Tablesaw!

One resolution down.

She said yes.

I am so frickin' glad I'm proposing this weekend. Planning this engagement is becoming a huge strain on my relationship.

This morning, in an effort to convince her that I wasn't out shopping for rings (I wasn't) or doing any other proposal preparations (I was) yesterday, I sparked an argument about how I was insensitive in running errands on Valentine's Day instead of thinking of her.

So here's the deal.

I've given up on finding my old phone before tomorrow. I bought a new one today. Because Radio Shack had run out of their cheap phones, I got a $50 phone for $20. Once again, I've kept my number, but not my contacts.

The ring will be ready at 10 a.m. That gives me time to run home and make it back to the jeweler, if I need to. Or I could pick up something at a store nearby. I also have a bit of wiggle room in getting to the airport. But it'll still be pretty stressful.

Saturday, I still have nothing planned for most of the day. duchez, I'm e-mailing you now about that. The hotel apparently has a Playstation in each room, maybe I'll just bring a game to calm me.

Packing! Eeek!

Okay, seriously, going now. My phone number is here, if you want to offer me support in the next few days.

So, after having a flight generously donated by the totally awesome and totally miles-having satch, there were some problems.

First, the bus company raised its prices, and ojouchan decided she probably wasn't going to Boston. So, I asked hahathor to prod her to keep going, and then I bought her the tickets as a "Valentine's Day" gift.

Then, this morning, she said that she probably wasn't going to go to Boston because she'd been offered the lead in her Bhangra performance and couldn't miss performances.

This time, I really panicked. I mean, honestly, how much control do I have over that? So I scanned her college's website for information on Bhangra, found the two people most likely to be the contact people for the group, and asked them to tell her that she didn't really need to go to rehearsal.

I probably didn't need to do that, Hathor managed to sway Ojouchan by preemptively announcing a party on her behalf on Sunday.

There are some difficulties.

One, is that, every time the trip was looking to be off, Ojou pushed hard with a line of "I'm not going to go . . . unless there's a particular reason you want me to be there." It's been getting progressively harder to find ways of actually convincing her to go without raising suspicion. I have already accepted the fact that she'll be mad at me for keeping things secret, but that's because she doesn't much care for surprises regarding very importnat things, while I feel very strongly that some things need to be surprises. At the end of it, both of us will be engaged to somebody cool, so I'm hoping it all works out.

There's a more serious issue that has me feeling uneasy, though. The party announced on Sunday has been marketed as a party for Ojouchan, which is something that has made her very, very, very happy. She often worries that I'm overshadowing her among our puzzling acquaintances (though not with our close puzzle friends). So I'm asking you, if you're in the Boston area and able to go to this party, DO NOT TELL PEOPLE THAT I'M GOING TO BE THERE. Do not say, "Don't worry, it's actually a party about announcing an engagement." I know that she'll have a great time, but it tears me up that it won't be the same ego boost it is right now.

I mean, I'm obviously an egomaniac here. I'm manipulating every event without her knowledge and displaying all of my brilliant intricacies to the select few, but this weekend is not about me; it's about the woman I love.

Okay, here's the plan.

The Ring

After talking with ojouchan and going over internet jewelry sites, I have a good sense of what she wants. I also have the things she told me she wants. Basically, I'm looking for an Edwardian or Edwardian-style filigree ring with a large amethyst, not a diamond. The amethyst should be around a carat, it can be bigger, but obviously not so big that it starts to overpower her hand. She prefers marquis, princess, and pear-shaped cuts. Originally, she was asking for white gold, but her sister's white-gold ring hasn't been doing so well, so I'm looking at platinum instead. Her ring size is 7.

I'm going to be talking to a jeweler about all this soon. Here are the rings that I'm going to print out to show:

• http://www.topazery.com/antique-jewelry-item-rg1837.htm
  
• http://www.antiquejewelrymall.com/r158ps.html
  
• http://www.topazery.com/antique-jewelry-item-rg1843.htm
  
• http://www.faycullen.com/ring_settings/500/517md-hailey.html
  
• http://www.antiquereflections.com/detail.asp?id=1900
  
• http://www.antiquereflections.com/detail.asp?id=707
  
• http://www.topazery.com/antique-jewelry-item-rg1830.htm

I think the last two have the style down the best. As for price, Ojouchan expects something around $800; I expect to spend a little more.

The Where

What I know is this:

• I do not want to propose at Williams.
  
• I do not want to propose in New Jersey.
  
