Valentine

I gave someone...ok, L, a gift. For the past two weeks, I'm suffering from cold sores (roomate J said it's mouth herpes. CHOI!)--bumps and swelling on the gums and tongue, cracks on the lip. Very painful :'(. Makes eating, drinking, (especially) brushing teeth a teary and howling event. No doctor visit for me. Once I'm here, I've learned to 'shy away' from the doctors as they're SUPER expensive (now that I'm not covered in health insurance). To make it short(er), L came to Towson to pass me an oral medication for my sore and gift(s) she got me from Japan.

I had a few hours to run to the florist and two other stores to get flowers (yes, handpicked, stem by stem!) and papers. The flowers here are expensive! Gee, and I thought they're already 'Valentine's price'--they're not! I got them early.



So, I came back from work at 10++pm and knocked on (my Japanese roomate) K's door. Had her to take pictures of this process. LOL. And also by seeing me wrapping, she'd learn how to do it. Of course, she helped a lil bit :P--trashing stuff, wiping table, put the flowers in the vase, you know...simple stuff.











I took the bouquet with me on my 'journey' around campus--I didn't want to come home to fetch it when L arrives. I wanted to spend some time at Starbucks and enjoy. Heh. Bangganya be seen with a big bouquet. Americans don't wrap this way. Not so 'extravagantly'. This is Hong Kong style. ;) I mentioned that I'd get L some flowers the next time she's in town. It was a perfect moment, in conjunction with V-day and her birthday (which is more than a month to come, but I'm not gonna spend more...). Afterall, I rarely see her in real. *shrugs*

Perhaps I'd say I was being (very) nice, in return to her nice action/gesture. Perhaps I wanted her to receive the biggest bouquet she's every received--from me. Perhaps I wanted to tell her that she's still a very special person and a great friend to me/of mine.
Perhaps I was being too dramatic.

I brought her to my restaurant. (Previously) Had the sushi chef to make some specialty sushi (not on the menu). Paid for the (quick) dinner. Of course it's my treat, she's a friend 'visiting', right? And I've always knew she loves certain types of food...

She had mixed emotions about all these. Too romantic. Ahh...perhaps. What, can't I give a friend a bouquet of flower for V-day AND birthday? I'm being kinda 'economical' here, you know.

Back to the flowers--you know what red roses and yellow roses mean, right? True and passionate love, and friendship. 3 red, 9 yellow (9 means forever and ever, ok). Purple flowers are called/nicked as forget-me-not. Whites are baby's breath, you figure what it means. *winks*

*sigh*

This is not the first time I've purposely wrapped a nice bouquet for a friend. My first bouquet was a two dozen red roses (of course, with lots of forget-me-not) for a guy (whom I never gave it to). DAMN heavy. My second was to my (longest) best-est friend, M--a dozen of (maybe) pink roses. I delivered to her personally and I remember her reaction vividly--her face was lit up and so touched.

I did not see L's face lit up or touched when I presented her the bouquet (at starbucks). I guess I've failed to 'touch' her. I prefer to see LL's face when she saw me with a bunch of unwrapped flowers in my arms (at starbucks) the previous day.

I'm willing to give due to appreciation. But the response is rather...disappointing. Conformity is one of the reasons...

However, in brief, I'd say that I was very excited, anxious, happy and exuberant about her visit. No matter what happens in the future, I'd like her to be my special friend--a dear friend. You may ask, "are you trying to win her back?". My answer is "I want what's best for us, even if we do not end up together."



Ah...on bended knee, huh. But this screams "Happy Valentine's and Happy Birthday!" ;)