Real Kato Blog: Spot the Five Differences

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Ready for the answers?

(1) The sword in the drink has changed from blue to red.
(2) The wood panel with the knot (to the right) has moved.
(3) Amy's eyes have changed from brown to blue.
(4) Amy's pendant has changed from a moon to a star.
(5) Amy was previously not my fiancée, and now she is.

Yep.

We. Are. Engaged. Oh. My. Freakin'. God.

If you've not been paying attention for the last six and a half months, you may remember me as Mr. Perpetually Single, the nice guy whom you wouldn't date yourself but might want to set up with your friend, the guy who you liked but never quite had it all together. Well, all that's changed now. I am going to get married.

We had been discussing marriage for a while now. Part of that conversation involved IM'ing eBay links to various engagement rings back and forth, during the day while we were at work. On Wednesday, I sent her a link to a ring, and she said, "oh yeah, we talked about that one before, it's nice"...

And then she saw that I'd bought it. And the IM's came back:
- qrwajafieqpriqwe.
- OMG
- OGM
- OMG
- OM
- OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG
- I am all wobbly.

When it arrived on Friday, I "officially" proposed to Amy. We went to the AKBAR for drinks, and I said, "Amy Melissa McConnell, will you marry me?" And she said yes, and it was as simple as that. And we were blissfully happy.

Today we went to get an independent appraisal of the ring I bought. After all, having bought the ring on-line, I figured it'd be a good idea to get it checked out to make sure it was worth what I paid. We went to Reliable Loan and Pawn in downtown Raleigh. We told him the ring had been previously appraised at such-and-such clarity and such-and-such color, and he said, "Pffft, it's definitely not THAT." And right at that moment, both of us wanted to sock him in the eye, because even if the ring wasn't quite as valuable as what we expected, couldn't he at least butter our buns a little? What we wanted to hear was, "Wow, that's a pretty ring... it's got good brilliance, and that's a nice-sized stone, and the setting is beautiful". But what we got was, "Well, I can tell you right now, the clarity isn't XXX and the color is probably more of a YYY... give me 35 bucks and I'll mail you an appraisal."

Jerk.

My best friend Anna, upon hearing this tale, pulled some strings and called JewelSmith in Durham, and we went there. A lovely woman there, Katherine, made me feel SO much better. "It's beautiful." "That's a terrific setting." "It's got a lot of brilliance." "The cut is really nice." "I'm sure it's worth at least what you paid for it." "Would you like something to drink?" See? THIS is how you treat a customer. I had to repress the urge to hug her.

At any rate, the important thing is that I'm engaged, and that ends a very long journey through singlehood. Someday I hope to write a book about that journey, and all the many mistakes I made along the way. Maybe I can help some people with that. There's so much misinformation, and there are so many misconceptions... and so many people have no one to guide them along the right path. If there were a job for "professional dating counselor", I'd be all over that.

Anyway... today I am happier than I have ever been in my life. I never knew things could be this good. Amy, thank you. I love you.

Permalink 28 Comment

Posted by Ken in: dating, life

Comments

Comment #1 from Cori May (Guest)
2006 Mar 11 - 6:59 pm : #

Congratulations to you, and best wishes to her!

Comment #2 from Tim Ross (Guest)
2006 Mar 11 - 8:27 pm : #

Congratulations!!!

Will there be an open bar at the reception?

Comment #3 from Bake Town (Guest)
2006 Mar 11 - 8:28 pm : #

I am SO happy for you!

Comment #4 from Earl Wenk (Guest)
2006 Mar 11 - 8:51 pm : #

Congratulations, my birthday-sharing Monkeyboy!

Comment #5 from Lisa V (Guest)
2006 Mar 11 - 8:51 pm : #

Very nice. Congratulations. Very happy for both of you.

Comment #6 from Tish (Guest)
2006 Mar 11 - 10:07 pm : #

Ken! I am so happy for you -- glad that you found each other! I just *knew* that you were engaged when I got your email -- before I read your post. Congratulations!

Comment #7 from e (Guest)
2006 Mar 11 - 10:24 pm : #

well hot damn. congratulations!

Comment #8 from Virginia (Guest)
2006 Mar 11 - 10:32 pm : #

Ken, Congratulations! I'm delighted you've found Amy! Wishing the two of you all the best!

Comment #9 from John C (Guest)
2006 Mar 11 - 11:19 pm : #

Yay! Yay! Yay!

