My Slutty Valentine – A Singles Guide to Survival

 ……… lovingly brought to you by Ethan Day

Happy Valentine’s Day weekend to one and all! And baby, it’s cold outside!! Not at all the kinda weather that has me wanting to make declarations of love OR do the nasty. The only thing I want to wrap my legs around at the moment is a space heater – which could be shocking in more ways than one. At the very least, I’d have a heck of a time explaining where those grill marks on my inner thighs came from.

And even the snow, which I used to love so much, has now turned on us. The stupid white crap is everywhere! I should’ve been a little more specific in my letter to Santa…when asking him to send nine inches my way. Putting the weather aside, since that isn’t what I’m here to chat with you about today – in my first official post as the newest staffer on The Jessewave Gay-zette. 

*Imagines Wave popping fistfuls of antacids while muttering pleas of mercy*

No sir. This day has been reserved for the one topic in which we’re all either addicted to writing and or reading about.

LOVE.

And not just any ole specific kinda love, but an all-inclusive smorgasbord guaranteed to give you indigestion before hopefully leaving you satisfied. So grab your tongs, saddle up to the buffet and prepare yourselves for a love feast. Or fest, for those of you, who like me, are also currently on a diet – which is what comes from stuffing your stocking with the wrong type of sausage during the holidays.

Part warning with a dash of wishful thinking, I’ve limited this particular discussion to three different types of love which any modern, single boy or girl might find themselves ensnared in over the upcoming Valentine’s Day weekend. I know…dry your eyes. I hated placing limits on love as well, but this post can’t go on forever. I have books to write! : )

Keeping all that in mind, please insert your protective cups before reading any further.

Love Scenario Number One: Love at First Site

A by-product of the lovely online world called the internet – where one can find practically anything – if willing to look long enough. To this navigator extraordinaire, this love scenario can be as fast and easy as he once was in his early twenties. Unfortunately, much like his post-teen stamina, it also has a tendency to only last about as long as his average orgasm back in the day – a fact that usually relegates this avenue to being a last resort, at least with regard to how seriously we count on our chances of success.

Nevertheless, he forges ahead, muttering all those mantras of positivity under his breath, like the little Homo that could. As god is his witness, all of those years spent day dreaming about his love life, imagining When Harry Met Sally’s Boyfriend will not have been in vain.

Our home-bound, hero is likely already gearing up for the onslaught, thanks to the perpetual fears that come with the one day of the year specifically engineered to make us single peeps feel unloved and all alone. But never fear, because this year will be different. He’s being PRO-active, damn it, scanning the profiles of gay.com with the precision of a forensic criminologist. Bookmarking and rating them as he scientifically categorizes each on-screen-man using that giant pros & cons list inside his head. He rolls his eyes, seeing ‘No fats or fem’s’ for like the hundredth time, wondering why some folks find it necessary to lead with an insult. He stares longingly at the profile pic, before letting out another sigh, reminding himself that this year he’s sworn off assholes. Not literally of course, just behaviourally. Searching for the silver lining – yet another fucking New Year’s resolution he’s already having problems with – he say’s a tiny prayer of thanks since so many assholes out there have saved him the time and trouble by boldly displaying their true, shitty nature in print.

For Mr. Love-at-first-Site, it’s not about the journey. A true gambler by nature he believes eventually his time will come. He’ll score – so to speak – thereby hitting the love jackpot!! Hopefully just in time for Valentine’s Day! To all my fellow pimps and ho’s out there – I salute you! Hell, I’ll likely be right there with you. ; )

Love Scenario Number Two: Love at First Night

Unlike Love at First Site, which often winds up in the same place – horizontally speaking – this scenario usually evolves due to a lack of having any formal game-plan. Often laced with a lovely sheen of last minute desperation, this particular love-type is less like a gamble, more closely resembling a Kamikaze-nuthin’-to-lose-last-minute-Hail-Mary. It usually comes into play sometime around the end of the night at your local gay club, right before the ugly lights come on. Any other weekend of the year, this would just be another horny hook-up – something that seemed like an awesome idea when Mr. Hottie was sucking and nibbling on your neck.

But yet again, V-D weekend rears its ugly head and our boy-wonder convinces himself that this could be more. Mr. Love-at-First-Night stares defiantly into the crowd of sweaty, intoxicated men and whispers, “This could be the first fuck…of the rest of our lives!!”

Even his BFF-wing-man gives him a squeeze on the shoulder saying something like, “That’s beautiful, man!”

