Valentine's Day Rant

Okay, I'm not really going to rant about not having a Valentine for the 3rd year in a row since we all know that Valentine's Day is a corporate conspiracy to sell lots of stuff. No one should really need a special day to celebrate their love, they should do it all year round. Not to mention the pressure of coming up with the best way to celebrate the day.

One year, my ex made a reservation at Benihana of Tokyo. For those who don't know what Benihana of Tokyo is, it's a restaurant where they cook your food right in front of you, with lots of fancy chopping and slicing and dicing. It's like Iron Chef, the original version. I'm sure my ex thought that would be a wonderful place to celebrate V-day, but not me. I made him cancel the reservation, and book a table at Barbetta, because that to me was romantic. Looking back, I should have just gone with the flow, and had dinner where he wanted. After all he made the effort to book the reservation himself, but for me it was just not romantic to sit on the floor and watch food as theatre. I wanted the whole nine yards, romantic restaurant atmosphere, candles, flowers, in an old brownstone built by the Astors in the theatre district on Restaurant Row.

Which of course brings me back to the Bachelorette. Since I'm not currently dating anyone, I thought I would live vicariously through Jen Schefft and her made for TV search for romance. Can I just say I was flabbergasted? After weeks of hearing say that she was looking for love, the one, her soulmate, she kept the one guy that she's been concerned about being a player, who was just in it to win.

Now I will concede that Jerry is the best looking guy in the bunch, but he also comes off as the most insincere. At least with Febreze, we knew that he was an actor just on TV to make his American debut. But Jerry keeps saying that he has a crush on Jen, that she looks good on his arm. Meanwhile Ryan tells her that he's prepared to be her husband, to support her, emotionally, physically and financially. So what does she do? She sends him packing. Is it any wonder that people are cynical about romance? This was a guy that she snuggled with in a bathtub, sipping champagne. Meanwhile all she did with Jerry was argue about how he felt about her!

And JP, or John Paul of the Vince Gill looks and the weird lips. I'm sorry, he seems sweet but I can't get over the lip thing. It kind of creeps me out. He's 25, financially stable, but that's all Jen seems focused on, is whether or not he can take care of her and still have time to spend with her and their future kids.

The previews for the final episode are also strange. Apparently the men have to propose before she dumps one of them. How cruel is that?

I have to say that this is the last dating show that I can watch before I give up entirely and join a convent.