• I do not want to propose at graduation.
  
• I do want to propose before ojouchan moves out here.

Depending on how much you know about the calendars and atlases involved, you can see that I don't have very many opportunities. As I see it, I have three chances:

• Spring Break—March 16 to April 2. I'll be spending Spring Break with her in Elizabeth, and I can easily arrange for something to have something happen in New York, a city she loves.
  
• Presidents' Day Weekend—February 16-19. She's going to be visiting friends (many of which are conveniently on this filter) that weekend. I can coordinate an event through them.
  
• Class Trip—TBA. She's taking a class (I believe it's this one) which will involve taking trips away from Williams to see performances. Unfortunately, the specific performances apparently need to be chosen by the class, so there aren't any dates yet.

Out of these three options, here are the problems. Spring Break is the obvious choice. The extremely obvious choice. So obvious, that I'm fairly certain that Ojou is planning for me to propose to her while I'm there and will be dressing up no matter where we go knowing that one of them will feature a ring. I'm trying to manage a bit more surprise than that, so Spring Break is my last resort.

Personally, I think my best option is the class trips. Unfortunately, not knowing what they're going to be is a problem. I've e-mailed the person who I think is the teacher, but I haven't heard a response back from her, and I don't know how else to get information about when those dates are. And what's more, if there's a date in, say, April, that would be ideal, the element of surprise will still be gone. After Spring Break, Ojou will know that I've got something planned and will be able to figure out that I'm giong to propose during one of these trips. As long as Spring Break looms as the obvious choice, it'll be easy to keep her in the dark.

The last option, Presidents' Day Weekend, is soon. Real soon. Especially since I don't have a ring in my pocket right now. On the other hand, if I were to get a ring and fly out to Boston in time, I'd certainly have the element of surprise back on my side.

The Plan

I was talking with my mom about plans to go ring shopping (including getting an appointment with the jeweler my family has been using for years), and given the fact that I still have no information about the class trips, she believes that I should prepare to try to propose on Presidents' Day Weekend. We're meeting with the jeweler on Tuesday morning, and I'll be going through the LA Jewelry District afterward. Hopefully, I'll know by then whether the timeframe is possible. I'm still hoping for the class trip information to come in, because I'd be able to take some more time and prepare something in New York, but if I can't get that information fast, I'll be trying to score a JetBlue flight pretty quickly.

Ojouchan's main concern is making sure that she's suitably pretty for the proposal whenever it occurs. This means nice hair and nice clothes. I'll need to make sure this happens. Apparently, she's getting her hair done before the Boston trip (she just told me) so that makes Boston a better option. Backup plan for that is probably to give her some sort of spa day certrificate for Valentine's Day and encourage her to use it at some point.

Your Mission

Here are the things I need help with.

• If you can recommend a good jeweler in Los Angeles, tell me.
  
• If you can get information about the class at Williams without asking Ojou, do so.
  
• If you think you can get the information out of Ojou without arousing suspicion, tell me but don't try to do it unless I say so. I just have this fear that every one of her friends that I know will suddenly be asking her about one particular class and it just might pique her curiosity.
  
• If you can recommend a setting in Boston, tell me.
  
• If you are hahathor, e-mail me.
  
• If you can recommend a setting in New York, tell me.
  
• If you are in Los Angeles, and can make plans with me for Presidents' Day Weekend that can serve as a reasonable "I'm totally not flying to Boston" cover story, let me know. (Keep in mind that if I decide not to go to Boston, I will probably want to go through with the plans.)
  
• Act normal. She does know that a bunch of her friends are on this filter. If she seems like she's looking for hints, you should suggest that I'm trying to move things quickly.

Things changed between when I wrote most of this e-mail and now, when I'm posting it, based on a conversation with Ojouchan. Presidents Day now sounds like the best time. So, I'm probably going to aim for that, jewelry willing.

Now go!

So, because of my unusual week, I may be off my goal for posting five days a week. In my head, my resolutions post was on Sunday, but it was actually on Monday, which set me behind the curve anyway, since I was missing a day. Regardless, post today and post tomorrow.

On the other hand, yesterday, instead of posting, I spent lots and lots and lots of time looking at rings on the internet. First, I spent a lot of times looking at rings alone and getting hopelessly confused. Then I spent some time looking at them with ojouchan, with much better results. At the end of a few hours, I have a pretty good idea of what she wants, which is good because she's not going to be with me when I go shopping.

Anyway, sleepytime.