They each stand there imagining his walk down the aisle and softly, simultaneously sigh. It’s that rare event when all the wrong stars align and something he’d normally view as only being about sex gets twisted around in his brain into this thing it was never meant to be.

Personally, I’ve never been one who got off on the whole anonymous, one-night-stand kinda sex.  I didn’t exactly hate it, either. But much like that second piece of pie I thought was a really great idea a month or so ago, it usually leaves me with feelings of regret as opposed to an after-glow. That’s not to say that I judge anyone who does. If you like it and it feels good, and you aren’t hurting anyone – then go for it.  Screw yourselves silly and more power to you! I’ve never been the type to pee all over anyone else’s good time – though I will refuse to pee on them in order to provide them a good time. I gotta draw the line somewhere, people. Plus, I have a shy bladder. : )

To all of you heading out this weekend with your pack of singles, don’t count on the age-old adage that there’s safety in numbers. Like all of you, I know each one of my besties would drop me like a rock, at the site of the first cock-of-the-walk that struck their fancy. It’s nothing personal, just the law of the homo-jungle that rules the inner beastie in all us boys. So if you find yourself alone at the end of the night, staring longingly into the eyes of a hottie across the bar whose name you later have trouble remembering, then it probably ain’t love. And no…Daddy doesn’t count…unless he tells you his name is Daddy. At which point I’d recommend asking to see his driver’s license. He may have more problems than you’re gonna wanna deal with – even if only for one night.

Love Scenario Number Three: Love at First Sight

This one is for those you fearing the worst – that I’ve been abducted and anal probed by cynical aliens from a galaxy far, far away. I’ve decided to end this post on a more positive note – though it may not seem like it at first. : )

I’ve had two sorts of, Love-at-First-Sight moments in my life. The first happened when I was twenty and in retrospect was actually a little more like lust at first sight. He was the first and only straight guy I’ve ever wanted. That’s not to say I haven’t found any other straight guys attractive, but he was the only one I ever wanted to have sex with. For anyone doubting my sincerity on this one, I don’t know what to tell ya. Knowing a guy will be refusing to admit to having had sex with me the night before is kind of a turn off. But in this particular case, he could have slapped me around and called me Susan for all I cared.

He had a smile that would’ve reduced me to begging. I was in a serious man-heat for a good three months. I followed him around like a lost puppy, and he let me. I think his ego enjoyed the attention. Luckily it all came crashing down when I went to his house one fateful night in order to pick him up so we could go see a movie. He answered the door, towel wrapped and freshly wet from the shower. Taunting me with that visual was just cruel, considering he didn’t invite me in and ask me to lick him dry. It was at that point, my overly heated wires crossed, setting fire to the part of my brain that found him so adorable. We remained friends for a while, but without my rabid-adoration around to self-power our relationship, we eventually drifted apart.

The second time LAFS struck it was even worse, if you can imagine, because this guy, while gay, already had a boyfriend. It was also, in reality, actually more of a love-at-first-banter kind of a thing, but hey – details, schme-tails. He said he couldn’t stand Sarah Jessica Parker which had me gasping in shock as I clutched my pearls. Next thing I knew, we were swapping barbs back and forth and I was imagining what he’d look like between my legs.

Now before you all start grabbing for the torches and pitchforks, let me clear one thing up right now.  Other than one long, incredibly awesome kiss…which he totally initiated though I didn’t do anything to stop…nothing happened between me and banter-boy. So relax, and please save the preaching for someone who needs it, ‘cause this Homey-the-homo ain’t no home-wrecker. 

That doesn’t mean I didn’t pray every night to all that was gay and holy that banter-boy would wake up already and realize I was the one he was meant to be with.  I mean, hello – I totally rock, dude! 😉  I even fantasized about all the under-handed deeds I might institute in order to break them up…

…I blame my eighties upbringing, and the damage inflicted having been subjected to Dallas, Dynasty, & Knots Landing

…I couldn’t help myself, I was in love – plus he had an accent, hello! Even all my friends thought we were totally meant for each other!! Either that or they feared I might come unhinged had they dared to disagree. Fortunately for everyone involved, not even love mixed with desperation, managed to sink me low enough to ever do anything other than imagine their relationship going down in flames. He went his way and eventually I tired of pining and went mine.

