(yes, I’m going to give the neuroticism a break today – enjoy! Please also ignore any funky formatting and pretend it’s just *artsy*. Yeah, that’s it…)
…there was a boy named Zliten and a girl named Quix. They both worked at the “other mall” in town for after school jobs their junior years in high school. Quix worked at Hot
Topic. Zliten worked at Sweet Factory. These stores were right across from each other. Zliten liked the crazy clothes and rebellious items in Hot Topic, so he was often in the store browsing and purchasing the wares. Quix had to get her candy fix occasionally, so she could be found in Sweet Factory getting a few sour ropes or some sour balls (I guess that shows what a sour girl she was).
After running into each other, Zliten found another reason to go into Hot Topic – to blush at the silly girl with the dark hair in the leather pants and try to make awkward conversation. Being that this silly boy, beyond being a little socially awkward, also was sporting a bit of a mullet, she would try to avoid him (and send other coworkers over if she needed a candy fix). He was relentless, but she was probably the most stubborn person you would ever know. One night at a party,
she fixed him up with one of her best friends and they started dating. Then, a few months later, she started dating the dreamy looking guy at the Orange Julius stand.
None of her friends or family liked this guy, but being the stubborn girl Quix was, she stayed with him, on and off, for about 3 dysfunctional years. Zliten and said friend went away to college together across the country, broke up a year later, and scattered. Zliten came back to visit a few times to see his mom, but was living a few states away and liked it that way. Quix dreamed of a guy who was awesome and romantic and wouldn’t treat her like poop and would sit out on her balcony and ask the stars if they would please please send to her someone like that.
Then one day, Quix was hanging out with said boy, then ex, trying to do the friends thing – by the way – which only seems to work with responsible, patient people. It happened to also be the day that Zliten called
my cell (gotta love the brick I had in 1999) letting me know he was in town for a few days and wanted to escape his dwelling for a bit if anything was going on. Being not patient, nor responsible people, Quix and Jerky McLiarPants started screaming at each other not too long after, and she left all upset. She just needed to talk to someone, and his number was the first on the list having called just a bit ago, and she invited him to coffee.
It just so happened that Quix’s play was closing that night, and she was hosting the wrap party at her next door neighbor’s house (don’t ask). She got him two tickets. He
brought a date, she was trying to catch the attention of the male lead that she had been crushing on ever since the play was cast – but the two ended up together.
Fast forward through all the college awkwardness, and we both picked up and moved to San Diego two weeks after I graduated. Because it sounded like a neat place to live and it was anywhere but Reno. Not because we had any prospective jobs or ways to make money. But we found a little box, and got temp jobs testing video games after the credit cards ran out, and found out we were living in a great place to make a run of having that be our career, so we
figured that would be awesome. Who wants to go back to graduate school and deal with academia politics when you can legally dream up ways to kill people (‘s avatars)?
Through that time, I was proposed to with onion rings and ring pops and the like. There was never a question that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Zliten – but I always imagined *things* about getting married. For some reason, I had the age “30” in my head. And getting my own life together first – including having a job title I was proud of and – probably more importantly – I was not getting married fat. Totally vain, I know. I could be immortalized in time skinny and
poor and think “gee, glad I got that awesome job promotion the next year” and proudly hang the pictures up on the mantle. If I was rich and fat, they’d just stay in a box somewhere.
I finally agreed to a promise ring, which slowly got too small as I got bigger. Then, after things snapped into place in my head and I started project: deporkify and we had enough cash saved up to do the ring right, we finally got engaged. We bought the ring on a cruise to Mexico in March 2007, and then we surprised my mom by Zliten proposing at dinner that night.
I worked dilligently on losing weight and then last year, we finally set a date. May 9th,
2009. And then we kept changing our minds on what sort of wedding we wanted and didn’t set anything up in time, so then, we finally set another date last December. October 4th, 2009. And you’ve gotten to experience the frantic whirlwind since then.
So tomorrow, my dear Zliten and I, love of my life, king prince of silliness, hop on a jetplane with FOUR bags in tow (but hey – it all fits – YAY!) and a few days after that, we become Mr. and Mrs. Zliten. After 10 years (almost exactly to the date of the play closing), 3 states, 7 apartments/houses, and a whole lot of fun times, we’re finally making it official. Sure, I may not be at my “goal weight” and I
struggle with the fact that I could do more/be more and I’m stagnating at work, but the truth is, I’m not doing too badly. And it’s not as if this is the best I’m ever going to be in my life, oh no – just try and stop me. There are promotions to go after and races to run and get PRs and muscles to tone and all sorts of wonderful adventures yet to be discovered. Just with another ring on my finger and my wonderful husband at my side.
Have a wonderful week, blogland. I will be back with many pictures and stories to share. Though I have been told that it is absolutely inappropriate to tweet at my wedding (lolz, getting married now bbiab, kthx?), feel free to follow me on twitter or friend me on facebook if you think it might be interesting to hear how Vegas is going, I tend to update those a lot on vacation. Anyone want to share wedding day memories? How did you meet your significant other? Inquiring minds want to know…