Say "Yes!" to Valentine's Day !!

During these times of gloom and doom, Valentine's Day need not be a cloudy day too!
Fill your special day with sunshine and what better way than to be extra creative and charming.!

1. Don't spend $150 on 99 red roses. A single stalk of red rose with great love in the heart speaks volumes than 99 red roses that eventually end up in a divorce!

2. If you are good with your hands, make a silk or paper rose.....it does not fade and will remind your partner of you...... at least for another 365 days !

3. If you are a good cook, cook up a storm! If not, try to learn to cook that special dish from your mother, friends or colleagues or even from the recipe books.
Remember the most important ingredient in cooking is LOVE! Believe me, your food will surely taste good!

4. You need not have to buy an expensive candle stand. Put your tea lights in lovely colored bottles and they will ooze with special soft technicolours throughout the evening.

5. Design your own special card. If your partner likes flowers, paste/draw/stick some dried flowers onto the card. Write interesting lines like, "If I have to choose a whole garden of flowers, I would still choose you, for your are far more beautiful than all the flowers combined!" or "The most sumptuous buffet will be tastless for me without you beside me!"

6. Use some recycled rice bags, (your partner will admire your frugality and civic consciousness to save the earth), bring his/her favourite drinks, fruits, chocolates, etc. and watch the sunset. It is a good thing that the moon is still at about its roundest during Valentine's Day. Chap Goh Meh was just 4 days before Valentine's Day. This will be a more memorable experience than dining in a posh restaurant with hundreds of other couples nearby, doing the same boring thing. Eating and looking into each others' eyes. Somewhat mundane!

7. Give her a done up album of some of the photos you have taken together and write interesting captions that make her/him laugh.

8. For the musical ones, compose a song or put your words in a familiar tune and sing to her/him.

9. Use your hands and creativity. Make your own gifts out of papers, stones, crystals, strings, etc.

10. For those with good memory, learn to say "I Love You" in 100 languages. See reference below. If you don't have a good memory, 5 to 10 will do. For those with short term memories, say "I Love You" everyday in different languages. This way, you will gradually master all the 100.

11. Valentine's Day celebration need not be on 14th February alone. It can be for the whole month of February! Bring your partner to any of the 200 toastmasters' clubs in Singapore, where you can have fun, good fellowship and food! Above all, a great time of learning together! The best present for yourself and your partner - sign yourselves up as members! The couple that speak/learn together stay together!

Frankly, I dislike to celebrate special occasions because we end up at the mercy of commercialisation. I would refuse to buy special plants or flowers on Chinese New Year, Christmas or Valentine's Day. If we were truly in love, everyday would be a Valentine's Day as we see our loved ones with rosy, tinted glasses! However, Valentine's Day is a great reminder for the less romatically inclined to be a little more romantic on 14th Feb. So it is fine with me. Above all, if people do not spend, the economy will not pick up. If you are rich, give a 5 carat diamond ring to your girlfriend/fiancee. Or buy her 500 fresh red roses and another 500 silk roses to remind her of your love for another year at least. If you are not loaded, try one of the above. By golly, it works!

So, let us all help to boost the economy ......by being extra R-O-M-A-N-T-I-C!! All say "Yes" to Valentine's Day!

A final reminder : If you say you love your partner, prove it too by loving your parents and siblings. For it is difficult to convince your partner that you love him/her, someone you have just met or married, and yet you cannot love your parents who have painstakingly brought you up and your siblings with whom you have grown up. Be real.


How to say I Love You=in 100 Languages
(forwarded by Jasmin Patel)