While it’s true that neither of these particular situations worked out too well for me, the thing I gleaned from each misbegotten experience was the promise of possibility. Our lives – even the love part – can change on a dime.  Within an instant, the touch of someone’s hand or the sound of their voice can awaken something inside of us. The way he uncontrollably smiles when his eyes meet yours is all it takes to lift the ho-hum veil of the ordinary, making everything extraordinary. Sure it may not happen often and it doesn’t always work out even when it does, but that old saying about knowledge being power, ain’t no lie. For me at least, the proof that comes from my own experience is every bit as powerful as love itself. I know it’s there and when I least expect it I’ll once again find myself back in those deliciously uncomfortable shoes.

The point of all this, some of you may be wondering, is that this can be a treacherous weekend for those of us who are still looking for love in all the wrong…oh who am I kidding…in any place we can think of. Nevertheless, don’t let the pressure of what you have yet to find, push you into trying to make the wrong thing fit.

While the romantic in me secretly hopes you all find the love of your life over the next few days, for those of us who don’t, be thankful – if for no other reason than NOT being stuck with cheesy-assed Valentine’s Day for your anniversary. “Blech!”

I mean, “Awww!!” : )

Ethan Day’s Contact Information

email: ethan@ethanday.com
website: www.ethanday.com

 

88 comments

  • Oh man, Ethan, you have me crying here. Good cries, not bad ones, though they might turn that way any moment. No doubt I won’t be finding any one of of the three homo loves, unless they drive up to my door, dig out the snow, and find me in pajamas having barely made it outside in two weeks. Damn winter!

    BTW, you really, really like Aden Jaric don’t you? 🙂 He is hot, I’ll give you that. Though he’s probably one of those #2 homos!

    Also, don’t feel bad. I followed a straight man around like a puppy. Although, he was really very gracious and let me down easy, then we became best friends. It was worth it 🙂

    • “unless they drive up to my door, dig out the snow, and find me in pajamas”

      – anyone else think this sounds like a invitation…or perhaps a dare? 😉

      Poor Cole! Had I known and were rich I’d have hired a team of Alaskan Huskies (Big Burly Men from Alaska) to shovel you out of your igloo! Since I’m poor, I’d have to promise them you agreed to warm their buns once they freed you from your icy prison. Not sure if you’d have a problem with that or not? 🙂

        • LMAO! Should I just call the fire department for you? I could send Lassie out for help? I mean…it sounds like little Timmy’s trapped and needs some help getting off…I mean out! : )

  • My ex bf has his birthday on Valentines day. Poor thing.
    As do both my grandmothers for that matter. So VD is more about birthdays for me then hearts and such

  • LMAO! You my dear dear honey bear are one of a kind. You made me laugh and now I can have an excellent TGIF!! Love and hugs

  • Love it, love it, love it. Ethan, I’ll reread your post, laughing again, each time one of my friends feels the need to go on and on about the flowers and candy they received.

    I did the online dating thing while researching a story, and let me tell you… there’s some scary people out there. It’s safer to buy my own flowers, and I much prefer wine to candy. Plus, no one is gonna gripe that I spend more time with my laptop than I do with them.

    Wonderful, wonderful post.

    • Hi Eden! First of all, beware that wine, lol. In my experience, one bottle can lead to whole mess of trouble.

      I never understood the candy. “Here honey, have some fat in a box!”

      God forbid you eat it all…then you get to hear, “Putting on a few pounds?”

      Hide all the sharp objects!!! 🙂

  • Oh, Ethan, reading something of yours, as simple as a blog post, is an excellent way to start my day! Thanks for the laughs!

  • I’m such a cynic for a romance reader. I don’t believe in love at first sight, soul mates or forever and ever. Ooops. Lust at first site? Oh yeah. Definitely. I shall choose to pretend it’s NOT Valenines, unless I break down and buy those V-Day gifts for my pets that the pet company e-mail is pressuring me to purchase. They love me forever and ever (as long as I keep feeding them).

    Great piece. 🙂 Nice Friday morning smile.

  • I love this, Ethan! It’s so true. Previous to this VDay, I was a sad little #2 who just went home alone at the end of the night 🙁 Now I’m one of those disgusting coupled up boys who’s spending the weekend with a real live teddybear 😉

  • Damn, Ethan, yes!
    I spent years being tortured by the yearnings of my oversized, overheated libido (and heart).
    And VDay is just a generally awful idea for everyone: couples have this ridiculous pressure that *now*, on this particular day, you’ll prove how ecstatically in love and lust you are.

    • LOL! Hey GR! Since I’m single, I can say that I to am disgusted by the couples and their ecstatic, love-proof. Of course if I had a guy, I’d likely follow him around the house all day on V-Day asking him how much he loved me.

      Cause that wouldn’t get old in the least!! At least not to me. ; )

  • Brilliant post, Ethan, everyone in the office is wondering why I snorted with laughter into my coffee…

    Guess what? I’m not telling them :).

