If you can believe it, that's how it all started. A cheesy line like that, well, actually, it wasn't a line, serioulsy. In the winter of 2000, my roommate had introduced me to an asian community website, called Click2Asia. After perusing a few profiles, i came across hers and was intrigued. At the time i was heavily involved in finishing Final Fantasy VIII, and she had donned her screenname from the herione in that game. But more than that, she actually knew about the game and how to play. I guess that lil tidbit was what surprised me and encouraged me to send that cheesy lil message.

What followed was a series of notes, messages, and electronic conversations. Ah yes, the digital revolution. At first it was a few lines in Click2Asia's antiquated messaging system, which evolved into very long yet interesting email exchanges. But the interaction came too slow, and we needed a more real-time method of communication, so then we started chatting on ICQ (I-Seek-You). On the rare occassions we'd find each other online, we'd have some very lively talks, not to mention talks that would last for hours. And when ICQ started giving me problems (I had a home network set up through a cable modem and the connection acts up a bit sometimes), we moved on to AIM (AOL Instant Messenger). Ah yes, all this before we actually got to say a single word to each other, in real life. Some people might think it's wierd, having this techological medium as an interface, but hey, it's just another mode of communication, like a phone or a letter, but even better.

Well, eventually, we moved into phone conversations, and finally, what would have been our "first date". Right around February of 2000, we had been speaking quite frequently online for about two months, a friend of mine had the urge to watch Les Miserables at the Ahmanson Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. Knowing my affinity for musicals, he bought me two tickets as well and charged me with finding a date. Well, as it turns out, i was not the only musical fanatic. In short, i asked her, and she agreed. It was an interesting sort of first date. Most people go to the movies, or coffee, or something simple, ours was a musical. I guess it's not too different from a movie, but i think it was still unique. It was a nice night, ate at JTown, scarfed our food down as we rushed to arrive at the theatre in time, the musical was great, and we just generally had a good time. I dropped her off, and i returned home. We both found each other online, still a bit hungry from the insufficient food we managed to swallow before the show, so we changed and i picked her up to go to one of my favorite places, McDonald's.

Well, after that, we began spending a huge amount of time together. I'd pick her up after her classes and we'd hang out, watch TV, try to make her study, long talks, study, rent movies, study, pillow fights and tickling matches, and of course, study. It would be a few weeks more before i would tell her that i was falling for her. I don't know why i said it, i mean i did have those feelings, but there were so many reasons why we shouldn't be together. The age difference for one, and the fact that she would be leaving in a few months for Japan to study abroad for a year, and the basic difference in the stages of our lives. But i guess i thought real hard about it, and i felt what we had was special, that you don't just throw that away or ignore it, and that when something like that comes along, you've gotta hold it with both hands, and try to hold on to it for as long as you can. So there you have it, it probably took another week before we acknowledged each others' feelings for each other, but eventually, we did. Of all days, it was a leap year, February 29th, 2000. And that's how it all began...