Life is like a box of chocolates, and I've got nine

Today was Valentine's Day. Here is a link to a very pink website that gives some interesting history, but also contains plenty of stuff that could make you gag on your candy. It seems to become increasingly cheesy and nauseating as you scroll down. Further disclaimers should be inferred. Click here if you are bored enough. I can't mock you, or at least I shouldn't, since my boredom--uh, no, make that attention to detail and thoroughness--drove me to actually make the link. And besides even if you click, I won't know. It can be your little secret.


In Japan St. Valentine's Day is an occasion upon which females present chocolate to males, and not vice versa. It is not necessarily meant to carry romantic implications, but in many cases does. It is also often given merely out of kindess or as a nice gesture. This explains the immense amount of chocolate I have received from housewives. Or at least it better. One month after Valentine's Day is "White Day," the chance for the males to reciprocate. They are of course especially likely to do so if they were given chocolate by anyone from whom they would like to receive more than a Hershey's kiss. So far I have received 9 boxes, and one single piece from one of my high school students. She actually asked to leave class because she had forgotten something, and I told her fine but she needed to be back in one minute. I was just kidding (myself, mostly, since I don't expect the students at this particular high school to listen much to what I say, if indeed by some miracle they should happen to even understand me), but I have to admit I felt a little bad when she came back to class 57 seconds later, out of breath, with the little brown, rainbow-sprinkled jewel from her locker.

So it looks like I will be eating chocolate for a while. And in a few weeks I will have to shop for it. Then again, perhaps I can get a discount this week on the stuff they haven't sold yet. Yes, I can be that cheap. But I am rarely that motivated. That is to say I am much more likely to spend the money when the mood strikes me than to actually make the effort to go out looking for a bargain on something like chocolate. I have considered regifting, but even I can't seem to bring myself to stoop to that level. Too bad, considering the fact that, in addition to this year's bounty, I still have three boxes of chocolate in my freezer from last Valentine's Day.