    Darn it, but Hubby and I claim first sight AND first night (didn’t have the ol’ online life then, so I can’t go for the trilogy *heh*). And look at that, we ended up lucky, with love following close on the steamy heels of lust.

    Thanks for the lovely entertainment! 🙂

    • Silly Clare…of course you can have the trilogy!! You just to set up profiles on Craigslist or something for you and your hubby…an alias for each of you…then you can contact one another and agree to meet…maybe get a hotel room, wink-wink ; )

  • Ah memories. When I was single Valentine’s Day was just sucky and not in a fun way either =). Thing is now that I’m married it’s treated like any other day. We don’t even exchange cards. The only tradition we have is that he makes this fab chocolate mousse with tons of whipped cream… but that’s a story for another day *blushes*

    Anyway fab post.

  • “Nevertheless, don’t let the pressure of what you have yet to find, push you into trying to make the wrong thing fit.”

    Truer words were never written. I have done this twice in my life. (I am NOT a fast learner!!) Thanks for your post. I enjoyed it very much and the smile on my face should carry me through Valentine’s Day.

    • I’m bad about it to, Linda. But I blame being a gay man or that. We’re always trying to make things fit. : ) That can be taken so many ways. Plus, I’m always ready and willing to lay the blame anywhere but on me. LOL!

      I swear it…the devil really did make me do it!! Stupid horny devil!!

  • Ethan, as always, you make me laugh. I am also nodding my head in agreement. Hmm, I’m a lot like Tam-cynical romance reader who doesn’t believe in love at first sight. I’m one of those people who fit in a gray area. My husband is deployed yet again, so even though I’m married, I spend another Valentine’s Day alone. At least I can comfort myself with the knowledge that he’d spend it with me if he could =). Thanks for such a funny and insightful post!

    • Sorry to hear your hubby was deployed again! I’d love to say I’d help stage a protest for you, but I’d so lose my train of thought at the sight of the first unifrom. : )

  • Ethan, you’re insane in a perfectly wonderful way. Like Clare, I claim a love at first sight, and I wasn’t even looking following a rather harrowing experience with marriage.

    The kick of my Valentine’s Day is watching 4th graders opening their mass produced cards to see who gave them which card and running to their BFFs to share their news. 🙂

    Thank you for your uniquely Ethan-inspired view of love on Valentine’s Day. I will smile through the day.

    • I loved those those mass-produced cards from elementary school, Patty!! That would be a great V-Day gift now! That would totally make me feel like a kid again. 🙂

  • I’m at work, and I was laughing at the post and our production manager came in to see what was going on and he said “Are you looking at naked men?” I told him “No I just read the articles.” LMAO I’ve always wanted to say that! Thanks Ethan for the post, and thanks Wave for the naked pictures on the side.

  • OMG Ethan! At least I’m not at work and I just have to explain to my husband that I’m reading Ethan… ’nuff said! The man knows by now how much like a laugh-track I sound when I indulge in anything written by Mr. Day.

    Thank heavens–although it did take me awhile–that I wasn’t ingesting ANYTHING liquid… and HEY! get your minds out of the gutter. Of course my mind is usually languishing there and especially after one of your lovely, hilarious posts.

    It doesn’t take more than a few dozen times inhaling–or exhaling–hot coffee to teach me that it is strictly verboten to do anything but read one of Ethan’s masterpieces.

    And, disgustingly, I also met my hubby–of 27+ years–at a VD dance…okay it was 2 days before but close enough! But I had finally decided that I was tired of actually looking and figured I’d just go out and enjoy my time spent with friends.
    Just goes to show ya… when you least expect it. 🙂

  • Ethan, what a delightful post! You had me bouncing between unrestrained giggles, because it’s all so true, and tears,… cuz it’s all so true! Thank you, Ethan!!

      • hehe…we could make a pact, like that episode of Friends…if we’re both still single by a certain age, we get together! 😉 I know you’d keep me giggling and I’d happily help you prowl for a hunky honey! After all, 4 eyes are better than 2! (but I wear glasses, so would that be 6?) Happy Valentine’s Day, sweetie!! {{huggz}}

  • Hi, Ethan! Like always, your posts are both funny and painfully honest. And, as a fellow cynic/believer, I can say I appreciate both things. I do hope to find them one day in a straight man though. XD

    Valentine Day was never a big thing for me, even when I was a part of a couple. You know, it’s like with Christmas madness – I believe that goodwill and peace should be our goals 365 days a year, not just one. And, if we can, we should look/share love the same way – not just in the eve of one (probably) cold day in February.

