podling | 7th Heaven, Valentine's Day, & Marriage Proposals

7th Heaven is a severely screwed up yet oddly surreal show. Let me just start with that. So anyway, for some reason I occasionally find myself drawn in, kind of like when I used to watch yoshi's screen saver for hours. Anyway, so in this week's very special episode Lucy wants her boyfriend to ask for her hand in marriage, and wants it on Valentine's Day, dammitall! This is further complicated by her not thinking he will, so telling him not to, straight out. So then she's all upset and freaking because even though he loves her, and she loves him, and they plan on being together, he's not going to ask her right THEN. And I was thinking, what a stupid problem to have, this is so obviously a tv show, no one really has that issue. But then I recalled back 4 years ago, when I first met

astrophysicat, when she came in freaking out about the same thing and I thought it was a really strange issue to have, but hey, I'd only met her a few times and she was a bit odd anyway... (this would be with her ex-ex-ex-ex-bf that she was engaged to). Granted, Cara came up with a more practical solution than crying and carrying on like Lucy did, but then again, in 7th Heaven land, he of *course* had planned this psycho expensive way to propose on v-day as she required for full happiness. And then there was this other couple who had only started dating, and who had never actually said, "I love you" yet, but were planning on also getting engaged. Que? There actually was one good moment in the show, when Ruthie kissed her boyfriend awake for their first kiss. That was randomly sweet, and not anywhere near as freaky as the rest. There were other things that made this episode freaky and surreal, but I'll stop there for now. Wait, one more! So this little kid calls his mom and tells her he got her a guy for v-day!!!

But so this brings me to V-day. I just don't get that whole scenario. Why would you want to be proposed to then? I mean, really, it's a fake holiday to display loving emotions that you *should* be showing year-round. Good, loving, sensual experiences should be something you aim for in everyday life, not a once a year phenomenon. Eroticism should be something to celebrate with much greater frequency than that!

Honestly, I don't think I'll be proposed to this Valentine's Day and really, I'm okay with that. Personally, I'd rather be proposed to on a weird day of the year, one of the solstices or equinoxes (equinii?), or better yet, the day when the clocks change in the fall, so it'll be a moment when time is weird! Plus autumn is my favorite season. See, that's something to remember! But whatever! I think the whole marriage thing is something that is far off in my future, if it's even present on my timeline.

Now,

astrophysicat has a pretty good success rate for becoming engaged. Of her last 5 boyfriends, she's been engaged to 2. That's 40% success! I think she should shoot for a higher average, but for some reason, she thinks not at the moment. Something about how engagements are supposed to lead to marriage, so they're not really successes anyway... She may have a point. I bet the 7th Heaven people will all live happily ever after though...