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Beginning to Beginning
Kim and I worked together in the MIS department at SunAmerica. I finally talked her into going out to dinner one night when we both had to work late. Nothing big, just dinner at a restaurant in the ABC Center and then we walked back to the office to keep working. We had lunch together a couple of times after that. Then came Jeff Whisennand's (The Whiz's) infamous chili party on August 3, 1996, where Kim finally gets the clue that I'm interested in her. At the party, John Heising offers me a job that will require me to relocate from Los Angeles to Napa Valley. The party ends so a group of us go out to a club in Manhattan Beach where Kim and I dance the night away. A week later, Kim and I are supposed to have a brunch together. Kim calls me and asks if she can bring her niece, Cinthia, along with her. I'm thinking, "No big thing", and agree. Kim hangs up and heads on over. I am really excited because I'm going to have lunch with Kim. When she arrives, I buzz her into the complex and wait as she walks up. Out of habit, I look through the peephole when she rings the door bell. Now remember, there's supposed to be only two people on the other side of that door. So there's Kim and Cinthia, - - along with her sister-in-law, Irene and Brenda (two more nieces) and Brenda's boyfriend. Needless to say, my nerves were shot for the next couple of hours. Getting back to my new job offer with SHL Systemhouse (now MCI Systemhouse, soon to be MCI WorldCom - -followed by ???), Kim is very supportive of the offer and says, "Go ahead and take the chance. If it doesn't work out, you can always move back. I'll still be here for you." I take the job in Napa and relocate up north.
Flying down from the bay area to continue packing and meet my friends at OctoberFest, Kim is supposed to show up and meet some more of the gang. I spend an hour and a half pacing the front door waiting for her to arrive. When she shows up, I introduce her to my friends as my "girlfriend, Kim". One thing though, I forgot to ask Kim if she wanted to be my girlfriend. (Don't worry, it worked out)
A bunch of plane flights and long distance phone bills that rival the National Debt.
I decide to pop the question. I fly in and take Kim to dinner at Pasta Prego on Sepulveda (excellent Italian food & atmosphere - located in Torrance). After dinner, we drive to Malaga Cove in Palos Verdes, where I plan to propose on the beach. I soon discover that the beach is now home to some sort of Waterfront Club/Sport's Center. Okay, I'll switch to "plan B" - that's if the gazebo is still there. We find it and walk out onto the gazebo and gaze upon the starlit skies and the crashing waves below. It's a crystal clear night and you can see all the way up to Santa Barbara. Small talk is made, a kiss or two exchanged. I start telling Kim how much she means to me and that she's my best friend. She agrees and says the same. Then I say, "Do you know how much you mean to me?" Kim says yes and she continues to look out over the ocean. I say, "no really, do you know how much you mean to me?", as I turn her around - pull the ring box from my pocket and kneel down to ask her to be my wife. It took her approximately .003 seconds to say yes - after which she complained about making it too easy on me. She wanted me to ask her again so she could make me sweat a little. I told her that she'd have to give me the ring back for that to happen - (as it turns out, I only had to ask her once.) She did say, however, that if we were not married by the same time next year, that I would have to propose again (and each year after that) until we got married. She warned me that answer just might be different each time. The next day, Kim drops me off a Dan's house where we drive down to SD to pick up Sean. Dan, Sean & I spend the next three days hunting. God I love this woman!
O.K., enough with the flying back and forth - we need to be together. I put in for a transfer and get it within days. Thanks to John Heising and Dick McClure, I'll be back in L.A. in time for Valentine's Day. For Christmas, I told Kim that all I wanted was the date that we were going to get married. It was up to her to consult the Lunar calendar for the 'good' day. Well, I got the date from her in the new wallet she bought me. She put a red envelope in it with a piece of paper (we'll skip the mushy stuff). The paper had a $5 bill and a quarter taped to it. Along with the clues that told that the day she had chosen was May 25 - of the Chinese lunar calendar. Subsequently, so that I would know the year, the May 25th she chose was a lunar calendar "leap day", and I should choose the second one. It took me a week to find the resources to figure this one out (here's the online calendar if you want to convert your solar/western calendar b-day or find your fiancé(es) 12 numbers.) The year that had May 25th as a leap was 1998! The second May 25th date in 1998 converted to be July 18. This was a very aggressive date (as Kim put it), and although both of us wanted it very much, we would not be able to make 7/17/98. I'd be moving down to L.A. and getting settled in my new responsibilities there and Tiffany & Nicholas (Kim's wonderful kids) would still be getting used to having me around.