    Thank you for my daily dose of laughter. ^^

  • Ethan, I just sputtered coffee all over my keyboard. Should have known better than drinking while I read something you’ve written.

    You rock big time, dude!

    I cross my fingers that you’ll find what/ who you’re looking for, or it/ he will find you, Valentine’s or not.

  • Hi Ethan! So now we know why the weather’s bad in the South. It’s YOUR FAULT! Be more specific with Santa next year jeesh!

    Thanks for the post it was enlightening. I’ve been married so long I’m embarrassed or maybe just o..or mature. I thought VDay was the day to prune the roses!!! (Sun. the family knows to show up for pruning duty if they want to eat, wash or watch tv on the BIG screen this year.)

    Hope you all have time with the ones you love too!

    • It most certainly is not! It’s Santa’s fault! He knew exactly WHAT I meant. He’s obviously either a homophobe or he’s a greedy man-ho who’s hording all the nine inchers for himself.

      • Ethan

        or he’s a greedy man-ho who’s hording all the nine inchers for himself

        I was waiting for you to use that phrase in a comment because I knew you couldn’t resist. What did I tell you? Didn’t I say this was not that kind of website (the type where you usually hang out?) The church ladies will be by later today and what am I going to tell them? lol

      • Hmmm, some one who voluntarily runs around in costume, embraces the label of “jolly” and hands candy out to all– a homophobe? Hmmm..not!

  • Hey Ethan….I never laughed so hard before…I am just glad I wasn’t drinking or eating something. *grins*

    I have to admit…my SO and I met online (Yahoo personals no less) and we clicked. Friends first then the romance came…five years in April together. 🙂

    Though I can agree…this winter SUCKS!! Too cold to do much of anything except watch our breath freeze in mid-air. I still say Jack frost and father winter are having way too much fun this year together. *sighs*

  • I should’ve been a little more specific in my letter to Santa…when asking him to send nine inches my way.

    LOL! Aha, so it’s your fault! 😀

    I met my husband online, playing a fantasy RPG back in the days before the MMORPGs existed. (Am I the only one who pronounces that “more-pig?” [duck]) We met online around March of ’89, met in realspace over Fourth of July of that same year, and got married in ’96. In modern terms, we’ve been together for like a thousand years or something like that, hee! I was 33 when we got married, sticking it sideways to all the OMG-Statistics!! that say a woman is more likely to be hit by lightning or something than to marry for the first time after age thirty. 😛 We still occasionally have strangers who see us walking down the street or something stop us to ask if we’re newlyweds, so clearly we still have an aura about us. 😀

    My husband was 44 when we got married, and had two pretty spectacularly failed marriages behind him at the time. Sometimes it just takes patience or persistence or both. It’s never too late, though — best of luck to everyone who’s still single. {{}}

    Angie

  • “the thing I gleaned from each misbegotten experience was the promise of possibility..”

    Oh yes, isn’t that a great part of life – the possibilities and being open to them? Funny stuff Ethan, but also kinda sweet, you old softie you. 😉

    I was talking to a few coworkers today (all straight married people BTW) and not one was celebrating V-Day. I have to agree with them that it’s far more important to feel the love on the other 364 days.

    And I had a very similar LAFS experience in my 20’s. This guy was an unrepentant flirt and oh so sexy, and…straight. But that didn’t stop him from flirting outrageously with me. And like your crush Ethan, mine fizzled once I realized that it was never gonna happen. But I learned something valuable from that experience – that I deserved better – and you do too.

    Happy Valentine’s Day baby!
    HUGS

  • Ethan, you may have the mouth (er, fingertips?) of an unrepentant slut, but you’ve just proven yourself to be a big ol’ softy, as TJ said. “The promise of possibility” indeed.

    Brilliant post, my friend. Much love to you.

  • LMAO, Ethan! You do so totally rock, dude! And what a truly perfect ending to the week. 🙂

    I had that love at first sight thing once. Yeah. It was good until it wasn’t – and aren’t those the hardest ones to get over?

    Thanks for the gut busters! 🙂

  • Some one needs to kick Cupid in his chubby little ass and dislodge that arrow he’s been sitting on for much too long…
    You know, the one that has your name on it!

    Awesome post Ethan. What better time than Valentine’s Day to prove yet again that “Sharing is Caring”. 🙂
    Happy Valentine’s Day to one and all. I am off to find that pint sized procrastinator!
    Cheers!
    CAS

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