Your Valentine's Day Plans for 2003?

Nos. writes "Valentine's Day is rapidly approaching, and though some of you Slashdot readers will be spending the day alone, there must be some of you out there who won't. So, what are you doing for that someone special this Feb 14th? My fiance is not a geek, and so wouldn't appreciate a 'geeky Valentine's'. Instead, I'm thinking a nice quiet dinner in one of our favourite restaurants. However, I recently got the 'You don't do anything romantic anymore' speech, and quite honestly am out of ideas. Can slashdot help? Obviously slashdot isn't the best place to ask, but I'm sure others are in a similar situation."

Comments

Re:Nothing wrong with /. IMO

[Gordonjcp]

Here's what you do - get her an appointment at one of those beauty spas on the 14th, in the evening.

Look, you're a geek. You're meant to have an almost pathological interest in learning new things. Learn how to do all that stuff yourself. Decent massage oils are not cheap, but you can get reasonably-priced ones. You're not going to need gallons of them. You can get books out of the library on how to do it, and of course practicing is the fun bit.

You're going to need:

• Some wine - decent stuff, it's hard to go wrong with Ernest & Julio Gallo if you don't know what to get
• Music - see below for some recommendations
• Massage oil - something relaxing. Lavender is good, but she might fall asleep - less than ideal. Get something with maybe bergamot (orangey but not citrussy), ylang-ylang, and patchouli - make sure she likes the stuff you're getting though.
• Scented candles - much the same as the massage oil, avoid sharp, spicy or citrussy scents - Rosemary is right out. Or not, it might work. Whatever you choose, *NEVER LEAVE THEM UNATTENDED* Also - get a couple of known-good lighters *and* a box of matches
• Dim lights - not so dim you can't see what you're doing, and maybe the candles won't be enough. Remote controlled X10 stuff is good but make sure it works - nothing kills the mood more than geeking about in another room so you can get a nice fade on the lights. Clapper switches would probably suck too, for this (avoid sudden loud noises)
• Warm towels - you're both going to be covered in oil. You should lay a warm bath towel along your girlfriend's back when you're done to absorb any excess, otherwise it will go all over your bed, couch, carpet or wherever.

Once your girlfriend is there, feed her some good food (pasta is simple, and hard to get wrong), and have a glass or two of wine. Get some music on, and work down to slower, more relaxing tunes. How you transition from eating to massaging is down to you. Standing up and saying "Right, strip off!" is probably not a good idea.

The important thing is that you both have fun. Don't be afraid to keep the book out, but try and keep oil off it if it's a library book. If you're not getting it, have your girlfriend massage you, to show you what she wants. Most importantly, keep at it - you *do* have all day, at least, if you want to keep your girlfriend. Oh, and I can't stress this enough - turn your phones, pagers, etc off. Not onto silent, not vibrate (you kinky freak), OFF.

Tunes are important. Obviously, individual tastes are different, but there are some things that work well and some that won't. Here are some examples I've tried.

Good:

• Air - Moon Safari (practically the whole album)
• Goldfrapp - Some tracks on Felt Mountain
• Saint Etienne - various tracks
• Zero Seven - most of Simple Things
• Beethoven - Pastoral Symphony
• Bjork
• Massive Attack
• Morcheeba

Stuff that doesn't work so well:

• Iron Maiden
• Anything produced by Stock, Aitken and Waterman
• Anything from Pop Idol or the like
• The Sex Pistols
• Enya - far to cheesy
• Berlioz - La Symphonie Fantastique (way too loud and scary
• Japanese noise rock - you might both like Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her, but it's all context, isn't it?

OK, hope this helps someone. Have fun!

Re:Nothing wrong with /. IMO

[image]

Hey, that's a great post and rather good advice.

But that it exactly the opposite of what my girl would like. Funny, that.

We are -- going out to a restaraunt on E5th that a buddy of mine runs. Very nice place, top rated wine list, and surprisingly cheap. We're into cheap and punk rock.

Then headed off to see Ted Leo in Brooklyn. Ted's a good guy and his band absolutely rocks.

After that, back to the E. Village to Manitobas, 7B, or Ace, to -- guess what? Shoot some pool, look at people, drink some beers, hang with friends.

Then back home to put on some Mission Of Burma, the Rapture, the Clash, something like that.

Um, I'll leave out the rest. You get the idea.

So here's the answer -- know your girl. They don't all want the same thing. Mine's got a masters degree and an ivy league education and blows me away, but she'd rather rock on Valentines Day than get a massage. Course, she'd rather do this every night. Wow. I guess I really like her.

Happy Valentines Day, baby. (Granted, one thing she'll never do is read slashdot...)

Funny...

[moonboy]

"I recently got the 'You don't do anything romantic anymore' speech, and quite honestly am out of ideas."

Funny how this "holiday" falls (more often than not) on the guy. What about the woman being the romantic one and coming up with that "something special".

Eh, fuckit, I'm just bitter. Just out of a slightly-longer-than-a-year relationship and sick this 'You don't do anything romantic anymore' shit. Bleh.