Skeptickle

Although Rob and I had been in a long distance relationship for the past couple of years, we have not been apart for more than two and a half weeks at a time. This makes me going to Hawaii for five weeks with minimal opportunities to video chat a little distressing from what we're used to. I think it finally hit Rob yesterday that I'll be gone for so long. I can't argue that it wouldn't make it that much sweeter when he flies in and we reunite!

The past week has been a fun and busy week for both of us. We had our engagement pictures taken on Wednesday, which brought out the chic models that were inside us all along. We chose Hakone Gardens as our first location. It was quite a different experience having the whole place to ourselves and having the ability to be a little more adventurous than usual. Our second location was a little bit away in Moss Beach, CA. The beach we chose is actually a wildlife refuge that I've visited occasionally since I was a kid. You're not supposed to take things you find there home with you because it creates an inbalance in the ecosystem if enough people do it. We just so happened to get there when the seals were resting on one side of the beach. They looked like long logs of driftwood at first, but as Rob and our photographer agreed "logs don't move by themselves". Haha. There were little baby seals that wiggled towards the water; they were getting ready to plunge in in case we approached them. Soo cute! We had such a great time doing our engagement session and we highly recommend it to anyone with the means to get them done. It's as if you and your significant other are in your own cocoon of love while someone you trust captures those moments for you. Rarely do you get to be as playful and adventurous in other types of professional pictures. I intend to dedicate an entire post on our photographer when our proofs come out. I can't wait to see them!

So now I'm done with my adventures in LA and it feels strange knowing that when I come back from Hawaii I'll be here permanently. My graduation ceremonies went by without much fanfare. Bill Clinton and Wesley Clark bailed on us because of the UC workers' protest. Although I support the workers cause to receive livable wages, I believe their strategy of choice eventually backfired when the graduating class and their families realized that the speakers we were looking forward to listening to have dropped out because they refused to cross the picket lines. They made a day in which was supposed to to celebrate and be proud of our accomplishments into a politically charged event. Way to piss off tens of thousands of people folks! If they understood the funding issues that the UCs have to deal with then perhaps they would have had better impact if they took it to Sacramento. The UCs have their hands tied when it comes to funding for the next several years and they are doing everything from paying less for their workers to raising student fees. I worry that our UC system will have enough funds to stay afloat for the next few years, I'm proud to have (almost) graduated from such a prestigious institution and I hope future generations will benefit from the education they get there as well.

Planning for the wedding is in semi-full swing. I plan to really get my hands dirty when I'm finished with my study abroad program in Hawaii. I'll be leaving on July 5th and coming back mid-August. I love Hawaii so I'm really excited to get this opportunity to learn more about their native culture and history. The sweetest part is that Rob will be flying in after my program ends and we'll be spending a week there on vacation. W00t!!

Rob and I will be getting our engagement photos taken tomorrow! I'm nervous and excited at the same time. We're going to start out at Hakone Gardens and then make our way to Half Moon Bay. I'll let you know how it goes!

A tree's leaves may be ever so good,
So may its bark, so may its wood;
But unless you put the right thing to its root
It never will show much flower or fruit.

But I may be one who does not care
Ever to have tree bloom or bear.
Leaves for smooth and bark for rough,
Leaves and bark may be tree enough.

Some giant trees have bloom so small
They might as well have none at all.
Late in life I have come on fern.
Now lichens are due to have their turn.

I bade men tell me which in brief,
Which is fairer, flower or leaf.
They did not have the wit to say,
Leaves by night and flowers by day.

Leaves and bark, leaves and bark,
To lean against and hear in the dark.
Petals I may have once pursued.
Leaves are all my darker mood.

-Robert Frost

He has been one of my heroes for awhile now. He is able to gather a huge crowd whenever he's at an event. People line up and camp out for days just to spend five seconds of their time in his presence. He moves people and governments with his inspirational speeches and common-sense wisdom. I appreciate that he is able to be goofy and crack jokes that are actually funny instead of being serious all the time. He was able to set the country towards better a direction after a long period where people lost faith in our government. Much of what he says ring true to me:

"The new rage is to say that the government is the cause of all our problems, and if only we had no government, we'd have no problems. I can tell you that contradicts evidence, history, and common sense."
"Politics is not religion and we should govern on the basis of evidence, not theology."
"Sometimes when people are under stress, they hate to think, and it's the time when they most need to think."
"Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of, but stigma and bias shame us all."
"We need not just a new generation of leadership, but a new gender of leadership."
"It's one thing to have good intentions; it's another thing entirely to change people's lives."
"Sometimes I feel like a fire hydrant looking at a pack of dogs."

Rob and I decided to celebrate our engagement with a big bash at our apartment in northern California. I had asked a few key friends from southern California to attend because I felt it was important to get as many close friends up there as possible. My Maid of Honor and my bridesmaids all happen to currently be in southern California so I had to coordinate a plan to get them all up there without it costing them too much. My MOH is my good friend Chapin. She drove her and her boyfriend up from SD to LA where I took over the driving in my car. We picked up Patrice and made it to the Bay Area in only five hours. I dropped them off so they can be with their families for the night, went to Costco to pick stuff up, and finally got home. Awaiting my arrival was Rob and Andrew, Rob's best friend who flew in from Florida just for the event. We had dinner at TGI's Sushi and then picked Jude and Luiza up from SJC. We went home and watched part of An Inconvenient Truth before people started getting tired and falling asleep.

Before I write a post about our engagement weekend, I thought this is much more important to share right now: Gay marriages have just been legalized in the state of California today!! The California Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that domestic partnerships are not a good substitution for marriage and "...our state now recognizes that an individual's capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual's sexual orientation." Well said. Congratulations to all the couples and potential couples for this awesome achievement towards equality. Hats off also to all their supporters and those that struggled with them to get this law passed. I can not describe the joy I'm feeling now but I will say one thing: I my state!

So for over a month now Rob and I've been planning an engagement party for our family and friends to meet each other and to have fun. I'm not gonna lie, there were some stressful moments coming from it. And it all culminates this weekend! We picked a weekend where Rob's mom was going to be in town anyway and that saves her an extra trip. Andrew, Rob's best friend, is flying in all the way from Florida for the occasion. A few friends from jr high and high school and a some of my restaurant peeps are planning to show up. My UCLA friends and Chapin are coming up for it as well, which is the icing on the cake. I'm super stoked! Just thinking about spending this whole weekend with people I love and love me back and are willing to support us is making me all teary-eyed. It's so surreal. I just wish I didn't have four research projects going on at the same time. Those will totally bring me back to earth once I return to LA. Boo!

We make ourselves a place apart
Behind light words that tease and flout,
But oh, the agitated heart
Till someone really find us out.


'Tis pity if the case require
(Or so we say) that in the end
We speak the literal to inspire
The understanding of a friend.


But so with all, from babes that play
At hide-and-seek to God afar,
So all who hide too well away
Must speak and tell us where they are.

-Robert Frost