AstroBanana Trilogy Part III: Preamble

It would probably be apt to describe Eric Banana as a typical Singaporean guy. In more ways than one actually. Boring. Unromantic. Whatever. But there was one aspect where he was determined not to follow the mould - the infamous Singaporean male psyche's somewhat pathetic notion of a proposal, or rather, a "so-called" proposal. The only response any gal should give to "Oh, shall we apply for a HDB flat?" should be "Oh, what do you want me to write as the cause of death on your death certificate?"

From the day Astro Girl agreed to be his steady girlfriend, Eric Banana already started thinking about their future together. If he had not envisioned a future with them being together for the rest of their lives, he would probably not even have gone into a relationship with Astro Girl - he would not have wanted to waste her time. Of course, it was too premature to talk about marriage at that time but it didn't mean that he could not look forward to it. Mentally, he gave their relationship a one-year "trial" period - if there was no major hiccup in their relationship, he would propose to her. If things did not work out, then he would probably need to reassess the situation.

From early days in their relationship, Eric Banana already knew that Astro Girl was the one. She's attentive, she's humourous, and more importantly, she accepts Eric Banana for who he is. Definitely A++ wife-material. Sure, they had differences - every couple has differences - but they always managed to work them out. Was it too soon to talk about marriage after only one year? Well, some couples can be in a relationship for what, four, five years but still end up breaking up with each other. To Eric Banana, their lives in this world are finite - they will come to an end one day somewhere in the future. All he wants is to spend at much time as possible with the love of his life until that day comes.

Eric Banana had a once-in-a-lifetime chance to pop the question on Victoria Peak on 28 February 2008 while they were in Hong Kong, but he had to give up that opportunity because he had not bought the all-important proposal ring yet. As avant-garde as he professes to be, Eric Banana prefers the "old-school" way of doing certain things.

As he soon discovered, buying a diamond engagement ring is an art in itself. Actually, it is also a science. There are four gemological characteristics to look out for - carat, colour, clarity, and cut. Eric Banana pored through many websites and read numerous online forums. He spoke to many people. Then again, the more people he asked for advice, the more confused he got. Eventually, he decided to follow only one rule. And that rule was his heart. (By the way, bigger doesn't necessarily mean better. A diamond ring should fit the wearer's finger. If the diamond is too big and the wearer's finger is slender, it would seem out-of-place too.)

Since a long time ago, even when he was sure he was doomed to eternal bachelorhood, Eric Banana had told himself that if he ever proposes, he will propose with a Tiffany diamond ring. However, more than 99% of the people he asked advised him against buying a Tiffany diamond engagement ring - "It's not worth it", "You are paying only for the brand", "You can buy a much better ring with the same amount of money", etc. Interestingly, the only person who provided some form of encouragement was someone he has never met - an online friend who had also bought a diamond engagement ring from Tiffany around that time.

Eric Banana was still agonising over which diamond engagement ring to buy when he suddenly thought of the three-boxes proposal idea. That essentially solved his headache. He was not going to present Astro Girl with a Tiffany charm bracelet, followed by a Tiffany charm, and then ruin the whole proposal with a diamond ring that was not from Tiffany. Not that Astro Girl would mind though. If given a choice, it was highly unlikely that Astro Girl would pick a Tiffany diamond ring. That was why Eric Banana did not give Astro Girl the luxury of choosing her own ring. He was adamant that the lady of his future castle deserved a Tiffany ring at least.

Dressed in t-shirt and three-quarter pants, Eric Banana walked into the Tiffany outlet in Ngee Ann City on 16 March 2008. At first left to browse on his own, Eric Banana was swiftly attended to by a nice sales rep named Dorothy when he hovered around the diamond solitaire ring section. He had already more or less made up his mind about not going for round brilliant cut diamond. Instead, he had his eyes set on Tiffany's patented Lucida cut diamond. When he told Dorothy his budget, she showed him two rings - a 0.36 carat, E colour, VS1 Lucida diamond and a 0.47 carat, D colour, VS2 Lucida diamond. The former was S$1.3K below his budget, while the the latter was S$2.4K above his budget. Within less than five minutes, Eric Banana made his decision. Talk about classic male shopping pattern. He then proceeded to the ground level of the store to purchase the sterling silver charm bracelet and "Marry Me" charm.

Not a great fan of suspense, Eric Banana nearly made his way to Astro Girl's house that very day to propose there and then. Having to wait seven whole days was a torture to him. He couldn't wait for the planned date to come. He also had to resist the temptation of proposing to Astro Girl when she popped by his house the day before the planned date. Proposing on home ground has its advantages but no, he was determined to stick to the plan. Argh!

Eric Banana did think of buying a bouquet of flowers for Astro Girl as part of the proposal. He found out that there is a flower boutique in The Central where he could buy the flowers. His friend Joel even offered to purchase and deliver the flowers during the proposal but Eric Banana declined because the timing would have to be impeccable. He also did not alert the restaurant beforehand so that the proposal context would appear more natural. There was no need also since he was not going to have the waitress bring out a glass of champagne with the ring inside. The table arrangement hampered any possibility of kneeling down on one knee so he scraped that idea on the spot. Actually Eric Banana nearly gave his game away. He was going to the yoga studio every Sunday morning at that time but he did not go on that particular day because he did not feel safe leaving a Tiffany diamond ring in the locker. Astro Girl thought that was a bit strange. Smart girl!

The whole three-boxes proposal was all about mind games. Eric Banana would first divert Astro Girl's attention by proclaiming the first box (with the Tiffany charm bracelet) as an anniversary present. He would then talk his way into presenting the second box (with the Tiffany "Marry Me" charm) to Astro Girl and pop the question. If everything went well, Astro Girl's answer should be a yes. Of course, it could be a no too, which would then necessitate the need to activate Plan B. Assuming that Plan A worked, Eric Banana wanted Astro Girl to think that there was no proposal ring before catching her off-guard moments later with a huge surprise.

One last thing - how did Eric Banana make sure that he did not get the order of the three boxes wrong? The answer is simple. He had the nice people at Tiffany wrap the three items in boxes of differing sizes =P