Skepticism

Valentine's Day Strike

This year, I am once again not celebrating Valentine’s Day. Silly holidays such as this interfere with one’s career. So, I’m crushing rocks all day and then going to the orthodontist and then returning to lab to crush MORE rocks. Yep. Take that, Valentine’s Day. Rather than indulging in the usual mush, I’m spending two hours at the dentist and then working all night. Why? Because I believe that my denstist visit and my rock crushing are a much better use of my time. I mean, I’d much rather have three dental students poke around my teeth and then go cover myself in rock dust than receive presents and then go to dinner and a movie.

Anyone else on strike* from Valentine’s Day?

If not, I hope that you are celebrating with someone wonderful. Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!

*Please not that being on strike is very different– idealistically, emotionally, and psychologically– from not having a date on Valentine’s Day. I’m choosing not to have a date. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

Rebecca Watson

Rebecca is a writer, speaker, YouTube personality, and unrepentant science nerd. In addition to founding and continuing to run Skepchick, she hosts Quiz-o-Tron, a monthly science-themed quiz show and podcast that pits comedians against nerds. There is an asteroid named in her honor. Twitter @rebeccawatson Mastodon mstdn.social/@rebeccawatson Instagram @actuallyrebeccawatson TikTok @actuallyrebeccawatson YouTube @rebeccawatson BlueSky @rebeccawatson.bsky.social

Related Articles

31 Comments

  1. You know, I was at best vaguely aware that there was some sort of holiday today before all my favorite bloggers mentioned Valentine's Day. I suppose being totally oblivious doesn't count as being on strike, but perhaps it's close enough? (:

  2. I went to bed at some time in the AM, around a time when some people were waking up to go to work.
    And I didn't wake up again until late in the afternoon.

    I could say that qualifies as being on strike, since I spent most of VD asleep in bed so far …

    Also, I am further boycotting by not eating any chocolate whatsoever today.

  3. I hate valentine's day. I've never celebrated it once in my life. And that's not because I'm an old maid, either. I've been happily married for 17 years, but it's a ridiculous excuse for a holiday.

  4. Like writerdd, my girlfriend and I don't celebrate Vday. We think it's stupid and just an excuse contrived by the chocolate/diamond/greeting card conglomerate to guilt men into spending money. We don't celebrate Christmas at all either. Our friends are pretty appalled with us.

    Try not to feel too bad, Evelyn, we all love you! Though I know that that doesn't "make your lava flow" … :(

  5. Well, it's good to get the dentist over with now. Everyone else will be waiting in line the next few days after consuming all that chocolate …

  6. I'm staying at the office late to talk with a couple friends about statistical physics. Then I'm going home to bake blueberry bread. With any luck, I'll sneak in a Ghost in the Shell episode or a Feynman lecture video before crashing on the couch.

    If it weren't for the Blagnet, I would have forgotten about the whole occasion. See, Evelyn, you're only making the problem worse by reminding your ignorant readers about the sweet, sweet Hallmark lovin' they could be having!

    There's a key difference between not celebrating Valentine's Day and celebrating the holiday we might call anti-Valentine's Day (deliberately acting in a way to emphasize our loneliness). It's the same as the difference between atheism and anti-Christianity. Thanks to High Priest Dawkins, we all know that atheism is a religion the way that not collecting stamps is a hobby, or that atheists have religion the way healthy people have disease. I try to make my non-observance of Valentine's Day follow the same logic.

  7. Gee– I'm seeing the Dentist and the Optometrist tomorrow! It MUST be National Dentistry Month. (Quietly hums "Inspector Lemming of the BDA" theme to self)

    –And I actually forgot it was Valentine's day today until this blog reminded me.

    That explains why my friend never answered the phone today. He's probably taken his wife out or summat.

  8. Rav Winston has just won the thread, in my opinion, with his Monty Python reference. Love that sketch.

    I celebrated the day by sleeping in, then heading to a mall with a WiFi connection so I could play World of Warcraft for the remainder of the afternoon. That's it.

    I've never had a reason to 'celebrate' V-day, even if I wanted to. Never been dating anyone when V-day rolled around, never purchased a 'crush' a present or anything like that. I'm not ENTIRELY anti-Valentine's day, and sometimes I think I'd like to be in a position where I could reasonably celebrate. But such is life, I suppose.

    As it is, I'm just waiting until tomorrow (as I know Blake will be doing as well) for the 50% off candy. Woo-hoo for commerce! :-P

  9. Hey so, I know this is off topic Ev, but how do you feel about rock quarrys? Not the pit's but the type the blow up mountains…. I used to do that for a living… sort of a family buissness.

