FEATURE
✩
SWEET
// WORDS BY LINDSAY CLEEK
// PHOTOS ILLUSTRATIONS
BY JERRY WANG
... or single, you can still avoid the pitfalls of Valentine's Day.
Share the love. This Valentine's Day, get a group of your fellow singles together and celebrate accordingly. Steering from the conventional romantic dinner, and one-on-one interaction can be liberating. Surround yourself with good friends and fun to have a stress free holiday
irloin steak, Texas Hold'em and the Terminator trilogy. These things make up the perfect Valentine's Day for Tyler Cini, Round
Rock, Texas, senior.
Cini is single, but says he isn't worried about not having a significant other to share the holiday with. He says he plans on spending the day with his good friends instead. "I don't think you have to be in a relationship to spend Valentine's Day with people you care about," Cini says.
According to a Rasmussen Reports poll, Cini is one of more than 95 million single Americans. Twenty-six percent of these people are dreading
Valentine's Day. Many of these singles will be looking for ways to spend Valentine's Day without focusing on the fact that they're not involved in a romantic relationship.
There are a variety of alternate ways to spend this holiday. According to Toni Coleman, licensed psychotherapist, relationship coach and founder of www.consum-mate.com, singles have a number of choices for how to get through the day. Coleman says one option is to make plans with another single friend to pamper yourselves with something like a pedicure or a massage. If you're feeling cynical, Coleman suggests you organize an Un-Valentine's Day party with all of your single friends or use the day to clean your apartment and file your taxes.
C. J. Harries, Wichita junior fondly remembers the simpler times of Valentine's Day. "In fourth or fifth grade, I found these amazing Star Wars Valentines that blew everything else out of the water," Harries says. Unfortunately, the days are long gone when cards featuring C-3PO and Chewbacca were an acceptable expression of love.
So, if heart-shaped boxes of chocolate and overpriced bouquets of roses aren't your thing, you can take a cue from Harries and use this Valentine's Day as an opportunity to let everyone you love know it. Harries says he plans to call all of his friends and family to find out how they're doing and to let them know how much he cares about them. Jp
TABLE FOR 1
I GOT SOBER
SETTLE 4
LESS
FORGET WE MET
CELIBATE THX 2 U
I MISS MY
EX
Are you sick of the traditional "be mine" and "hot for you?" Bittersweets are the "Valentine's Day candy for the rest of us." The hearts are made of chalk-tasting sugar and stamped with mockery. Bittersweets are sold in selections of " Dysfunctional," "Dumped" or "Dejected." Happy effing Valentine's Day.
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