Valentine Craze

pinoys are really romantic by nature! even here in Sharjah, at the heart of the muslim-influenced emirate of UAE, valentines spirit still found its way...as early as yesterday, greetings of 'happy hearts day', or 'where is your date?' already flew like wildfire in our office. we are 97% pinoys, so you can imagine. and today, everyone seems to be in very good spirits! work was light, with so much jestings on whom to date and where to go filled the conversations.

dubai on the other hand did what it does best-- sell! it has managed to take advantage of this commercial opportunity to pump in more dirhams... valentine spa package, desert safari couple package, dinner packages, jewelry for his and hers, flowers, even HP printer has a valentine's promo! on the other side of the globe, i read a stat somewhere that in the Philippines, the card, flowers and chocolate companies account 15% of their annual business turnover for the period Feb 10-20 alone! talking about brisk business eh? it shows two things: (1) so many still value this day, and (2) pinoys have the eye for opportunities.

but then there are those who would not succumb to the seemingly commercialism and would rather be resourceful and artistic... good for you guys! i salute you! as the old over-used adage goes "it's the thought that counts!"

if the couples are all loved up this day and somehow positively (?) pressured on what to give to their habibis and habibtis (arabic of male and lady love), adversely, a number of singles are hard-pressured. i remember when i was in high school when me and my single girl friends would send each one flowers from 'anonymous' sender, just so to be 'in' for the season! now i think it's so insane! haha! oh well, the pressure dries up slowly as we age. and singles now seem to have more fun and more creative juice in dealing with the v-day than during the yester years...

well, whatever this day means to each one, whether good business, or romantic get away, or an unnecessary pressure, V-day is here to stay! it's a force to reckon with! haha! go rule!