I hope everybody enjoyed/survived whatever type of V-Day you set up for yourselves this year. If not, you've got 364 days to change things before next year. Don't wait until February 13th! (Those on cruise control can adjust as needed.)

I don't remember V-Day being such a hot button in peepville last year, but then I guess I was in Boston (again) for the sci-fi marathon, so I may have missed any Valentine angst.

I know this was a particularly bad V-Day year for some, and that sucks. It's hard not to revisit the ghosts of Valentines past, but you might be surprised how your perspective may change over time. Or not. In any case, just remember -- the past does not have to dictate the future.

So I had a fun time at the Lovemakers show last night. As good a way as any to spend V-Day. I even got a pretty decent contact high from all the making out going on (haha). And the usual contact high goes without saying in SF.

They do put on a great show. Before the encore people were shouting "show us your dick!" He didn't oblige this time. Too bad! I'll have to take my own advice and work on incorporating that particular element into my life before next V-Day. ;-)

We were, however, rewarded with a great cover of the Cure's "A Forest." I still remember the heart-quickening moment of recognition the last time I heard them do it. What a great fucking song! I don't care how great some of the current bands are, my heart is still solidly set in the 80s.

Can I just tell you what a great venue GAMH is? Looks exactly the same today as when it opened in 1907. I can't wait to see Supergrass, X, She Wants Revenge, Arctic Monkeys, and Snow Patrol there in the next few weeks. (Name-dropping especially for you, (e:Ajay). ;-) )

And there are tons of restaurants in the vicinity to fit any taste or budget. Larry insisted on treating me to dinner and the show last night. He said it was because I drove him to an emergency ophthalmologist appointment Monday after he nearly poked his eye out. But I think it's just fun to treat someone on Valentine's day. It certainly was fun to be treated. Come to think of it, I'm really making out like a bandit this month since he's also treating me to Sister's of Mercy (nudge nudge, Ajay) because I drove him to pick up his new PC, monitor, printer and speakers.

Which reminds me, it was cool to drive by SF City Hall last night and see it lit up with pink/red lights under a huge full moon. Wish I'd had my camera.

Sure, it could be improved upon, but all in all a good V-Day. I try not to do the comparison thing with myself or anyone else. Although with perspective that can also be revealing. Yes, I think more mutual revealing just might be the thing to work on for next year. ;-)

I'm having sudden reservations about this. As usual I'll plow ahead anyway.

The crux of it is, I made y'all a (e:valentine) mix CD. I can't help it, it's just something I do. I made one for my ex the first year we were together and again the first year we were apart. It's like the freakin' salmon swimming upstream, I have no control over it.

Besides, is it my fault 96.3%* of all song lyrics are related to love? Love gone right, love gone wrong, unrequited love, forbidden love, etc., etc. Anyone who's recently fallen in or out of love knows what I'm talking about. So vday is the perfect opportunity to unabashedly mine that motherlode for all it's worth.

So that's all fine and good, and fits in with my newfound policy of: if you're inspired to do something that has the potential to bring happiness, just do it for god's sake, don't overthink it! Still, this could backfire horribly. But whatever, my intentions are good.

If you want to give it a shot, download the zip file here. But I have to warn you it's probably going to take 30 minutes. I know, I know - I started out making an iMix, but iTunes only had 11 of the 16 songs so that's no good! Sure, maybe I could bittorrent it. But somehow I don't think my vday mix is going to warrant the same demand as Best of Bootie 2005.

BUT, if you're snowed in on Valentine's Day, happen to have some extra time on your hands, or don't mind a valentine with some assembly required - well, here you go. Download the zip and go open a bottle of wine.

• 87.4% of all statistics cited on the internet are completely fabricated.

p.s. - Don't say I never gave youse anything.

Update -

Hey - I'm glad some of you tried it! What's a little bandwidth among friends? ;-)

I realized I forgot to include the album art in the zip file, so here it is below. Just something I used for an alamedalink promo last v-day. Contrary to popular belief, I don't spend all my time doing this kind of sh!t, only 27.8% haha.

I love going to the hardware store in SF and eavesdropping on conversations. Case in point today -

Hardware guy: "What are you going to use it for?"
Artsy chick: "Well, I'm making a sculpture, and the lightbulb is going to go inside her left nostril..."

and on it continued. I am not making this up.

Seriously, one of these Fridays I'm going to have to hit Discount Builder's local bar at quitting time. I would LOVE to hear these guys tell their stories.

I can totally sympathize with all the new and continuing health club resolutionists. I really just wanted to take my yoga and pilates classes unmolested by a personal trainer, but somehow I ended up with 5 "weight-training" sessions. OMG, don't I know better than this by now?

So at the 4th session she says "we" (and by "we" she means "me") "are going to do three repetitions this time." WTF? If I'd known that I would have skipped the hatha yoga class. Not to mention hand-sawing my freakin' arm off all morning.

Thanks for the BootieSF [inlink]ajay,432[/inlink] link, (e:Ajay). Adrian & the Mysterious D spun the "Somebody Rock Me (The Killers vs. The Clash)" mash-up at the Download Festival at Shoreline last October. (Sorry - got my music festivals mixed up earlier.) It was fun to hear it shortly before the Killers took the stage. They didn't take the opportunity to do a Clash cover however. ;-)

I'll have to check out the monthly mash-up party at the Cherry. (Now Annie's Social Club? When did THAT happen?) I've been to the Cherry a few times to see "E's" friend play. Oh yeah, I reconnected recently with "E" through none other than Myspace. Love it or hate it, if you want to be "listed" on the social circuit, it's almost a requirement. Guess I'm coming out of my semi-reclusion.

I'll be at the Lovemakers show Tuesday at GAMH. They put on a great show, even without the simulated sex onstage since the two leads broke up. It's painful to watch her sing "Set Me Free" now. And this time on Valentine's day. Ouch!

Speaking of which, I'll be going to that show with music buddy Larry and his now ex-girlfriend Britta. They decided to go platonic on New Year's Eve. THAT'S gotta hurt.

Let me just tell you I have no problem being the Valentine's Day consolation prize. I knew from the start Larry and I weren't going to be anything but music buds, and we've been seeing shows together steadily for over a year now. Wouldn't mind finding someone special for me though, and I hope the same for Larry.

Seems like I had a lot more to say but luckily I forgot what it was. Looks like the (e:peepettes) had a fun outing! You go girls.

p.s. - (e:Paul), I LOVE the bonus [prev10] [next10] buttons. Thanks! I hope you recovered enough from the workout and party to go dancing. Good thing coding isn't strenuous. ;-)

Probably my most unconventional V-day was the first one with Mark, because it happened to fall over Presidents' Day weekend so we were at the 24-hour science-fiction movie marathon that night. Might sound a bit premature for a 24-hour public date, but we both had our tickets for the marathon long before our first "regular" date on MLK day. ("Schindler's List" if you must know. Oh yes - it was my choice too. My god, we were doomed from the start.)

Oh, and to top it all off, my ex at the time, Scott, also showed up for the mararthon and decided to sit with us! I had prepared Mark that Scott might be there and he was totally ok with that. Not so ok with him sitting on the other side next to me for 24-fucking hours. I'll never live that one down.

I was thinking about all that recently because it doesn't look like I'll make it for the marathon this year. Oh well.

I'm really not into Valentine's Day at all. Too obligatory. I have a thing against that. At the same time, I do have some very precious memories of V-Day's past, which sadly were documented and almost immediately lost about a year ago. Oh well again. Better to have loved and lost, etc. etc.