I worked on a new Flash piece this week, a Valentine card, and I sent it out to a few friends this morning, one of which commented that he thought the symbol was a Catholic one. Coincidentally, someone at work had stopped by yesterday afternoon and I showed it to her, and she said she thought it looked like a tattoo symbol, and she came back this morning and said she'd looked in one of her boyfriend's books (he's a tattoo artist), and it's a fairly common tattoo, the symbol being the Catholic Sacred Heart.

I had chosen the symbol from a font called "Lucky Charms," just because it was, of course, a heart, and I knew that House of Blues used a similar symbol, the flaming heart, as its logo, so while I didn't know the actual meaning of the symbol, I figured it was okay to use.

I did some research on the net today, and confirmed both that it is a Catholic symbol and that it used to be, at least in the early 1900's, a pretty common tattoo. Most of the depictions show it surrounded and pierced by a ring of thorns, though.

So anyway, I responded to my friend that what I had done with the symbol was probably all kinds of heresy, and he responded back that at least St. Valentine was a Catholic saint . . . So I did some more research, and found out that the reason we celebrate Valentine's Day on February 14 is that St. Valentine was martyred and beheaded on that day in 270.

Not exactly the romantic story one would hope to associate St. Valentine's Day with . . .

In any event, if you wish to see my sacreligious Valentine card, click here or on the Sacred Heart.

Speaking of Valentine's Day:

Yes, it's true. Qui-Gon came back, Obi-Wan wooed him with conversation and dinner and flowers, and they fell in love on the lawn.

With the Livin' Large expansion pack, the Sims can now "play in bed," but you have to buy them the very expensive (and very gaudy) love bed, and it costs $20 every time they take advantage of it. Of course, the $20 is purportedly actually for the "magic fingers" effect, just like the old motels--they have to put the $20 in a cash box attached to the bed which, now that I think about it, is really strange.

Ooh, there's another idea for a Sims residence--The Sims House of Ill Repute.

Do motels still have Magic Fingers, I wonder?

When Qui-Gon moved back in, he brought his cat, Toby.* I believe Toby was cloned from a dollhouse, based on the way the Sims interact with him. The Sims game doesn't currently include any pets other than the cursed guinea pig--he looks cute, but he's prone to disease, and if he bites you, you have a very good chance of dying. I think he's an even bigger risk than the chemistry set, so we've done without pets until now.

The cat doesn't move; it's more decorative than anything else, but it does satisfy the "fun" factor (as does the love bed).

* The cat is from The Sims Tattoo Parlor and the Valentine flowers are from The Sims Florist.