Hey, hey, it's Valentine's Day!

Oh, my goodness. I love Valentine's Day. Any day that is dedicated to hearts, love, pinks and reds, glitter!, etc., has a soft spot in my heart. (Not to mention chocolate!) Now, is that great, or what?
 

Conversation hearts, rocking out on the blog.

V-Day (as I call it) is kind of an odd holiday. From what I've seen, it's sort of a combination of a Roman fertility festival (Io Lupercalia!--coming from lupus, wolf. And we all know how important that old wolf is to the Romans--at least I know some of you do. If you don't, read up on the Romulus and Remus legend here. But beware--it's not all roses and glitter. Kind of like the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm!) And yet, it is also named for several saints by name of Valentine. All of them were martyred.

And then we go and put Cupid (Eros) in charge of the holiday, when really, he has had very little to do with the date. Poor little love god. It's not like he was a baby in a diaper back in the Roman days. And we only really remember him on this day! How sad is that? He and his Greco-counterpart (Eros--similar to arrows--I'm *sure* this was something the Greeks did intentionally. Er. Anyway.) are actually quite interesting to me. Especially with the whole Psyche myth.

So, anywho. I love this day. Really, truly.

However, my brother absolutely hates Valentine's Day. In fact, I know lots of people who do. Because they have no one to celebrate it with, maybe, or because it's so commercialized. Seriously. (What holiday isn't, these days?) But you know what? I really don't think it should matter. The day is about love, you know? And yes, we focus on the Cupidy (I totally just made that into a proper adjective!)/lovey-dovey aspects of the day...but it's not all that. I like to just be with my family. To deck the house in hearts. To wear pink and red, preferably in dress form. To eat chocolate (though that might just be everyday).

What am I doing for this special day of days? Not really anything special, to be honest. But that doesn't matter. I am bringing valentines to work to exchange them, I am wearing my reds and pinks, and I am going to just enjoy that V-Day is here once again.

With much love to all my blogging friends,

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Odi et amo

Odi et amo. I hate and I love.

If you haven't read Catullus in the original Latin before, you should. At least, you should read this little couplet he penned back when time was BC. So many penned isn't the most accurate of words...anyway. It's a great little poem.

"Odi et amo. quare id faciam, fortasse requiris?
nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior."

It's well-constructed, is simple yet complex. Seriously. It's very common, actually. A well-known piece of his work. It means, "I hate and I love. Perhaps you ask, why I do it? I don't know, but I feel it happening and it is excruciating to me." (Not all of that is an exact translation over, but that's it, basically.)

Now, Catullus wrote this to his girlfriend Lesbia. I am writing this to my computer. Specifically, to the internet.

Internet, how I love and hate thee! Why do you distract me when I should be busy? Why do you allow me to access such web sites as Hulu.com, Farmville.com, Facebook.com, all of my email accounts, and youtube, when I should be writing, cleaning, and living in the real world? Why do I feel my addiction? Perhaps I should have given you up for Lent, after all!

Except, dear internet, that you connect me to everyone; you keep me up to date on the news (and on my TV shows); you allow me to write alongside others.

Internet, I love and hate you!