Valentine's Day? Challenge? What?

It occurred to me the other day, when thinking about the reasons that I think Valentine's Day is stupid, that there's one big reason I've always brushed off: the fact that I let it be disappointing. I mean, what was I expecting all these years? Some knight in shining armor to come cruising up to my school in a '50-something red Cadillac convertible, Hallmark cards flying out of the passenger seat, boxes of chocolates tied to the hood?

As awesome as that sounds, let's be realistic here: not only do I not know a single guy reasonably near my age who has a car like that... but who would be foolish enough to start a relationship on Valentine's Day? (Just in case there's someone out there planning on buying me a candy-gram, or a teddy-bear, or professing their love to me, I don't really mean that; please do.) There's just so much pointless hype, and amped-up expectations... it's almost scary when you think about it, because really, V-Day is just another day. And that, my dear readers, is the point.

There's this expectation that Valentine's Day is supposed to be special; that other people are supposed to make good things happen to us. But when has giving someone else all of the responsibility, and then waiting for them to do what you want them to do with it, ever really worked out?

The answer? Rarely, and it's not really fair to expect it to. If you're single, and you don't want to be, then DO something about it; don't just wait for someone else to somehow know you're tired of it, and act on it for you. You are responsible for what you do with your own feelings, and you alone... because after all, you're the only one who really knows them. And that brings me to the challenge.

I was reading an interview with a philosophy-trained professor at Boston College. She'd discovered that out of a large panel of "bright, intelligent and extroverted" students ("These were not kids with no game"), none of them had ever dated in college. Which kind of blew my mind, because I thought that was when things got serious. It turns out that our generation generally just doesn't know how to date. We know how to "hook up" (even if it's just as basic as one-time making out), but most members of Generation-Whatever-We-Are get stuck when it comes to the idea of asking someone they might like to go out on a date. Obviously that doesn't mean nobody knows how to be in a relationship, because I'm sure we all know people who are. What it does mean, however, is that the way people get into relationships has changed, since 'dates' have somehow become weird.

So this professor actually made an assignment of asking someone out on a date. All the students in her classes were really excited, but by the end of the semester... nobody had done it. She then said they would fail the class if they didn't figure it out, and suddenly people were signing up for her class just so she could force them to be brave enough to date. 


So here's the challenge:
Ask someone (in person) on a date before February 14th.

You don't have to go on this date by V-Day, you don't have to go out to dinner or anything serious like that; all you have to do is ask somebody you're interested in to hang out, just the two of you, doing something fun. Which is a date.

What's the point of this challenge? To stop Gen-Us from being complete wimps when it comes to liking someone. Why should you do it? Because if you ARE interested in somebody, then you know you want to anyway. And nobody ever got anywhere by being too much of chicken to try something risky. 

As an added incentive, I'm giving away 5 iTunes gift certificates to people who take the challenge... but really, this is just something you should do for you. After all, if the person doesn't want to go on a date, then you know they're not worth wasting your time with. And if they do, then hey! Who knows how long it would have taken you to find out otherwise? 

Either way, it'll make a pretty great story.

May the Force be with you.
xoxo