THE OBLIGATORY VALENTINE'S DAY POST

Tomorrow being Valentine's Day, I'm naturally inclined to pick up a story from the most interesting period of most our lives... the scholarly years.

This is the story of Valentine's Day 1999.

13 February 1999.
Dinner time.

My roomate and I were having dinner with a few friends where one of them was wooing her in a very old fashioned way. My roomate (with my help) hinted quite loudly that there were no activities planned for the next day, except a movie trip with Preeto and her sister, which was not what anyone really wanted to do, but nobody wanted to be indoors all day either.

Apparently, no amount of hinting could penetrate the guy's head, and we finished our dinner... as we were headed back to our respective destinations, I (ever teh busybody) turned around and asked... "Hey, aren't you gonna ask her out?"

He looked as though someone had kicked him on the shin with a pair of spiked shoes. But he kept quiet.

As we turned, I heard one of his friend's say "Man, you blew it!" and another said something else.

My roomate and I looked at each other. She mentioned about giving up on him because he just didn't know how to woo her.

February 14 1999.
Morning.

I tried convincing my roomate that he'd be out the window that day and ask her out (we had no other means of communicating - no handphones, no internal internet access, etc)

Unfortunately, till the time Preeto and her sister arrived to pick us up for the movie, there was no sign of him.

Afternoon
We watched "You've got mail!" and preeto had an argument with a couple who were snogging at 'our' seats... Lots of drama, I tell ya. Most of the day's activities involved bowling and watching wistfully as couples walked hand in hand around us!

Night
We had dinner and then it was time to head back. The roomate and I took the bus as preeto and her sister had somewhere else to head to, and there was no other way. As the bus entered our residential college, we noticed 3 familiar figures on a motorbike. I grabbed my roomate's arm and pointed them out to her.

We both muttered 'oh my god' and got down to say hi. The friends dropped off the guy, and I made a polite exit so the both of them could talk.

And talk they did, for a long time... when my roomate came back, she said..."we're celebrating Valentine's Day tomorrow, you're joining us with some others!"

So that's how 1999 had 2 Valentine's Days.