    …. also off-off topic but I once lost my cell phone down the rock crusher… it came out fine which was confusing.

  10. (This might show up twice due to browser oddness)

    It's certainly not *Inter*national Denist Month as I'm off to the dentist next month.

    As for VD (oo-er!), never had a chance to celebrate it with anyone. And now it's my step-father's birthday so that just throws that idea out the window anyway.

  11. hmmm, a certain Pool Boy got "Ocean Waves Sleep" CD. He says that a CD that is supposed to make you sleep in bed is very unromantic.

    He's on strike now also.

  12. Odd as it may sound, I was actually planning to forget about Valentine's Day, and it actually worked. My reasoning for doing this: If I tried to get a date, I'd fail and get upset. If I celebrated Singles Awareness Day, I'd skip straight to being upset. This way skips even that. Basically, my plan was just to completely lose track of the date. I finished up all forms and stuff the required dating a while ago, so I had no clue what day it was.

    Mission: Successful. I didn't realize it was Valentine's day until lunch, when the cashier handed me an evaluation form which mentioned it was Valentine's day. And even then, my first instinct was that it was a mistake; it was still too early, right? Even though I figured it out then, I managed to forget again, and even later mistook the month for January.

    So, what are you all planning to do for New Year's Eve?

  13. Okay, I now must retract my earlier Valentine's Day cynicism… I just received a Valentine's Day Volcano. Cool gift. Certainly beats flowers and chocolates!

  14. I am not celebrating because:

    A) I'm not currently involved with anyone (which is not a complaint – I don't feel "alone on Valentines Day", I just happen to not currently be involved with anyone.

    B) I am in Fresno doing field work, and therefore would be some distance from anyone I did happen to be seeing, and therefore would not be celebrating.

    However, I would like to say that Valentines Day made it damn difficult for me to find a hotel room in this city. If you can figure out why people are flocking ot hotels in Fresno on Valentines Day, let me know, because I am baffled.

  15. I'm on strike too, but while I'm on strike, I'm sort of picketing and heckling those who are not on strike. I'll take a nice surprise token of someone's affection any other day of the year over something that symbolizes a warped sense of obligation on Feb 14th.

  16. My cousin actually gave his girlfriend a basket of stuff like chocolates and soap and whatnot, but last weekend. This way it was still a suprise, as his girlfriend wasn't expecting it until yesterday, and also, Wednesday being a weekday, he was able to enjoy the gift with his girlfriend during the weekend, when he didn't have to work the next day.

    I guess in a way, that IS romantic. Although clearly it is more a matter of convenience in a sense.

    Either way, it's a form of VD-protest, so it's OK.

  17. I have no strong feelings either way about Valentines day – I'm basically indifferent to it. Either hating it or insisting on all the trappings is just way too much of an effort, in my opinion.

    However, my mom celebrates EVERY holiday, so she sends me (and my roommates) presents and candy every year! Not gonna turn that one down :)

  18. I have a dental appointment sometime this month too. I wonder if february is to dentists as just before tax day is to accountants…

  19. Is February National Dentistry Month?

    Only if you are a child:
    National Childrens Dental Health Month

    In october, we have:
    National Dental Hygiene Month

    I too despise Valentines Day. How can anything so commercially packaged be romantic? I was out on the night of the 14th, but in a non-dating capacity. I saw lots of flowers and balloons being toted around. Later, I found myself in a deserted metrorail station. There was a single balloon bouncing around the high ceiling, and it struck me that the lonely ballon was the perfect metaphor for Valentines Day. A bunch of hoolah totally forgotten mere moments later.

    But make no mistake, I'm a big hypocrite who would jump through all the silly hoops if I were actually dating someone.

  20. I’d much rather have three dental students poke around my teeth and then go cover myself in rock dust than receive presents and then go to dinner and a movie.

    But you left out the best part!

    No wonder you're not into Valentine's Day.

  21. bug_girl said,
    February 14, 2007 at 8:39 pm
    For some reason, I read that as Shingles awareness day.

    My favourite term is "VD Day", by analogy with ATM Machine, etc. (Which linguistic fallacy has a name that I can't remember now.) Although, this year, I simply used "VD" instead for my AIM away message. (As in, "Happy VD!")

    It's not that I hate Valentine's Day. I'm basically indifferent to the enterprise, even the times when I'm dating somebody around that time. I just think it's funny. VD! Hee!

  22. I just think it’s funny. VD! Hee!

    Reminds me of a joke.

    What's the difference between love and herpes?

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Back to top button