the story

steph and i have been dating for a looooong loooooooooong time.

on december 1, 2004, columbia university held their annual tree lighting ceremony. the tree lighting ceremony is a campus event that takes place on college walk (the main roadway on columbia campus when you enter at 116st from broadway or amsterdam). during the tree lighting ceremony, the university invites some student a capella groups to perform and a short speech is given by some important university person. hot chocolate and roasted chestnuts are served as students gather for the moment when all the lights on the trees are turned on. there is a count down and the switch is flipped and college walk is illuminated by lights hung on every tree along college walk. on that day in 2004, steph and i started dating…

every year we try to make it out to either the ceremony but if we can’t make it we at least go take a picture on college walk w/ the trees. there’s a particular spot where we usually take this picture and that’s where we got engaged…

but i need to back track a bit… for a few months before december i was regularly checking the columbia calendar to know when the tree lighting ceremony was. it would’ve been perfect if it lined up perfectly with our anniversary on december 1… but unfortunately it was on dec 2… that means i had to first plan an anniversary date… and then an engagement plan… there’s no reason to go to college walk for our anniversary if the lights weren’t on. so steph and i had a nice anniversary that started with a nice walk from her work place to a turkish restaurant on the upper east side… followed by some tea and scones at alice’s tea cup… and finally a walk across the queenboro bridge all the way back home. (it was a lot of walking but the evening was very nice and clear). during our date i gave her a decoy gift to throw her off… because the next day was the real present.

the next day was the first day that the lights would be lit on college walk. however we weren’t able to make it to the ceremony w/ hot chocolate and roasted chestnuts because i had to speak at NYU for RCF (remnant christian fellowship). even though we couldn’t make the ceremony, having a speaking engagement helped distract me from getting too excited… helped me keep calm… which was good because steph can usually see through any surprise i attempt–she always uncovers my plans before they happen so on this night i had to be extra good about being normal.

i asked two friends (bomes and jer) to be my camera ninjas for the night. i wanted to keep it as low key as possible. after my speaking engagement at NYU, steph and i biked up to columbia. i conveniently biked behind her so i could send messages to jer and bommy about our status and location so they could be ready to take pictures when we got there. around 110th street i text them and shortly after steph and i arrive on college walk at the amsterdam entrance. the lights were on. college walk was pretty empty at 11pm at night. nice. here we go.

steph and i walked to our spot took a few pictures… asked a stranger to help us take one too which didn’t turn out too well… at this point i have not spotted bomes or jer yet… so we keep walking. finally i spotted jer and bomes on the way to the broadway entrance… ok… time to casually turn around and get back to the spot where we just were. after pretending that i had no plans (“oh we could go to get some hot chocolate” or “oh sure, lets go to lerner” or “i wonder if m2m is open”) we get to the spot. in the corner of my eye i notice jer and bommy trying to discrete… haha it was kinda funny. i was sure steph saw them (apparently she didn’t) so i started getting a bit nervous and she could tell something was up.

so we’re at the spot. we take a few more pictures. tried again with a different stranger… a little better. we talked about cameras for a little bit (steph told me afterwards that at this point she thought i had bought her a camera and i was having trouble keeping the excitement in that i was gonna give her a present). i looked to my left and right to see where jer and bomes were. i was also checking to see if lots of people were around… finally the space was clear. no one to my left. no one to my right. seize the moment.

so… i botched up some speech about how 6 yrs ago we started here on college walk by the trees… it was supposed to be longer and uhh smoother oh wells… i don’t even know if what i said was coherent. i got on one knee and asked. she was completely shocked… (SURPRISE SUCCESS!) then all of a sudden a little crowd of random people formed around us (in my mind i was thinking “where did these people come from?! i justed checked and made sure no one was around!”) then she said bent down a little and whispered “yes”. i put the ring on her finger and the crowd around us cheered. it was kinda surreal. yes! i’m a winner!

then my camera ninja’s popped out from behind trees and took more pictures. steph and i called texted… (=

more pictures in no particular order below. thanks jer and bomes!

so since winter… during reading week, i’ve started to get to know a handful of freshmen from rcf… at first there were 2: jeremy and anna. we were studying/working/playing on 2nd floor lounge… they nearly burned the place down with left over menorah candles… and that was the start of it all.

then there was the long night… i mean… all-nighter at irwin’s place… omg insanity. bommy, kevin and vicky joined us for this (+ the initial two). nerts nerts nerts. guitar hero til people play in their sleep (7am-ish)… except i couldn’t sleep… because i had to go work. and what a wonderful work day it was! i told theresa (my supervisor) not to give me any super critical tasks… because i’ll probably screw up or something with my half-functioning brain. but all in all its one of those things that makes you so crazy tired but you don’t regret doing it. i’d do it again. i can’t wait for the next study week.

over winter break jeremy and i get tea time in chinatown. he’s friends w/ some of my SDC students! hahaha. kinda cool. we know the same people… my kids from SDC back in the day who are all grown up now i guess but its hard to think them the same age… all the while i had some intriguing chats online… i’ll get to these later. more things that have been happening. late night breaking fast together… hami’s… riddles… games games and more games. lately we’ve been tossing! the freshmen can toss! finally! people who share my only [pseudo-]athletic passion! and new person to add to the group: esther.

so onto the quality time stuff (fun and games are super quality too… but this is slightly diff) in somewhat a shout-out-ish format. i won’t reveal much here because well… it would take too long. but i’ll just say how they’ve blessed or challenged me. jeremy… you’re a fun guy. i love having a younger brother on campus that i can always call up. you’re very quirky… i would even say spazzy sometimes. you kinda remind me of tien (another tall skinny spazzy kid from my year) actually i’m blessed not only by this but also because i think i met the other people through you… i think i wouldve felt weird meeting everyone without you for some reason. anna… we’ve had some very mind/heart expanding conversations on worship… well at least enlightening to me. your different approach has stretched me in my own worship time and church stuff. i feel challenged to give my heart more engagement with what i do… you’re also a nerts monster. seriously. crazy. bommy… hmmm you’re quite the mysterious one so i havent gotten to know you that well yet… but you surround yourself with good people which makes you super great so i expect to know you better and your quirks soon (like your fob music likings, photo interests and bourne). esther… ive only met you recently but we’ve had some good conversation yeah? all the while your dying computer is chugging along in the background. your mental song base is more extensive as mine i think and it’s cool we share views on songs and like the “nerdier”/”wordier” songs. you think deep. that is cool.

there’s a few more people i’m just beginning to get to know… the many daves and a stephen who i kinda met yesterday thru some nerts and disc playing. i just see great things with this class. they love each other like no other class ive seen as of late… friends before school… fellowship before studying… it’s awesome. i’m very encouraged by this class. super! yay! done!