To hate the day of love would be harsh,. To loathe it would be more appropriate.

So in comes a brand spanking new Valentine's Day, which comes from the Russian word Vlalen, meaning "Hallmark," and the French "tinoux," meaning "expensive trinkets meant to show your love in some bizarre, round-about way." Seriously.

While a lot of people, meaning just about everyone who participates in the "Singles Awareness Day" part of this day, complain loudly and in annoying, moaning, desperate voices about being single on this day of love, I feel this is quite possibly the single best day to be single. And, surprisingly, a large portion of people in relationships feel this way too. (In case you can't peel your eyes away from my site, it says that up to 50% of break-ups happen on Valentine's Day, just what your date was hoping for, I'm sure. While this number was pulled out of a crevice behind the "researcher," I like it.) Think about it, there is no responsibilty to impress your date in any way, after all you have none. Duh. What a worthless statement. This is the day that makes me proud, happy and a lot of other positive feelings to be single. To see everyone else holding hands and hugging and buying roses that cost three times more than what they did two weeks ago puts a big smile on my face as a visualize a massive blinking "L" on their forehead.

Oringinally, Valentine's Day was a good day, a day that celebrated what one man did for couples back when it took only three digits to write what year it was. He married young men to the women they wanted to marry (according to legend anyway) when it was banned by the emperor so that the men could go off and kill each other in battle. Nice enough of him, after all it cost him his life in the end.

However, today, like just about all the other days that once had meaning beyond (insert holiday name here) Sales, its just about lost all of its meaning. Fine dinners, jewelery, and a lot of well-intentioned motions with little meaning other than, "Yeah, for the first time in my life I have a girlfriend who loves to suck the money right out of me. Does it usually take 18 dates to hold her hand?" Of course, this also more or less implies that I know what Valentine's Day should be, which I don't have a firm answer for. However, I do know that for the most part, this is the one day that people treat their (sometimes not-so-) significant other like royalty, or al least, they cut back on the put-downs and will even open the door for their date.

Also, as many readers know, I am an Honors Engineer, so no matter how good I look, the fact I am supposed to be single doesn't help me out much. Perhaps telling of the world's outside view of us (and engineers in general), Physics 152, the introductory physics class that almost every engineer and science student must take, had its first Exam today, February 14, from 8:30 to 10:00. To my mother, who believes I waste valueable time writing these things, I got a 90. Who owned the test? I owned that test.

As usual, I got off track, and I sound a lot more bitter than I intended. Basically, the point is that most people take this day that was about love, and butcher it, spending the day with people they merely tolerate, shower them with gifts and an expensive dinner, putting on a beautiful convincing show for the single friends around them, which sends to singles to bemoan the tragedy which is their singleness, when really, most of them will break up in a couple weeks. So seeing this, I can gladly say that I am single this Valentine's Day, much like all the other 17 I have gone through. And I have a fantastic group of friends that I can say that a truly love (in a platonic sense guys, put the bats and razors down). So for Valentine's Day, this single stud will be content, but with tomorrow...