Now Kim and I prepare to drop the bomb on the rest of her family. I fly down on the 23rd with plans to take her Mrs. Mar, her eldest brother Larry & his wife Eloisa out for dinner. Larry works very long hours and I had to enlist Eloisa's help to make sure he would be able to go out for dinner by 8pm. Saturday 6pm: I'm freaking out and wearing a path in the carpet trying to memorize how to ask Mrs. Mar for permission to marry her daughter . . .in Cantonese. We go to dinner, I think I ate. I conversed with Larry. Kim conversed with mom and Eloisa. Dinner comes and goes. . I watch the clock . . .we talk . . . tick-tock - - Larry wants to go home. I make the move - -don't ask me how, but I did it and Mrs. Mar gave me permission, as long as it was OK with Kim (now that's probably a first in Chinese history). I had to ask Kim again (I knew what was going through her mind), but she was nice to me and accepted without too much suspense. So that's where we stand right now. We need to come up with another date and so we can get this how on the road.
Well we've got the kids in on the act now and it seems that Nicholas (6) will be the bestman and Tiffany (8) will be the Maid of Honor. I suppose Nicholas is already planning the bachelor party for Chuck E. Cheese's or some other 6 year old hot-spot. We've also been looking at the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Pasadena as the wedding site. Pictures forthcoming. Our next step is to set the date & then - - food and cake tasting!
Kim and I have decided on October 24, 1998 for our wedding date. We spent the all Saturday shopping and tasting wedding cakes. We visited Torrance Bakery, Mayer's in Palos Verdes Estates, and both Wonder Bakery & Phoenix bakeries in Chinatown. We also checked out three L.A. Chinatown restaurants in search of a site for our reception. On Sunday, we took the kids with us to look for Kim's & Tiffany's dresses. Then on Monday, we took everybody to Universal Studios.
Kim has this thing about vacations. I've never been to big on them, usually just taking the Boy Scouts to summer camp for a week each year. So when she starts talking about Hawaii or Florida for a week, I don't take her to seriously. To me, vacations are something other people do. A month later and were on a plane bound for Orlando to visit Mickey Mouse. Not without a hitch, though. Delta had a problem with the windshield heaters that caused us to sit on the tarmac at LAX for a couple of hours while they tried to fix it. Finally, they replaced the windshield and sent us on our way. It was raining as we got off the plane, as it did promptly each day at around 2:00pm, lasting on and of for a few hours. The early part of the days were hotter than Death Valley and you could swim in the humidity. But funny enough, after it rained the days became quite nice - and you can't beat the smell of rain on all those trees. Getting our rental car and heading for D-World, you would not believe the setup they've got there. Disney World actually has it's own freeway system. On our first full day in town, we took in Animal Kingdom after a few brief wrong turns through the scenic route. After getting my bearings, we made and the kids were hot to trot! They've got a pretty good 3D "interactive "Bugs Life" movie. We didn't locate the "Safari" until almost the end of the day. Although we didn't see some of the animals, we got the idea. Plus the fact that another storm was coming, with lighting off in the distance really added to the "Savanna" feeling. The second day we did the MGM park. Hot and miserable, although one of the vendor cart girls (who sell the $25 water bottle with a fan) gave us shelter under her umbrella for the Mulan Parade. Another feature at MGM was the recreation of Echo Park Lake, the kids got a big kick out of seeing a small version the lake down the street from the house. Then the kids became autographs hounds. No Disney character was safe from the throng of children who awaited their signatures. They would be mobbed and kids would stand around for an hour in an area where the character was purported to show at certain times. I will have to admit that we staked out the Chinese Theater waiting for Mulan, Shang, Belle and Meg. The one thing I really liked about MGM was the refrigerated water fountains. For me, it's the small things. By the end of the day, we shot over to Epcot for their Fireworks show. We got there about a half an hour in advance, grabbed a quick pizza prayed for the rain to stop. In a light drizzle, we trucked on out to the viewing area and were treated to the Magic Kingdom's fireworks (which is earlier than Epcot's). But what was really memorable was that as we sat there over looking the Epcot lake, we'd look to the left and see Mother Nature's lightning display - huge bolts in all different sizes and colors. Then we'd look to the right and see the Magic Kingdom's display. I definitely think that Mother Nature won that competition. With that over, we waited for Epcot's show to start. Their laser/firework/water show is fantastic, or so I'm told. There was a