=
English = I love you
Afrikaans - Ek het jou lief
=Albanian - Te dua
Arabic - Ana behibak (to mal=)
Arabic - Ana behibek (to female)
A=menian - Yes kez sirumem
Bambara - M'bi fe
= Bengali - Ami tomake bhalobashi (pronounced= Amee toe-ma-kee bhalo-bashee)
Belarusia= - Ya tabe kahayu
Bisaya - Nahigugma ako kanimo Bulgarian - Obicham te
Cambodian -=Soro lahn nhee ah
Catalan - T'estimo
- Tsi ge yu i
Cheyenne - Ne mohotatseChichewa - Ndimakukonda
Chinese
=0A Cantonese - Ngo oiy ney a
Mandarin - Wo ai ni
=0A Comanche - U kamakutu nu
(pronounced oo----ka-ma- koo-too-- ---nu)=-- Thx Tony
=b>Corsican - Ti tengu caru (to male)
Cree - Kisakihitin
Creol - Mi aime jou
=roatian - Volim te
Czech - Miluji te
= Danish - Jeg Elsker Dig
Dutch - Ik hou van jo=
Elvish - Amin mela lle (from The Lo=d of The Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien)
Esper=nto - Mi amas vin
Estonian - Ma armastan sind
=0A Ethiopian - Afgreki'
Faroese - Eg el=ki teg
Farsi - Doset daram
Fil=pino - Mahal kita
Finnish - Mina rakastan sinua French - Je t'aime, Je t'adore<=r> Frisian - Ik hald fan dy
Gaelic -=Ta gra agam ort
Georgian - Mikvarhar
- Ich liebe dich
Greek - S'agapo
= Gujarati - Hoo thunay prem karoo choo
Hiligayn=n - Palangga ko ikaw
Hawaiian - Aloha Au Ia`oeHebrew
To female - "ani ohev otach" (said by male) "ohevet Otach" =said by female)
To male - "ani ohev otcha" (said by male) "Ohevet ot'cha" (sa=d by female)
Hiligaynon - Guina higugma ko ika=
Hindi - Hum Tumhe Pyar Karte hae
Hm=ng - Kuv hlub koj
Hopi - Nu' umi unangwa'ta
=0A Hungarian - Szeretlek
Icelandic - Eg=elska tig
Ilonggo - Palangga ko ikaw
- Saya cinta padamu
Inuit - Negligevap=e
Irish - Taim i' ngra leat
Italian<=b> - Ti amo
Japanese - Aishiteru or Anata ga d=isuki desu
Kannada - Naanu ninna preetisuttene
= Kapampangan - Kaluguran daka
Kiswahili = Nakupenda
Konkani - Tu magel moga cho
=b>Korean - Sarang Heyo or Nanun tangshinul sarang hamnida
=0A Latin - Te amo
Latvian - Es tevi mii=u
Lebanese - Bahibak
Lithuanian = Tave myliu
Luxembourgeois - Ech hun dech gaer
= Macedonian - Te Sakam
Malay - Saya cint=kan mu / Aku cinta padamu
Malayalam - Njan Ninne Prem=kunnu
Maltese - Inhobbok
Marathi=- Me tula prem karto
Mohawk - Kanbhik
<=>Moroccan - Ana moajaba bik
Nahuatl - Ni mits nek=
Navaho - Ayor anosh'ni
Ndebele = Niyakutanda
Norwegian
Bokmaal - Jeg el=ker deg
Nyonrsk - Eg elskar deg
Pandacan Pangasinan - Inaru Taka
= Papiamento - Mi ta stimabo
Persian - Doo-se= daaram
Pig Latin - Iay ovlay ouyay
=olish - Kocham Ciebie
Portuguese - Eu te amo
=0A Romanian - Te iubesc
Russian - Ya te=ya liubliu
Scot Gaelic - Tha gra\dh agam ort
= Serbian - Volim te
Setswana - Ke a go rat=
Sign Language - ,\,,/ (represents position of finger= when signing 'I Love You')
Sindhi - Maa to=he pyar kendo ahyan
Sioux - Techihhila
=b>Slovak - Lu`bim ta
Slovenian - Ljubim te
= Spanish - Te quiero / Te amo
Swahili - =inapenda wewe
Swedish - Jag alskar dig
=b>Swiss-German - Ich lieb Di
Surinam - Mi lobi jo=
Tagalog - Mahal kita
Taiwanese = Wa ga ei li
Tahitian - Ua Here Vau Ia Oe
= Tamil - Nan unnai kathalikaraen
Telugu - Nen= ninnu premistunnanu
Thai
To female - P=om rak khun
To male - Chan rak khun
Informal -=Rak te
Tunisian - Ha eh bak
Turkish<=b> - Seni Seviyorum
Ukrainian - Ya tebe kahayu
= Urdu - mai aap say pyaar karta hoo
Vietname=e
To female - Anh ye^u em
To male - Em ye^= anh
Welsh - 'Rwy'n dy garu di
= Yiddish - Ikh hob dikh
Yoruba - Mo ni fe Zazi - Ezhele hezdege
Zuni - Tom h=' ichema

Gan Chau