And the Lowlight of my Valentine's...

My ex-boyfriend (of almost nine months) calls me yesterday. ON VALENTINE'S DAY.

And I, like a dumb fool, answer my phone. I saw it was him calling and I could have let it go to voicemail, you know, let him think I was out with one of my many gentlemen callers, but noooo, I'm all, "Hello...?"

Turns out he's doing laundry and was just calling to say hello. We haven't talked in a while (a couple weeks at most) and he thought he'd see what was up, how my weekend was, etc.

[SOME KEY BACKGROUND INFO: Ex and I dated for almost three years. Since early November he has a new girlfriend. Ex and I are 'friends' (not friends w/benefits, just friends) which basically means he calls me every week or two and we shoot the sh*t for about a half-hour. To what end, I have no idea. That issue is best saved for an introspective blog entry.]

So I ask him, "Don't you think it's a little strange that you're calling me today? On Valentine's Day?"

His response: "Oh, that's today? I didn't realize."

BULLSHIT

"Ex, you have a girlfriend - it's not possible that you didn't realize what today is. By the way, why aren't you busy with your girlfriend anyway?"

"She doesn't care about Valentine's. It's a Hallmark holiday."

"It might me a holiday created by greeting card companies, but believe me, she cares."

"She's not from here. She doesn't care about that stuff."

"Let me clear something up for you... Even if she's from the planet ZQRRT, if she's female, she cares about Valentine's. At the very least she cares enough that you need to at least acknowledge the sentiment of the day."

"Yeah - well, she has class tonight."

"Ohhhh - I get it. Well, if you're calling to ask me to be your Valentine, I'm going to have to decline." Hee-hee

"Whatever, you know that's not why I'm calling."

"Well then, you probably shouldn't have called."

"Okay - so what - do you want to hang up?"

"Yeah - that would probably be a good idea."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah - I am. If you want to catch-up, give me a call any other day this week."

"Uhhh, okay... I guess I'll talk to you later then."


Maybe I should hang up that firefighter calendar afterall...

The Highlight of my Valentine's Day

I've been in serious relationships for the past five Valentine's Days. (Ex and Older-man-ex) So even though I technically don't care about Valentine's, I was still thankful that it was only on a Tuesday this year.

Cupid, Venus, Aphrodite, or some other love-cherub was certainly smiling on me today, as I was showered with gifts.

Well, kind of.

Gift #1 - 9:45am: Nice, older, father-like co-worker treated me and my work-best-friend to grande cafe mochas at Starbucks. Sweet! (And tasty.)

Gift #2 - 9: 54am: Ever-friendly Starbucks agent hands me a little Valentine -- six chocolate-covered caramel balls, packaged in pink plastic with a note from Starbucks, wishing me a Happy Valentine's and thanking me for my patronage. Way to come through, corporate America!

Gift #3 - 10:12am: Work-best-friend brings me the candles I ordered from her sister's 'candle party' a couple weeks ago. (Okay - not technically a gift, since I paid for it, but still, a pleasant surprise!)

Gift #4 - 10:14am: Work-best-friend also brought me five CDs that her music-aficionado husband burned for me. These are going to make my iPod SOOO very happy! I can't wait to load 'em up. In case you're curious as to what great tunes will be filling my ears, my new CDs are:

Imogen Heap
the Garden State Soundtrack
Death Cab for Cutie
The Postal Service
Silverspun Pickups
and a random mix of work-best-friend's husband's latest favorite tunes

Gift #5 - 1:27pm: The McDonald's in Times Square was celebrating the launch of their new spicy chicken sandwich by giving away free 2006 FDNY calendars (you know, the total beefcake ones). As if that weren't enough, they even had three of the featured firefighters on hand to autograph the calendars!

Gift #6 - 7:18pm: An honest, funny, endearing email from Boy-R. After only two dates Boy-R was bewildered as to what the appropriate actions were for Valentine's. Doing something that could be seen as "too much" would be bad, and doing nothing would certainly be seen as "bad," so he offered me his sincerest Happy Valentine's wishes in a clever email. I think it was just right. After all, Valentine's is really about the sentiment, and your love- or nookie-interest acknowledging the day.

All in all, not bad! I'm pretty sure today's gifts beat a prix fixe dinner at some overcrowded restaurant.