First Valentine’s Day…As A Taken Man

February 14th, 2024, I will remember as the day I woke up and realized for the first time in my life that I no longer had to repost this…

Tien, my wonderful girlfriend, and I celebrated our first Valentine’s day together with a trip to Hollywood. The day started out with us going to Doomie’s, a vegan restaurant known for its take on burgers and other fast food items, but in vegan form. Any time a restaurant becomes famous for its vegan options, I just have to try it. I mean, if you can make vegan food tasty to a non-vegan, it has got to be worth checking out.

Next, I had to take her to one of the most romantic spots I could think of….a trip to the Hollywood Museum of Death. Nothing screams love and romance like exhibits on murder and horror. No photography was allowed inside the museum, but as predicted, it was a very graphic place. The displays ranged from crime scene photos, to paragraphs about celebrities (and their deaths) to historical figures like Hitler and some taxidermy displays. My first time at this museum was when my crazy aunt Jeannie decided to take me years back when I was in high school. I don’t know why, but I didn’t remember this place being THAT graphic. Nonetheless, I enjoyed coming back here and to my disbelief, Tien found it interesting as well.

Following the museum trip, we headed to another childhood spot of mine, Amoeba record Hollywood. This place used to be an old stomping ground with once again ym crazy Aunt Jeannie. I remember Auntie always criticizing the kids of today for only downloading one or two songs off an album rather than having to listen to the whole CD like back in her day. Because of her influence, I grew up collecting CDs and listening to them all the way through. But eventually I discovered Spotify which ruined my ability to listen to an entire album.

To finish off the night, we went to Nano Cafe in the quaint city of Sierra Madre. Due to the Valentine’s day holiday, the restaurant had a band of jazz performers to entertain the customers. It has a nice dinner, but there was difficulty having conversations due to the loud performance. However, the jazz music was fantastic in its own right.

My first Valentine’s day as a non-single man is one for the memory books. I love my girlfriend Tien and I am so happy to have her by my side. I hope this will be the first of many Valentine’s days to come for the two of us.