A day in Jen's Visit: Los Angeles

This was written in December and was only posted later.

It is only a day in between after the Oceanside Reunion when the Los Angeles people of Batch 80 gave Jen a tour of the City. This was headed by Amber as he knows the City better than anybody (he needs to know shortcuts for there were a lot of women looking for him). It was monday when Mylene picked Jen up from Norhridge and gave her the 1st tour of the day. As usual, when women where together they end up at the MALL on this day happens to be Northridge Mall. They call me up and got ready too (i'm suppossed to be from duty that day). Amber passed by our house and pick me up with the women in tow at almost 4 pm. We were rushing because we need to be on the 1st part of the afternoon tour before the sun sets.

The 1st part of the 2nd tour of the day lead us to the Hollywood sign (the actual one, not the one at Universal). The road going to the sign was narrow and tight but Amber is very familiar with the place and knows every rock and turn of the road (there is woman involved again). He was able to drive his big truck with out hitting anything. When we reached the place we got our pictures taken. Since I forgot my camera tripod we beg somebody to take our pictures. We were enjoying our tour and talking out loud that some people who where filming at the area told us to be quiet (we do not know that there was filming going on). OK, so we left the area.

The 2nd part of the tour was still around Hollywood. We went to a place I never expect at Hollywood, Hollywood lake. I have been living in the area for the last 8 years and I never knew that there was a lake on top of Hollywood Hills. The place was nice and peaceful overlooking Hollywood area. On top of the vista and we got our pictures taken.

We went back to Mylenes' house and waited for Rey (he wanted to throw a dinner with the batch, in honor of Jen). We then went to Barrio Fiesta at Glendale and ate. During the dinner the stories were told over the meal and by 9:30 we decided to go home and be ready for another meeting the following day.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day or Saint Valentine's Day is a holiday celebrated on February 14 by many people throughout the world. In the West, it is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other by sending Valentine's cards, presenting flowers, or offering confectionery.

The holiday is named after two, among the numerous Early Christian martyrs named Valentine.
The Valentines honored on February 14 are Valentine of Rome (Valentinus presb. m. Romae) and Valentine of Terni (Valentinus ep. Interamnensis m. Romae). Valentine of Rome was a priest in Rome who suffered martyrdom about AD 269 and was buried on the Via Flaminia. Valentine of Terni became bishop of Interamna (modern Terni) about AD 197 and is said to have been killed during the persecution of Emperor Aurelian. A third saint named Valentine who was mentioned in early martyrologies under date of February 14. He was martyred in Africa with a number of companions, but nothing more is known about him.

The Early Medieval acta of either Saint Valentine were excerpted by Bede and briefly expounded in Legenda Aurea. According to that version, St Valentine was persecuted as a Christian and interrogated by Roman Emperor Claudius II in person. Claudius was impressed by Valentine and had a discussion with him, attempting to get him to convert to Roman paganism in order to save his life. Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead. Because of this, he was executed. Before his execution, he is reported to have performed a miracle by healing the blind daughter of his jailer

Legenda Aurea still providing no connections whatsoever with sentimental love, appropriate lore has been embroidered in modern times to portray Valentine as a priest who refused an unattested law attributed to Roman Emperor Claudius II, allegedly ordering that young men remain single. The Emperor supposedly did this to grow his army, believing that married men did not make for good soldiers. The priest Valentine, however, secretly performed marriage ceremonies for young men. When Claudius found out about this, he had Valentine arrested and thrown in jail. In an embellishment to The Golden Legend, on the evening before Valentine was to be executed, he wrote the first "valentine" himself, addressed to a young girl variously identified as his beloved, as the jailer's daughter whom he had befriended and healed, or both. It was a note that read "From your Valentine."

The day became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages. Some claim the first recorded association of Valentine's Day with romantic love is in Parlement of Foules (1382) by Geoffrey Chaucer this may be the result of misinterpretation. Chaucer wrote:

For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make

This poem was written to honor the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia. A treaty providing for a marriage was signed on May 2, 1381. (When they were married eight months later, he was 13 or 14, and she was 14

An alternative theory from Belarus states that the holiday originates from the story of Sain Valentine, who upon rejection by his mistress was so heartbroken that he took a knife to his chest and sent her his still-beating heart as a token of his undying love for her. Hence, heart-shaped cards are now sent as a tribute to his overwhelming passion and suffering.

The day is most closely associated with the mutual exchange of love notes in the form of "valentines." Modern Valentine symbols include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten notes have largely given way to mass-produced greeting cards. The sending of Valentines was a fashion in nineteenth-century Great Britain, and, in 1847, Esther Howland developed a successful business in her Worcester,
Massachusetts home with hand-made Valentine cards based on British models. The popularity of Valentine cards in 19th-century America was a harbinger of the future commercialization of holidays in the United States.

HAPPY VALENTINE