P. Divvy Thinks

Link: http://anotherpieceofcake.wordpress.com

As promised, today is the day I begin the series "Fourteen Days of Love with P. Divvy." This is no misnomer. I will be giving out lots of love in the form of entries and for fourteen days straight, too. A new blurb and valentine for each day.

Valentine #1: Amanda Bruce

A little about Amanda: Amanda Bruce and I met acting in the UMass Theatre Guild's production of Tom Stoppard's On the Razzle in 2004. Now she holds a Master's degree in Expressive Therapies from Lesley College. She is best known on the internet for her blog Another Piece of Cake, “a website to promote healthy body image and to educate people about eating disorders.”

Commence Wooing
Your name suits you: you are indeed to be loved. Oh you're surprised I know the meaning? I'm a Latin scholar, baby, so I know that Amanda is the feminine nominative singular form of the gerundive “amandus” from the verb “amo, amare, amatus,” meaning to love, meaning your name literally means “to be loved,” and that's just what I intend to do to you.

And Bruce? Well, I don't quite know what Bruce means, but I hear it's Scottish although you've told me before that you're Irish. Maybe you're both? I don't know, but I wouldn't mind kissing your Blarney Stone!

I'll take another piece of you with that cake, you scrumptious thing, you.

Dream Date: I think we'll go to a poetry reading, since we're both writers and can appreciate that sort of thing. Then we'll go to a cafe and discuss the poetry over tea. Once we're warmed up, we'll find an ice skating rink.

Today's Subject: V-Day Tradition for Single People

A Suggested Tradition

Valentine's Day is a sort of opposite day, where the couples go out and have a good time while the single people stay indoors and keep to themselves. Okay, that's not entirely true; I do realize that some people in relationships know how to have a good time. However, it is true that single people don't really know what to do with themselves on Valentine's Day.

I will admit that I hardly know what to do with myself when I have a girlfriend. To see so many couples dressed up, walking hand in hand, and carrying flowers is like stepping into the Twilight Zone. This was especially weird when I was living in the college dorms and I would see men in full suits carrying dozens of roses. I wanted to grab one of them and say, “Hey, what gives? Who paid for all these roses? We're college students for Pete's sake!” But he had the upper hand on me. On Valentine's Day, a man's worth can be measured by how many flowers he's holding.

While the attached man must walk these streets fearlessly to avoid being put in the doghouse, the single man feels he must lock himself indoors. What's he going to do out of his house, anyway? Everything has been taken over by couples. Don't believe me? Walk into any restaurant, and every single table will have an even number of people: usually two. There will be some tables with four maybe, but those are people on double dates.

As stated in an earlier entry, I'm all for a new tradition that includes single people. Let Valentine's Day be the one day of the year a single person can ask any of his or her friends on a date! And it could be platonic, or things could develop after a bottle of wine and dinner, with the following condition: if either of the parties want to go back to being friends the next day, they can do so!

One of my best Valentines ever was a girl named Libby. She was a grade below me and we were both single on Valentine's Day of 2003. I asked her if she would be my platonic Valentine and she said yes. So, I think I'm all cool by sending her a one dollar red carnation with a sonnet about her. She comes in the next day and she's gotten me chocolates and a burned cd of the Broadway recording of Rocky Horror Picture Show! I was a bit embarrassed, and touched, that she put so much more effort into it than I did.

I knew that I would have to put in a little more effort for my next platonic Valentine. Unfortunately, that was the last Valentine's Day I was single. Yes, and I mean to say unfortunately. The girlfriends I've had since then have all been good (except maybe for the one who cheated on me), but the platonic Valentine is such a wonderful tradition! I hope to have at least four more in my life. So, if you're the love of my life, please meet me after February 14, 2014!

I think I shall actually dress up and take my platonic Valentine for an actual date. Dinner, a movie, what have you. Of course, it'll have to be a cheap dinner and I'm not going to foot the entire bill. We'll be going Dutch. Actually, she'll be going Dutch, because as a citizen of Holland, I'm already there!