Not amoungst my proudest of concessions but in the end it is a story to tell.  Valentines is a curse for me I suppose, I always seem to find myself with or without a new girl-friend each year as Valentines Day hedges the corner of mid-February.   This year I found myself chin-on-knuckles with a bottle in hand pensively contemplating my state of forlorn dejection, yet again on another effing Valentines Day.  It really has become a strange pattern, probably perpetuated by my now self-convinced expectation that Valentines Day will doubt-lessly come toppling down once-again upon my now pussy-footed head.  As fate would will it into purpose, a week before the romantic holiday, my sweetheart kicked my ass out.

Being a sucker for flattery and gift giving, I, like a stooge, went out and bought my (ex)girlfriend a piece of electronic equiptment I had been looking forward to gifting her; an Ipod compatible CD sound system.  I figured maybe she'd relapse on my better-self if I schmoozed her with heart-felt gift giving on a day when she would in all likely-hood be overlooked.  I bought the damned thing online and drove to Circuit City with a hole in my stomach knowing that I ought to probably save my money, or buy myself something. 

I was glad to be at work that night, tending bar at an over-priced fine dining joint in Salt Lake City.  Hustling over-priced bottles of Italian wine to would be love-makers.  Safe to say that the more pricey the bottle, the greater the likelyhood that some one was going to get some.  Consider it a given that I sold some expensive wine that night, maybe it was fueled by a sense of personal retribution against the guys who would be in better shape than I that night.

  At 9.30pm the telephone in my pocket rang letting me know that my fair lady had finally made her way home to find my gift on her bed.  It was 11pm by the time I listened to her 10 second thank you and by 11.30pm I was at home sucking on a bottle watching Commando by myself. 

I had never heard of drunk bidding on Ebay before ... I had never thought of it, but on this particular night I believe I invented a new brand of morning -after surprises.  I don't play video games, really.  I've bought some games (which are now reasonably priced and up for auction) but have never spent any real time exploring an MMORPG, or getting stoned while playing Tiger Woods 2007, John Madden 2007, or Guitar Hero. 

The morning after with a whiskey'd up state of mind I rolled over to check my morning email.  As luck would have it I had won a bid for a brand new 60 GB Playstation 3!  Sonovabitch!  I don't play video games, and being a student I certainly haven't $450.00 to piss away on a gaming console.  It is what it is, and I guess in the future I might soon enough find myself stoned playing John Madden 2007.