desertDJ’s Halo Halo

So by now you should all know that me and Reachhane are engaged.  If you don’t your on MySpace less than I am! I get all these questions all the time, like; 

“How long were you planning this?” or
“Eric, you sounded nervous”
“So how did you pick the ring” and everybody’s favorite question
“So when is the big day”
Well good news everyone, all your questions will be put to rest! Also you can check out cool photos of us and more, so keep reading 

    Well for some time now I had planned to propose to Reachhane.  And for sometime, I mean since some time around the middle of last year.  Although I did a pretty good job of keeping it secret huh?  And I wasn’t even worried about asking because I knew the answer was yes, I can’t imagine those of you out there who plan on asking their girl and you are unsure of the answer.  To me that must mean you just don’t know each other good enough or haven’t been together long enough. So it turned into a question of not if but when.

    Of course those of you who have known me long enough I like to do things in a big way. Like when I asked Reachhane to prom in High School I put up a huge banner in the Q building of Tempe High (the only 2 story building on campus).  So I was trying to be creative without being played out (no big screen at a Suns game or popping the question at some fancy restraint, although nothing wrong with that, not my style).  I also wanted to do it in front of a large group of people.  Day of the Youth (Regional youth trip to Sacramento last August 05) would have been cool, but not enough of our friends there, and I didn’t have enough money to buy the ring yet or plan a cool way of asking.

 
Eric catching the garter

Reachhane catching the flowers

Then came my cousins wedding in Indiana, what was really cool but unplanned was we both caught the garter and bouquet.  I had a big smile on my face when we both caught it that nobody probably understood.  Already then I knew that I was going to ask this girl to be with me the rest of my life (I even thought it would have been awesome to ask her right then, but still no ring, I wasn’t expecting that to happen!) but nobody else still knew at that point. 

    Now even though I didn’t have a ring, I had $1000 saved up for one, so ya know I was really planning to get one.  Then somebody had to go out and buy some laptop (Reachhane) and so I helped her out with that but bye bye engagement ring savings.  I also laughed at myself because I knew that in a few months I would be telling her that she just delayed her ring.  But then came 2006.  A new year and a bunch of new opportunities to ask her.  But where?  There was always Day of the Youth again (in July this year) but I wanted to ask sooner already. Then in February an event that Reachhane and I have been going to for the past 3 years was the Climb to Conquer Cancer.  (Check out photos from: 2004 Climb   2005 Climb    2006 Climb) We walk up the 5.5 miles to the summit of South Mountain I started being team leader in 2004.  I started out with a team of three and in 2005 we ended up with a team of twelve.  So for 06′ we planned for a team of twenty.

            So I was laying in bed one night early February just clearing my mind thinking about how Im actually going to get almost 30 people at the top of South Mountain.  But not just any people, a lot of close friends, some ministers and church and people from our youth group.  Then it hit me, the perfect place to ask her is on the top of South Mountain.  It fit my plan perfectly.  Original and unique, people I’m close to up there (lots of them!) and its something that everyone will remember for a long, long time.   Well that did it, I couldn’t really sleep that good the rest of the night but I was happy that I thought of the perfect way to ask. 

            Only 2 people (aside from a few people I mentioned it to at work) knew what was bout to go down that Saturday morning, February 25^th.  Hector & Mike.  And they were also the only two who had seen the ring before the proposal.  It was funny because when trying to get people to go to the Cancer Climb I would say things like “You’ll miss the big surprise on top if you don’t go” or “You’ll regret not going”.  People thought I was just being pushy but I was trying to get people to see me proposing, so if you missed out and I asked you, well at least you get to read my long story! But anyway I went out to ShaneCo to look for a ring. For those of you guys who plan on asking their girl in the future, I recommend them, I’ll go along too if you need help.  But yeah I picked it out all my self and the employees there were really helpful.       

A picture of the ring (the shaddow band aint lined up straight in case your wondering)

 

            Before the big day I kept telling everyone how excited I was about that day.  Even my buddy Brad was saying “well yeah Im happy too with so many people going, but its just a Cancer Climb, its not that exciting” I don’t think anyone understood why I had just such a big smile on my face that morning, aside of course Hector & Brad.  But anyway we got to the top and I had stuck the ring box in my camera case around my neck. Nothing too unusual since I’m always taking pictures and I thought it was fitting because of that. When I finally rounded up all 30 of us at the top for a “group photo”, I had another idea planned for this grouping. 

Right before I asked her

            I had Reachhane and me in the front of the group which I told her before hand that we would both be up there to thank everyone for coming out and supporting such a great cause.  Then I started getting a little choked up.  No, I wasn’t nervous, I just get a lil emotional.  Everyone was wondering why the heck was he getting all teary eyed about this cancer climb, gees, this must be a really big deal for him!  But all those questions everyone had; why I’m so excited, why I pushed everyone so hard to attend, why I had some tears was answered when my right knee hit the dirt.  Over the burst of cheers I asked Reachhane to marry me.

awwww

            Now there was 2 parts to that ring, the main part and some skinny band called a shadow band, and yes if you see the video, that little part fell down when I opened the box, but hey what do expect when you walk 5.5 miles up a mountain, small things move around! But there you go. My proposal story.  And start clearing your schedules, Saturday, April 12^th, 2008 will be the big day.  And just like my proposal was something you won’t ever forget, so will be our Filipino/Cambodian/American wedding.  Thanks again for all your congratulations and for all my friends, I hope you find someone as special as I have that you can share the rest of your life with.  A lot of people always joke around with me saying how lucky of a guy I am to have someone like Reachhane but believe me that I think God in every prayer that I am that fortunate. So since I’m the first of all my guy friends to “pop the question”, if you ever need any advise, I’m here for ya.

