The Rocket

Issue date: 2/24/06 Section: Opinion

Erich Alvarado-Shoup - Staff Writer

Valentine's Day is a time for reflection. There's a time to reap and a time to sow, a time to laugh and a time to cry, and there's most definitely a time to regret all that money you spent on that bad meal for the girl from whom you didn't even receive a thank you. Yeah, I'm a little bitter. Want to fight about it? I'm just joking. Or am I?

Hallmark's emotional cash-cow holiday definitely makes for a significant ride on the mood swing, for both guys and girls. I spent about a week or two leading up to Valentine's Day trying to acquire an actual date, and found that the age-old process of dinner and a movie was almost unheard of on this college campus.

True, after not having dated for a long time, my flirting skills are pretty poor. In fact, they could probably be compared to someone trying to swat a fly in a dark room with a rubber band. I just would prefer a meaningful get-together (option a) to a sloshed evening of trying to get into the pants of some random stranger (option b). In my experiences, option b usually leads to one of three feelings: loneliness, guilt and/or the munchies. Well, not exactly. I'm always really hungry.

After failing miserably at cobbling together a sit-down for the big day, I felt really terrible for a while. We all get down on ourselves from time to time, but I really started to throw myself a pathetic pity-party. I asked myself, 'you're a good-looking, nice, intelligent guy, what's wrong with you?' Every time I'd answer that question, my outlook became worse and worse. That is, until, I had a stunning realization.

You see, dear readers, I made a pact in church this past Sunday. Even though I did long for a nice girl to spend my time with, I promised the Lord to make him my valentine for this year. I sought after God through prayer and meditation and was not disappointed. I believe I was rewarded for my faithfulness. Even though dealing with the thought of love lost and mistakes made still crept into my thoughts sporadically, I didn't feel so alone with the thought of true love on my mind. In the eyes of this beholder, true love never fails.

I chose to spend my VD (how appropriate of an abbreviation, by the way) listening to sad love songs along with some emo and then, after class was over, bowling and playing pool with some close guy friends at Slippery Rock Lanes. We were the only people in the joint other than the owner, and I even managed to sneak in an arcade victory of Marvel Superheroes as Wolverine. And I was totally sober.

What's even more incredible than this nerd-tastic last paragraph was the fact that I'm completely unashamed of my actions. We rounded the day out with pizza and a viewing of Wedding Crashers. What should have felt like a new-age formation of the Lonely Hearts Club Band actually turned out to be a pretty enjoyable end to a day.

In reflecting on Valentine's Day, I learned a good deal. I learned that self-pity is just that, and that wallowing in your own depression only gives you a thicker stew in which to ferment. My faith in God was reinforced in knowing that he never leaves his servants hanging. My friendships only became deeper in knowing we could support each other and have good experiences in times that should be pretty lousy.

And I learned that I'm still a pretty good bowler. I can't shoot pool to save my life, though.

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