slight breeze that blew the smoke back at us, obscuring our view. Nicholas didn't care much for the explosions and it was drizzling a little. Other than that, we enjoyed our family night under the stars. Day three - we attacked Epcot. The big thing here was to find a "misting booth" where you could be sprayed with water and cool down. GM was testing their new "Test Track" car ride, which we could here zooming by overhead, but not really see - unless you could catch a reflected glimpse of it in the mirror that was built on the wall on the other side of the barrier, opposite the ramp, built around the building (you get the idea). I, on the other hand tried to talk the GM people into letting me take a Suburban for a test drive around the park. They didn't think I was serious. We had a little trouble getting Nicholas to go into that big geodesic dome, but he was OK once we got in. Got a few more autographs and Tiffany spent the day begging mom for cotton candy - which she finally got. Day four - The Magic Kingdom: Had a small problem getting Nicholas on the Ferry Boat that takes you from the Transportation Depot to the Park. I found it quote disturbing to go somewhere that looks exactly like a place that you are completely familiar with, but where everything is mixed up. "It's a Small World" is just that, small. It's nothing like it's Anaheim counterpart. No Matterhorn and the Subs were non-existent (a foreshadowing of the fate of the Anaheim Submarine ride) Other than that, it's mostly the same. The kids had a blast. We stood in line for an eternity at Ariel's Grotto to get her autograph. We had dinner at Pooh's Buffet, where I got to see Tigger, Kim hugged Pooh, Nicholas swarmed Piglet and Tiffany tried to get Tigger to go home with us. More autographs and pictures and then it was "Time to say good-bye . . " The big finale to our day was the Monorail ride back to the Transportation Depot - we got ride up front, Nicholas was on Cloud Nine! We spent our final day in Florida listening to Tiffany and Nicholas complaining that they didn't get enough time in the pool at the hotel. We dashed around town buying souvenirs for everyone. Unfortunately, due to a communication error between Kim and me, she though we had and early flight and I thought she knew we had a later flight. Therefore, we wasted some good time that we could've used to go see the alligators that the kids wanted to see so badly. OR, we could've run over to Cape Canaveral - a personal selfish goal. Anyway, all was well and we jumped back on the plane to head home. We'll be posting some pictures here soon, so check back
Spent a few days in South Lyon, Michigan at Kim's cousin Jane's house. Had a great time, even built them a website for their business - Fortuna Inn Restaurant. When in town, check it out. It's about 45 minutes out of Detroit. The reason we were in Michigan was that Kim's mom's sister was having a birthday banquet, which was held across the border in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Spent the next day gambling in Windsor and sight seeing with Jane and family. A day or so later, we drove to Toronto (about 4 hours) and spent the rest of our time at Kim's mom's youngest sisters house. Went sight seeing and shopping in Toronto. Missed the Hockey Hall of Fame, but got to strain my neck a the CN Tower. Canada, you just gotta love the exchange rate. We'll be posting some pictures here soon, so check back
We've added a Guest Book and Mailing List to our website. We hope you will use them both, as they will greatly assist us in getting the info out to those we know to be on-line. Be advised that nobody will be able to use your info to spam you. However, most of the info you enter into the Guest Book is available for viewing to anyone who hits the page. The Mailing List allows me to track those individuals who want to receive email updates on the status of our plans and site updates. I figure on sending out an update every 1 to 2 weeks, max. I still have the honor of planning the wedding, on my own, & Kim reminds me of that at every opportunity. In the last couple of months we've visited a number of churches and restaurants. The top contenders appear to be the First Congregational Church downtown L.A. (next to the Superior Court Building) with it's 23,000 pipe organ and the Ocean Restaurant in China Town for the banquet. The above clock reflects my new desire to set a date that does not conflict with pau-pau's b-day (lunar or solar), holidays (Chinese or American), or evil spirits, bad days & other miscellaneous harbingers of doom. So this weekend, one year to the date of which I proposed to her, Kim and I will go forth and write checks to secure our place among the waiting throngs of newlywed hopefuls.
* Note: MCI Systemhouse was absorbed by WorldCom, but retained it's name. When EDS and Worldcom struck a deal in 1999, Systemhouse was sold off to EDS and disbanded (only the Canadian group retained their branding. Most of us bailed by the summer of '99 except for the bench warmers.
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