Everyone who went on the Cancer Climb (who witnessed the proposal)

Eric & Reachhane in Downtown Phoenix.  We had dinner at the Hyatt rotating restrauant.

Originally Posted March 21st, 2006

Ha here is part 2 of that blog I said would be up in a day or so, yeah right!

Originally Posted March 6th, 2006

Switchfoot – Everything happens for a reason. (Part I)

It all started a couple of months ago, when listening to the radio I heard a commercial for Switchfoot tickets going on sale. I was thinking I couldnt miss this one because I missed them last year when they played at Club Rio (now Beach Club Arizona for you people who dont know!).  Switchfoot is one of my favorite bands not only because of their awesome talent but they also represent a positive Christian message.

Well after planning on going and buying tickets I spoke with a good friend of mine who usually brings with him to concerts.  Me, Reachhane and Mike have been to a ton of concerts together and he usually gets the hook-up.  He said oh there’s a pretty good chance of me getting you guys in so I didnt bother to buy tickets.  This was back in September.  Also my other friend from work, Mike kept buggin me to go to The Format concert at ASU, but after finding out this was the same night as the Switchfoot concert there was no choice of which one to go to. Mike is also friends with the opening band Its Like Love.

My homeboy Mike

Mike T from work

Well the night before the concert Mike lets me know that his hook-up wont be working that show.  Well that sucks. The night before the show I find out I gotta buy tickets! Well its all good, it will be worth paying for some Switchfoot tickets.  Well concert day I check out the webpage, sold out.  That really sucks. I was so hyped for going to this concert for so long that to find out that day it wouldnt happen had me pretty upset.  Lets just put it in those words.  But I though, theres still The Format, that would be a fun concert to go to, small venue, so a real personal concert, plus my friend Mike from work (with his friend Mike, yeah I know, lots of Mikes) were going.

We drove to park at the famous Lot 59 to go to the concert North of Wells Fargo area (I had no idea there was even any thing back there!).  After meeting up with the Mikes we head over to buy some tickets, but guess what… sold out.  That really, really sucks.  After finding out that I couldnt make the Switchfoot concert, knowing The Format was still available kept me content. So you best believe this had me furious.  All ready to go to a concert, I just had my ritutialistic energy drink before a concert and finding out everything is sold out.  Well I did take it out unfairly on my concert buddy Mike (not the work buddies).  But that was before I realized that everythinghappened for a reason. 

Maybe it was the energy drink, or the fact that I was hyped and ready for going to a concert… any concert.  But I was going to do something I never done before, get tickets from a scalper.  So I sped over to my credit union onMill Ave down the street and pulled out some extra cash, knowing that a scalper wouldnt be cheep, but at this point I could care less.  Of course there was parking within a mile of the Marquee theater, so I had Reachhane drop me of while I looked for some tickets.  Problem was I coudlnt find any scalpers, but there was a line a half a block long to get in. This really, really, really sucks.

Crossing the lake to get to Marquee

I was pretty determined at this point, so I just started asking people up in line. Oh and for you people who think its funny to tell people you have tickets when you dont, I hope you all seen me backstage! After getting to the end of the line I was ready to give up.  But what the heck, lets try it again.  So I did, and when I got to the end for a 2nd time there was 2 guys who were an answer to my prayers. 

“How many tickets you need?” was all I needed to hear.  But it gets better. After letting me know he only had two available anyway, we walked over to pick them up at the box office, never mentioning what came with the tickets. 

When he picked them up he said “I have no idea how much these cost since I got them for free, so I dont know how much you should pay?”  Well considering that the tickets would normally cost around $30 and he was helping me out and I couldnt believe that I was actually going to be able to get in, I offered $70. Then he mentioned, “Oh I also got these backstage passes, my sister is friends with one of the guys in the band and she couldnt make it.”

Hoobastank in 2004 at the Marquee Theater

Wow, I dont even know what to do with them but to be able to go backstage!?!  Awesome. A lot of things had to happen for me and Reachhane to get those passes though. The hook-up for the concert fell threw.  Then the show had to be sold out.  Then the Format had to be sold out and the Mikes couldnt get us in there too.  Then I had to get the nerve and ask everyone if they had any tickets.  Well if that doesnt tell you everything happens for a reason, I dont know what does.  Just like the title of Switchfoot’s CD, Nothing is Sound.

Well I hope you enjoyed that story as much as I exprienced it. Coming up in in about a day, Part II. Expriencing backstage, photos from backstage, meeting the band, and some of the questions we got to ask them. 

Originally posted November 10th, 2005

Yeah!! I just got my accpetence letter to the School of Business!! Man I would have been skrewed if I didnt get in there.  Just for ya info: out of the 452 people who applied, 106 were denied!  Well Im going to be a Marketing major, this is a lot different than my orginal plans… Web Page Design.  I’d be shittin my self if I was still to be a web designer and seeing what you guys can do on myspace!?!  Thats like my friend Scott, wow if one day everyone had the ability to flip burgers and hand out french fries, oh wait, everyone does have that skill!!! Ha ha just playin Scott. 

Oh and on a thats gay note…. my favorite morning show people who I been listening to since 6th grade, Kid and Ruben, well they kicked Kid off the show for saying something about hurricane Katirina (you can read about it at www.kidandruben.com) but they said he can come back if he doesnt ever talk on the show any more about: “race, religion, politics, the suspension, etc.”  Well thats really boring, all that leaves is playing the same damn 50 cent, Mariah Carry and all those other played out songs, over and over and over again, which is what they do the rest of the day.  I cant wait till Kid and Ruben move to a new station in Janunary!! 

Until the next blog……peace!

Originally Posted October 20, 2005