Personal Dork Assistant

New Year Resolution/Announcement

My resolution for 2007:

1. Get married
2. Other things

The GF and I have been dragging this out a long time (well, me mostly) and we finally decided to get engaged on Valentine's Day. Aside from the obvious connotations, it was a good time for the ceremony since all the family will be in Taiwan for CNY including dad. It'll just be a couple of tables for the engagement banquet, mostly close relatives. GF was worried about mom and family not liking her but 戴阿姨 sat down and noted that everyone on both sides are fully supportive. Or maybe she just browbeat everyone into it.

Either way is okay with me.

Mom is already on the job with her usual efficiency. Booked the Grand Hyatt to squeeze it in between when Mom & Dad get back to Taiwan and when GF's family is going back to Hsinchu for CNY. The Hyatt is nearby so grandma doesn't have to travel far and 二舅 has a membership at the that takes 25% off. Went to the jewelry store to pick out rings and things. Grandma is contributing the slightly impractical gold jewelry set, mom is donating a diamond from her inventory (at least not contributing to the problem), and I'm taking care of the engagement rings. Not sure if I have enough influence to have the shark fin taken off the menu, though.

Picked up the platinum rings the other day and couldn't resist taking a test drive. The GF had her heart set on a wedding shop and after she was satisfied with the Internet opinions we went ahead and booked it. Could've dickered over things like extra invitations, etc., but they were already offering a special promotion package, and the peace of mind for getting it done fast was worthwhile. Now we'll just wait for the spring flowers to bloom before taking the obligatory silly-pictures.

Had already booked an Italian trip for the latter half of the CNY break, which should work out nicely as a post-engagement pseudo-honeymoon. Or give us enough time together for us to realize that it was all a bad idea and still get out of it before it's too, too late. Hey, I'm fully committed. I even bought a DSLR camera in preparation for the trip. Thanks to Mr. Thompson for the semester of high school photography class so I know what an f-stop is and how shutter speed relates and all that. Of course, the camera is actually charged to the GF's credit card because she gets 1% rebate plus six-months-same-as-cash. Trust is good.

Happy new year, everyone!