Valentine's Day is heating up the warm fuzzies again this year - dragging with them a case of cynicism and traumatic memories for some UNM students.
"Valentine's Day seems like a good break up day for girls," Raynor Lynn said. "Girls like to break up on Valentine's Day. I don't know why that is."
But whether it's splitting up, being alone, fighting or just not knowing how to make it special, it seems like everyone's got some kind of story.
"Once, my girlfriend at the time, instead of giving me like chocolate or anything, she gave me a two-gallon jug of milk with hearts on it," Terry Rousseau said. "Instead of the nice pretty stuff, I got milk."
It's not the gift that counts for Jacqueline Muller and Joeleesa Cordova, who said as long as they know someone is thinking about them, even just a card will suffice. Still, Muller said, some originality once in a while wouldn't hurt.
"You would know they thought about it a little bit more if it was something different," she said. "It wouldn't be like you go to the mall or Wal-Mart or wherever and just pick something out."
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Similarly, Stephanie Martinez, who said she plans to spend this V-Day at work, said most of the stuff guys give her is ultimately useless.
"I think it's overrated," she said. "This junk that I get is just junk, honestly. Seriously, with like a bear with a heart on it, what are you going to do with it? Nothing."
A girl in Mari Martinez's situation might say Stephanie is lucky to be getting anything at all. Mari is not looking forward to the holiday.
"I think the worst Valentine's Day is going to be this one because I just broke up with my boyfriend," she said. "It was bad timing on my part. I probably should have waited until after Valentine's Day, but it needed to happen."
Martinez said hanging out and being depressed is the most obvious thing for her to do this fateful Saturday, but instead, she's just going to have to overcome it. She also said everything this time of year is "couple this and couple that and oh we're in love," making people who aren't in love feel left out.
"It's one of those holidays designed to make you feel bad about yourself," she said. "They give a nice little story about St. Valentine and everything and I'm like, yeah, that's really nice and all, but the flower companies were in on it, too."
Bastian Campbell doesn't usually get girls flowers, instead, he sung a song to his girl over the P.A. system during lunch back in high school.
"Hell yeah it was scary," he said.
Another Valentine's survivor, Laura Morill¢n, said there's no way she's just going to sit around and feel sorry for herself Saturday night.
"It sucks not having someone for Valentine's Day, but I don't want to stay at home by myself," she said. "I will probably go find the other single girls, and we'll hang out."
Marnie Diehl and Susanna Garcia both said they remember getting into fights over stupid things with their significant others on Valentine's Day. Neither one can remember how it started or why it was important.
Zach Sears has an explanation for the mystery V-Day fight.
"If everyone stopped caring about Valentine's Day and stopped making it the big, massive, capitalist, consumer thing that it is, then people wouldn't get into huge extravagant fights on Valentine's Day," he said. "And if they did, it wouldn't be any more important than a fight that happened on any other day."
But Valentine's Day doesn't only have to be about lovers and love lost. Jenna Mills said the holiday means something to her, but it never really makes her feel bad.
"I always remember to send a card to my grandma at the very least," Mills said.
