endrant>

19. Mae West described sex as "emotion in motion." Discuss.
To be honest, this just makes me giggle a bit. I don't really think sex is that emotional, not right in the moment when you're all sweaty and enjoying yourself as much as you can whilst trying not to get cramp and still look alluring. Before/Afterwards, sure, it's a big snuggly mess of lovely emotions-and I acknowledge that it's a physical expression of your love for each other, yes. During though, not so much. During is for getting your rocks off and not worrying about too many emotions at the same time, and sure, you may get a huge rush of love as well as a huge rush of orgasm, but I definitely wouldn't describe it as 'emotion in motion', no.

And finally...When do you feel your sexiest?
On perfectly ordinary days, when I stick on clothes that make me feel amazing, and spend the day feeling awesome and wanting everyone to appreciate how damn sexy I look that day. Usually they're wasted on days where I have nothing to do and no-one to see though, unfortunately.
That, and those times when you're with someone who knows you completely and loves every part of you and they just can't stop touching you and kissing you and telling you how sexy you are to them, they're moments that make you feel pretty amazing too.


End. Well that was pretty fun, actually, dissecting some of those things I'd never normally think about, let alone blog about. If you've read this entire blog to this point then I suspect you're alone on this Valentine's Day too, so hello you single folk. Hope you're not spending your day locked inside to avoid all the happy couples and hating the world. And if you're not a single folk, stop wasting time reading my blog and go and jump on your someone (clothes optional)! This is your day afterall!


TL;DR-Happy Valentine's Day folks! Whether you spent it bumping uglies with your significant other, being vomit-makingly romantic or on your own and loving/hating it, I hope you had a good un!

-Jenni-

4 comments:

  1. I snorted out loud at "hello from the past!" You crack me up!
    Oh, yeah, and Happy VD!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Darling, I love you very much. Get back in to my life right this second ;)

    I hope you had a decent day alonesome. I know that I did. (Ah, studying. Ah, distance.)

    Kisses! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Replies
    1. Thank you! Always nice to have new visitors =)

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