A Day worth Living

Today is a day of much joy, new found love, stirring of old feelings, a day of sadness for some and a day of angst directed towards the commercial powers that be. But for me today is a day to be appreciated.

My Valentine's Day history is more successful than most which is probably why I'm not a destroyer of Roses but a patron of this most excellent day. The funny thing is though, this year I'm actually doing no more than enjoying lunch with my mother! Today brings memories both good and bad for myself, Two years ago on this day I entered into a relationship full of struggle , joy, pain, love , tears , and created some of the best and worst memories I know.

The relationship since then has ended but I personally have grown, and today I am subjected to those thoughts and memories. And though I have flashes of discomfort as my past rides my train of thought, I also have the appreciation for this day and what it has brought me in the past.

I absolutely Love Valentines Day.

There is not a better feeling for me than when I get the opportunity to take a girl out and charm her. This year, the plan follows a little something like this. I want to take a girl out treat her exceptionally , wine and dine her, get to know her better and simply have a good night, not start a relationship, not become exclusive, not confuse any feelings, just have a great night. So heres how it starts.

Before the date.

Single Rose as a gesture of appreciation and to get that blushed smile I love seeing on a beautiful face. I'll usually give this upon arrival along with a hug/ kiss on the cheek. I feel the gift of a single rose says, this is more than the usual date and it will be a great night. More than a few roses and you are saying too much too fast.

Reservations at Via Vite located on fountain square downtown Cincinnati.

Why?

Via Vite is Italian but with a modern face and approach , which means that for a one time or first time date it is perfect. If it were a classic Italian restaurant it has the possibility to come off as sappy, cliche , date like, etc.

My goal is to impress but not to be cheesy. And also my intentions are not to be romantic but to be an entertaining date.

After the Date.

Options.

I always like to have two options for after dinner that my date can choose. So what are they?

Well, let me tell ya.

First option

we have this one for that girl who is having a good time but maybe not comfortable putting herself in a position that could lead to a ride on the love roller coaster. So for this option we usually have grab a drink somewhere or grab some ice cream or hot cocoa depending on the weather , a walk around the area, basically whatever is going to give me a chance to spend more time with the girl and get to know her better and her to do the same. Walks are always great because you can walk and talk comfortably while enjoying the scenery ( Location is so important , Downtown makes the date exciting because my date gets to show off what she wore in a beautiful area with plenty of people to check her out and see the great time she is having) but walks are also great because I can hold the hand or put my arm around the girl creating more comfort which only makes conversation better too.

OPTION 2 ( The one we all prefer)

Option 2 can rest alone by itself as an option or can sometimes happen after option 1 if the girl is feeling very comfortable with me and flirting equally as much if not more.

Take her to the pad.

"Well what would you like to do now? We can go for a walk, grab some Ice Cream from Graeters or find a nice place down here to get a drink or if you'd like we can go back to my place I have a bottle of wine we can share , we can turn on some music or a movie and enjoy each other's company some more , whats it going to be ?"

She wants to go back to the house, I grab two nice glasses , the house is immaculate, smells good, mild lighting and great music and all of a sudden the night continues as late as we'd like it to.

Needless to say this is a lot of thought for one day and this is really only a speck of the planning and thought that goes into a good valentines day date.

My goal is to take a beautiful...but interesting girl out and truly enjoy the evening with her and to MAKE SURE she has an extraordinary night.

Needless to say. None of this is happening though ( chuckles) This year I made the reservation and actually got a 7:30 spot( which is a question how this was even available only two weeks in advance), I planned my outfit, Black pants , black shoes black sweater, great abercrombie white and red striped collard shirt under the sweater with a beautiful red tie, hair gel clean shave and of course I've been whitening my teeth with some crest strips and gum in the pocket. Basically everything is planned correctly for a great night. I live downtown and have no car , so to get around making the girl drive which would have been very un traditional with the possibility of male female role confusion, we would have walked the 5 blocks to the restaurant which would also give sufficient time for yes...more talking.

Theres all this planning though and one thing missing...the girl.

