I'm single, and I love Valentine's Day

It's the eve of Valentine's Day, and I'm supposed to be shagging someone senseless or lazily necking under the moonlight. But, I'm not. I'm single, and dateless, and I had to work anyway. A lot of people would use these things as an excuse to hate Valentine's Day. I hear it a lot. "Single-Awareness Day," they call for. There's so much bitterness that you could almost choke on it. Aesop's fable of sour grapes seems quite apropos.

Even so, I've tasted those grapes before and they are quite sweet. Love is a fantastic experience, and I'd be positively hypocritical to sneer at it simply because I'm not currently in the throes of passionate bliss. I am no longer a prisoner of that youthful naivete that once informed me that Love was The Greatest Thing in The World. Life is too full of rich experiences to catalog and classify just one of them to be "The Greatest." That said, Love is still quite incredible. I, for one, enjoy at least a single day formally dedicated to the celebration of it.

I have been single for a good while now, and I don't think I'll ever know Love like I used to. It was so overwhelming, and so all-encompassing. Everything else in my life took a back seat to it, and hinged on it. That's too big a burden for any one idea to bear, even one so grandiose as Love. Honestly, my last Love left me so worse for wear that I'm not sure I even want to go through all that turmoil again. I like drama as much as the next person (perhaps a little more), but life is a little too delicate to take that kind of Sturm und Drang very often. I'm convinced there's a middle-ground.

I've met so many people that loathe the fallout of Love, and yet long for it anyway. I'll celebrate Love with those people. There are people that want occasional companionship, but not to be smothered. People that crave passion, but cringe at insanity. People that desire the giving and receiving of pleasure, but also have other things to do. Love is strong stuff, but one can take even the strongest drink in moderation. It doesn't have to be teetotaling or total drunken abandon. That's the Love that I'll celebrate this Valentine's Day. It might be mere illusion, but who can say that Love isn't an illusion altogether?

So, happy Valentine's Day everyone. Daedalus knew what he was about. One can soar on wings of the softest down, and bask in the warm sunshine. Just don't fly too high!

I did it!

It took me a month, which was pretty much what I had planned for, but I found a decent job at a great hotel! I'm now the newest member of the Hilton family! Not only that, but so far they appear to be the best company I've ever worked for. They are offering me a fair wage, respectful treatment, and a definite possibility for advancement. I think I've really struck paydirt with this place.

There isn't much more to say at this point. I've only worked 2 days, and that's been mostly training manuals (snore). Even so, I'm hopeful for the future. I almost can't believe it. I actually did it. I started over again.