Is this what Valentine died for?

Today's quote: All the ways you wish you could be, that's me. I look like you wanna look, I fuck like you wanna fuck, I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways that you are not.

In my cynical musings, especially on this day of all, I sometimes wonder if Valentine's is totally overrated. There seems to be such tremendous pressure to perform: plan out the perfect day, like where to eat dinner, what to wear, what to buy the other person, flowers or not, chocolates or not, how to seem original and yet not cheap, must make the night in bed FANTASTIC, etc. The list goes on and on. I bet all the guys out there are feeling the pain. That's not to say that Valentine's isn't special, but when I pass all the stores decorated with Valentine's frippery the day after Christmas I get a little annoyed. They're pushing it way too hard to make that extra buck, so much so that it's hard, for me at least, to feel that special little twinge if I realize it's V-day and I do have someone to spend it with. It seems way too oriented towards who can buy the bigger, better gift. It's hard enough trying to anticipate what the other person might like, without having to feel like you're jumping through financial hoops and right into dire straits (when you see your credit card bill).

Everyone knows it shouldn't be that way. Valentine's and Christmas are so over-hyped that I'm starting to feel like taking a strike when the days near. What happened to "it's the thought that counts" or "all that matters is that I get to spend the day with you, honey" ? The idea of gifts is that you give them because you want to, not because some manipulative sales-clerk at Godiva's knows how to push all the right buttons until you think you'll be a horrible boyfriend if you don't get her those $20/lb chocolate-covered strawberries.