Valentine’s Day is not usually a day I pay a great deal of attention to.

It’s not just that I’m an insensitive bastard who pays little attention to holidays, anniversaries, and other such things in general (though I am), nor that I resent the cynical manipulation of cultural stereotypes about romance and love for the purpose of profit (which I do), nor even that I’m perpetually broke these days (though I am). It’s just that, with all my partners being long-distance these days, Valentine’s Day is nothing if not…impractical.

dayo, not to be deterred by the wildly impractical, decided that she and I should spend Valentine’s Day together…

…in San Francisco, a town I haven’t been to in years.

Issues with delayed flights and bad weather in Atlanta aside, it was absolutely delightful. I got to spend some time with feorlen for the first time in way too long. I also met aiyume and even got a chance to chat briefly with altenra, who I likewise haven’t seen in years.

And I got to meet some of dayo‘s friends, who turned out to be thoroughly delightful (even though the cake is a lie!), go to a Necessary Response concert, visit Power Exchange (always good for that delightfully seedy atmosphere), and just generally have one hell of a good time.

And when I got home, another delightful surprise: figmentj was in Atlanta, and I got to spend some time with her, too.

On one of the mailing lists I belong to, someone proposed a challenge: Write the history of your romantic life, in exactly six words. It’s a fun challenge; reducing the complexities of a lifetime to a handful of words is an interesting exercise in minimalism. I chewed on it for a while, and finally came up with “Much love, only a few mistakes.”

I am profoundly cynical about Valentine’s Day, that mass-market testimony to romance-as-a-consumer-product, but I am not cynical about love. And as much as I whine and bitch about moving to Atlanta and being separated from all of my sweeties, I do feel blessed, and much loved.

I’ve been sick as the proverbial dog the last several days; Thursday and Friday I spent almost the entire day in bed miserable, Saturday I struggled out of bed long enough to play WoW for a little bit; that ended up being too taxing, and Sunday I spent the day in bed again.

joreth came up to visit Sunday night; she’s been feeling poorly too, so the two of us make quite a pair. She’ll be here through Wednesday, and this pleases me.