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!

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this was fun.

Norman: re: ugly comment box.
yeah i know im too lazy to properly style my site
its like only 1/3rd styled
but that doenst stop me from posting!

haemin: haha

and obviously doesn’t stop me from commenting
but it is a little annoying sometimes

Norman: i kno
it bothers me
i just look quick and close the tab

haemin: hahahahah
you’re in denial
Norman: yes i know

i’ll style things properly soon. and more robots in more places! btw my super girlfriend steph drew the robots. she’s pretty fantastic.

steph and me before coldplay came on

coldplay opening with life in technicolor

chris martin dancing around as usual

they had these cool globe things hanging from the ceilings

shot from our seats on the side

i think this was during viva la vida with the timpani and bell.

at some point they decided to run into the crowd on their mini-stage and play “the scientist”

steph and me in the middle of a song with bright lights (i don’t remember which)

and finally an almost complete clip of “fix you” (i missed a bit at the beginning of the song fumbling for the camera)

coldplay fix you from izod in NJ from Norman Yung on Vimeo.

two reasons i wanted to go: i wanted to go to a retreat to… well… retreat. to get away. to relax. even if only for 1 day.i dont always get “rest” from rwc retreats. its always a bit hectic. it’s fun, but its also tiring both physically and spiritually. i think part of it has to do w/ the fact that the vision crowd is older… or at least… more mature. there are less rules and also less reason to need them. people govern themselves. i’m not sure if you could do the same thing at a younger retreat where people are used to being given a program and direction instead of seeking that out on their own.

second reason was that i wanted to go was to get to know people from steph’s church and for people from steph’s church to know me. i kinda just slip in here and there. and since i don’t know anyone that well i just do my usual, stay-quiet, watch people, be awkward thing. i think this is usually an embarassment for steph. haha. people think she’s dating a weirdo who’s anti-social and reads books and programs/codes while other company is around. well… it’s true! haha. anyway, i’m glad i went. there’s a lot of people there i have always just awkwardly said ‘hi’ to because i know i’ve met them or i’ve forgotten their names. i finally know who all the carols are. those were always confusing. anyway… that’s it for now. it was a good one-day getaway.