Category Archives: NaBloPoMo

National Blog Posting Month – February 2013 – Love

Prompt – Do you think you would enjoy being a “sex symbol?”Continue reading “Me as Sex Symbol?”

National Blog Posting Month – February 2013 – Love

Prompt – How did this Valentine’s Day compare with Valentine’s days of years past?

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Yesterday was Valentine’s Day. I may have griped in earlier posts about how uninspiring past Valentine’s Days have been. So how did this one compare?

My husband gave me roses yesterday morning. That’s how I got out of bed. That’s never happened before. It was a nice way to wake up. We had a typical work day, going our separate ways as always, but met up again for dinner. I was worried that dinner was going to be the usual frantic meal that one so often gets at a restaurant, especially when one has their child along, but it wound up being a pleasant meal. The boy was calm and quiet and my husband and I enjoyed an unrushed steak dinner. And there was wine. I’m sure that helped. And then I ate dessert. It was delicious.

We got home just in time for the boy’s bed-time. My husband and I were both exhausted, so we quickly followed suit. The day was mostly filled with work, but the few conscious moments my husband and I shared were enjoyable.

When all was said and done, and I look back on yesterday, I think this was one of the best Valentine’s Days on record, at least for my adult life. Thank you, husband, for making that possible!

For 2-15-13

National Blog Posting Month – February 2013 – Love

Prompt – How do you feel about Valentine’s Day?

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When I was a kid, Valentine’s Day was totally my favorite holiday. I loved all the hearts and the expressing of love. I had my crushes (remember Indiana Jones?), and could spend all day thinking about them.

As I got older, I got a little jaded about Valentine’s Day. I never had a boyfriend. Or if I did, they wouldn’t do anything special for the holiday. Usually they’d forget. I got through high school, college, and graduate school feeling more and more removed from Valentine’s Day and the entire concept of love. Sure, I’d had a few boyfriends over the years, but I still hadn’t met ‘the one.’

In 2000 as I prepared to defend my Ph.D. dissertation, I realized that it was a possibility for me to do the defense on Valentine’s Day. I jumped on the chance. This, I thought, would finally give me something to celebrate on the 14th of February. That’s exactly what I did.

That day, I dyed my hair bright red. I donned all black clothes. I went into the gauntlet. Somehow, I emerged victorious, despite the fact that I couldn’t actually answer any of the questions asked of me by my committee. But I won! They signed off! I had my Ph.D.! (OK, really, I had a bunch of revisions to do, but still, I was basically finished.)

In November of 2000 I did finally meet the guy I ultimately married. You might think, then, that my opinion of Valentine’s Day has changed. Well it hasn’t. He forgets. Or does the usual guy thing of buying the card on the way home from work. That’s OK. I’m over it. To me, February 14th is Doctoral Day. And I still have cause to celebrate.

For 2-14-13

National Blog Posting Month – February 2013 – Love

Prompt – If you could send out valentines this year as you did back in grade school, what type of valentine would you send out to your blogosphere class?

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The horrifying thing about this prompt today is the realization that my grade school son must bring valentines to class tomorrow. And I totally forgot. It’ll be a quick stop at Wally-World tonight, I’m sure.

What will I hand out to my blog-buddies tomorrow? Probably something silly with a bad pun in it. Perhaps something about swordplay and armor? “Brevor I knew you, I didn’t know what love was.” (I admit, I lifted that from the Higgins Armory Museum Facebook page.) Something paleontological? “I always Smilodon when I see you.” Isotopes perhaps? “Let’s fractionate together and call ourselves clumped!”

I’ll come up with some ‘bad’ valentines and will probably post them to Twitter. Maybe you should watch…

For 2-13-13

National Blog Posting Month – February 2013 – Love

Prompt – What is your favourite Valentine’s Day candy?

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I’m kind of an oddball among women, as far as what manner of candy I prefer. (I’m an oddball in lots of other ways, too, but that’s not the topic of this post!) Chocolate seldom ‘does it’ for me. If I had my druthers, I’d eat cinnamon hearts all day. Or cinnamon bears. Or anything cinnamon-y.

Alas, something like ten years ago, I developed an allergy to cinnamon. No more cinnamon for me. (OK, I have some occasionally, and my lips, gums, and tongue swells and I remind myself not to do that again. But, CINNAMON!)

Given that caveat, I’ll opt for those candy conversation hearts instead. The white ones are my favorite. They’re spearmint, or something similar, that I just love. My least favorite ones are the yellow, banana-flavored ones. I try to choke those down first (or pawn them off on someone) then savor the white ones last.

What about you?

For 2-12-13

National Blog Posting Month – February 2013 – Love

Prompt – What is your ideal Valentine’s Day celebration?

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How would I like to celebrate Valentine’s Day?

I’d like to laze about and dine on chocolates. I’d like a card and some flowers – early in the day, so it’s clearly not an afterthought.

I’d like TV. Just because I never watch TV.

And to be warm.

An excuse to dress up. Too bad it’s February. All my dressy clothes are a little meager for the cold weather. Maybe I should wear one of the gowns I’ve made. Hmm.

How do I celebrate Valentine’s Day?

I pull out my diploma and pat it gently before putting it away.

In 2000, I defended my dissertation on Valentine’s Day. It was the only day I could get my six-member committee together. Plus, I’d had a rough go of the whole ‘love’ thing, and decided that getting my doctorate that day would make the day worth celebrating.

It’s worked.

For 2-11-13

National Blog Posting Month – February 2013 – Love

Prompt – Describe your ideal date night.

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My husband has been asking me to do this for years. What do I consider a perfect date night?

A good, not-rushed meal. Almost every restaurant speeds you in and speeds you out again, dumping your food in front of you faster than you can eat and enjoy it. Seriously, what’s the point of an appetizer if you’ve hardly eaten any of it when the main course appears? Why can’t you wait until after I’ve actually eaten the salad before bringing me the entree?

Conversation. Especially conversation without cell-phone preoccupation. Yes, I’m guilty of it too: checking my phone, Facebook, Twitter, e-mails. That stuff needs to be put in silent mode and hidden. And, no, I don’t want to talk about what’s right or wrong about our relationship. I want to talk about cat videos, major events, and work. Mundane conversation is fine, as long as it’s two-way and mutually interesting.

An activity. This is especially important if dinner was the typical rushed meal that one gets at restaurants. Honestly, I don’t really think of seeing a movie as a good date activity, because you’re not interacting really with the person you came with. I mean, if you are interacting with your date during a movie, maybe you’ve wasted your money. You may as well go and watech TV together. You don’t even need to dress up to go to a movie. No challenge there. No, I want something interactive. Bowling would be better than a movie (unless you really hate bowling – and I’m not a big fan), because you’re doing something and it’s kind of expected that you’ll talk to each other. Going to a play is fine – you actually have to dress up, which involves some effort. Even a car show is fine, provided you don’t ignore your date. No one wants to be the fifth wheel.

Seems simple enough, but it’s hard to accomplish. All meals are rushed these days. Life is full of distractions, so it can be hard to have just an ordinary, mundane, ‘how is the weather?’ kind of conversation. It’s all-too-easy to ignore your partner when on a date (especially if you’ve been together for a while), which makes finding an activity difficult.

Not to mention the fact that there’s always a good reason NOT to go out in the first place. We’re too busy! It costs too much! What will we do with the boy?

But when I reflect back on the best dates I’ve ever been on, these three things seem to be most important. Maybe there’s something to that.

For 2-7-2013