Comment #10 from Noelle (Guest)
2006 Mar 12 - 12:08 am : #

Hurray!!!! The gods and the stars are smiling. And SO AM I!!!!

Comment #11 from funky neighborLEE (Guest)
2006 Mar 12 - 11:22 am : #

I will be @#$%. How am I not flying off into space when surely the world has stopped spinning in it's axis. NO- Do NOT write a book about any of your past life; those can be used in a court of law. Congratulations...!

Comment #12 from DonnaF (Guest)
2006 Mar 12 - 11:50 am : #

What wonderful news! Congratulations!

Comment #13 from Crouching Hamster (Guest)
2006 Mar 12 - 12:18 pm : #

Congratutlations!

Comment #14 from Lastewie (Guest)
2006 Mar 12 - 12:26 pm : #

Wow wow wow! Delurking to say congrats!

Comment #15 from Javi (Guest)
2006 Mar 13 - 12:35 am : #

dude, this is just awesome - congrats!

Comment #16 from Sweatpantsmom (Guest)
2006 Mar 13 - 1:38 am : #

Congratulations!!!

Will you be dancing your first dance to 'Cuppycake Gumdrops?'

Comment #17 from Phil (Guest)
2006 Mar 13 - 1:39 am : #

Ditto what Cori May said -- hurray!

(Oh, and I got four -- missed the eye color. Got very weirded out about the wood moving because I assumed at first you were doing something with Amy's body, not the wood. Then I caught on.)

Comment #18 from Swaney family (Guest)
2006 Mar 13 - 8:10 am : #

Amy and I are very happy for you guys and we love the ring. Woot!

Comment #19 from Alan H (Guest)
2006 Mar 13 - 8:20 am : #

Fantastic! Huge congratulations.

A couple of questions though: Are her eyes really blue or brown? And what about the sword? Was it red? For that matter, was her drink really even pink?

I'm color-insecure now.

Comment #20 from Jenn (Guest)
2006 Mar 13 - 8:46 am : #

Woohoo, congratulations!

Comment #21 from Heloisa (Guest)
2006 Mar 13 - 9:52 am : #

Ken and Amy,
Congratulations!This is such exciting news! I'm very happy for you both, and I wish the schmoopieness lasts for a very long time!!
How fun it's to enjoy engagement and wedding talks when you're in love!
You deserve the best!
Oh...and by the way..I about the reliable loan story there's no wonder you got better treatment at Jewel Smith!!

Comment #22 from Gary B (Guest)
2006 Mar 13 - 2:40 pm : #

Having been present at some of your "experiences with dating" along the way, it's great you've found someone.
It's taken a long time, because you've got high standards. I'm glad you've met someone who meets them.
Though the girls at the Macaroni Grill are going to start crying once they hear you're no longer on the market :D.

Comment #23 from MonoCerdo (Guest)
2006 Mar 13 - 7:50 pm : #

KEN! AMY! THE KATOS! I am late on this, but congratulations! Ken, I know that we have had no real-time friend interaction, but I feel like you're my friend nonetheless and I couldn't be happier for you.

Also, the ring looks absolutely stunning in all of its Edwardian inset glory (er, at least from what I can tell from that far away shot--don't be shy! give us a close-up!).

Well, I am opening a beer in your honor. It's a rare occasion. Feel special. Oh wait; you're engaged! You already do!

Comment #24 from elizabeth (Guest)
2006 Mar 15 - 4:14 pm : #

YIPEE!!!!!! Congratulations!
I'm so happy for you both.

Comment #25 from LizD (Guest)
2006 Mar 15 - 9:58 pm : #

Congratulations! May you have a long and happy life together!!

Comment #26 from Yvonne (Guest)
2006 Mar 16 - 10:31 am : #

CONGRATULATIONS!! (I followed a link to get here. Very cool pics. Of course I noticed the ring first and not the rest of the stuff. LOL) May you have a blissfully happy marriage!

Comment #27 from olafandyjon (Guest)
2006 Mar 17 - 8:24 am : #

Um...yeah...that'll teach me to not keep up. Congratulations! And being that I just saw this on St. Patrick's Day, I will have a massively huge drink tonight in honor of the two of you.

Yes, I am using your happy news as an excuse to have one more drink than I normally would....

Comment #28 from Sabrina (Guest)
2006 Mar 19 - 9:23 am : #

Congratulations Ken (and Amy)! That's fantastic! Wishing you many, many years of bliss!

Comments are closed for this post.

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