In honor of Valentine's Day

'When Harry Met Sally' -- still my all-time favorite after all of these years

Let's face it, karma is a boomerang. I have reason to celebrate this Valentine's Day. Love is not a zero-sum game. Even though I am not experiencing the roller coaster high that is the first flush of love, I am also not going through the doldrums of a stale coupling or the incessant root canal of a contentious marriage. For each of my happily-linked friends, I can think of just as many who are in merely good-enough or lousy relationships.

The past few years, I kept thinking I had to radically alter myself in the name of boy attraction. I feigned interest in a variety of mediums. I made sure I wasn't seen wearing my glasses within 50 feet of any given love interest. I even lied to one guy about the number of years I'd taken dancing lessons and hid my "gay" CDs when he came over to visit. Yes, for some reason I thought I'd be seen negatively if a guy saw my tap trophies or how many different recordings of "Les Miserables" I own. And look where it got me!

So I've decided to focus my time making *Curtis* like Curtis. For 2006, I will turn over a new leaf; I plan to make a list of things that *I* want to accomplish in life, instead of worrying so much about what others think. For instance, I really want to visit Copenhagen, Croatia and Budapest, research some graduate schools, get some freelance stories published in the Prague Post. Perhaps this newfound attitude will make me more attractive to men; perhaps (and more likely) not. But there is no point in wasting my time and energy reading crap books about 'he's just not that into me.'

My heart is a-flutter with anticipation...March 3, baby!