So obviously none of this is planned without a specific girl in mind. It has to be a girl who is attractive to me, and not cute, but truly beautiful. I need a girl that I am proud to take out in public and spend close to a hundred dollars entertaining. BUT she also needs to be interesting. If you get a ferrari and it has no motor theres really no point in taking it out. So she must be someone who engages me, has defining characteristics and personality traits, a girl who does more than simply go to school and go to work. A girl who is confident and a girl who has friends.

So I found her. A Recent friend of mine, very attractive girl, intelligent, well read, culturally engaged, surrounds herself with great friends and great people, she doesn't have a loose reputation and she knows how to be herself look good and be awesome.

So I ask her if she'd like to go out with me for dinner on Valentines Day......Yes.

Does she have a dinner preference? No. She likes all food.....This is awesome, not only is she great but she isn't picky either. Bonus!!

So I have this Ideal date planned with an Ideal date , and BOOM!

"Yeah I cant make it to dinner it turns out I have a test in my nightclass I can't miss."

Wow....Not only is this very quite possibly a rejection but now I have lost the ideal date let alone a date at all.

My mind scrambles. FUUUUUUCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK.

So now I think, who can I take now??!? I still want to go out and have this great night but now I have to think of a girl with similar qualities that would be a good date for the night.

So after scanning through the girls I interact with on a weekly basis I think of a close friend of mine who happens to also be one of the most amazing women I've met recently, very interesting, smart , beautiful etc.

So we are very comfortable and theres no tension or uncomfortability, I ask her and she would love to but quite honestly probably has to work that night since the notice is less than a week away to go out on a monday night....of course she works.

So I don't want to ask a third girl because of the insult that could be contrived from this whole situation, I mean who wants to be the 3rd resort? no one! So I've cancelled my reservation and I will not be enjoying the company of ANY beautiful women this evening. What a depresser.

However, all is not terrible on this St. Valentine's Day.

Because I do have one thing going for me. I'm a young confident good looking bachelor and it just started warming up this week, which means I'm going to start going out and so are a lot of great women ;) So look out girls , Valentine's Day is only one day out of the year I still have 364 more to explore.

I still appreciate the holiday for the possibility it inspires and because I know next year to plan even earlier so that this whole type of situation doesn't occur ever again, I mean I'm missing out on a great night now! But actually I just realized I have a night class tonight from 7 to 10 haha so maybe the whole thing was in vain anyway.

So until I decide to let you peer into my mind again. Have a great day and I hope your Valentines Day plans go through ;)

Exit Through the Gift Shop, Banksy, Shep, and Mr Brainwash

So most people with some basic knowledge of art today have seen both Banksy and Shepard Fairey's street art at some point in the media.

Well the Identity of Shep is not at all anything secret, he throws shows all over and I say throw because the guy actually DJ's at his shows, more like a party if you ask me. But Banksy on the other hand is still the international vandal of mystery.

Well lucky for us a documentary titled " Exit through the Gift Shop" has been released and yes is on netflix. The movie follows a french man by ze name of Thierry Guetta who carries a video camera everywhere he goes and ends up stumbling into the street art world and becoming friends with Banksy. What the hell right?

So here is the deal with this guy, but First. A few links.

His website.

His art on ebay.

Me after all of this.

Ok so. This guy Thierry decides he has hung out with all of these major street artists and he can just become an artist as well. So first he opens a full time screen printing workshop with multiple employees and he just tells his people to make art out of his ideas. Basically it is a mass production art factory. Then he rents out an abandoned NBC BUILDING (you know it's not small) and he has an installation show, asks his buddy Fairey to post a little promo on his site and asks his buddy Banksy for a little promo too, now LA Weekly is involved and he is selling art which if you looked at the links is just photoshopped pop art and street art from which the style has just been ripped off any other big name out there.

So where I come in with all this is that I am slightly maddened as in I have lost my mind from all this. This man who is by no means an artist has taught us all something. In today's world you can do anything. This guy sold over a million dollars in art in his FIRST show EVER. He is a businessman for sure and I have just been mind fucked to the nth degree.

Mr. Brainwash and his Art