To the love of my life,
Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are? Have I ever told you how beautiful you are? Only, like, a million, billion times! I'll say it again just in case. You. Are. Beautiful. You... are... beautiful. YOU... ARE... SO... BEAUTIFUL. Your beauty is beyond compare. There's no girl in the world who stands a chance against your charm and grace. Your skin is the color of French vanilla.
At school, you are the cheerleader captain and prom queen and I am the football quarterback and prom king. At the hospital, you are my nurse and I am your doctor. At the restaurant, you are my chef and waitress and I am your food critic. In the office, you are my secretary and I am your Chief Executive Official. You are my Miss Japan and Miss Universe beauty pageant winner. You are my princess, my queen, my empress, my czarina, my sultana, my goddess on Earth, and I will treat you as such.
How about you and I go on a picnic under cherry blossom trees in a private, serene Japanese garden? I'll serenade you with a shamisen. That's right, I can sing a ballad and play the shamisen. I even wrote you a song. There are so many things you don't know I'm capable of. That's what makes me so appealing. In the meantime, I could admire you in your geisha kimono while you hold your fan over your nose and mouth and twirl your parasol, like in my dream. After that, let's read fairy tales, watch chick flicks, and learn from them. Then we'll emulate the fairy tales and chick flicks in real life, like love is supposed to be.
I have a big problem. My parents want me to get married, and not to just any girl; a girl who looks, thinks, acts, and feels like it. Someone who's partial to pink, pastel, lace, ribbons, frills, flower print, ponies, cute animals, music, art, and, most importantly, princesses. Someone who loves Neil Diamond as much as I do. Someone with an insatiable sweet tooth. Someone who's eager to be a wife and mother. Someone who finds science sexy. And I've finally found that someone. That someone is none other than you. My heart belongs to you and you alone. I am yours and you are mine. No one else, girl or boy, could bribe me to dump you and date them. Because true love has no price. True love is free. True love has no budget or weight limit or grade. In fact, you get an A+ on being the perfect girlfriend and the perfect wife.
You and I have chemistry together. Our friends and families ship us like FedEx. We're going to get married in a calm, serene, peaceful Japanese garden, under a porcelain pagoda and cherry blossom trees. We will go on a honeymoon to sunny Hawaii or romantic Paris - anywhere you want. We will move to a house on a hill with a white picket fence and have lots of lovely children who will look like you and me and who will grow up to be smart scientists like us.
Love and kisses,
Naoki Minamo (your mooncake and rice cake)
I love you. I adore you. I want you. I need you.
Dear Science Princess (my sweet little panda),
I really don't know how to say this to you in person for fear that you'll laugh at me and say no. My head is spinning, my cheeks are flushing, and my knees are buckling. To be honest, I wasn't very good at socializing, let alone talking to girls, being a science nerd and all.
From the moment I saw you in your pink quinceañera ballgown with the sequins and the poofy skirt, and the tiara dripping with diamonds, I fell head-over-heels in love with you and I knew I wanted to marry you and spend the rest of my otherwise humdrum life with you. I just knew you were The One!
You and I are meant to be together forever. We are soulmates. The happiest day of my life was when you came into it. You've hacked into my heart and shown me the true meaning of chemistry. I'm a mad scientist madly in love. I can't imagine my life without you; I think about you every day and dream about you every night. You've softened my heart of steel with your touch and your kisses. You are the most beautiful creature in the galaxy, and I am lucky to have met a woman like you - the perfect girl.
Let's go on a date. We'll ride a tandem bike, go on a picnic, ride on horseback, eat ice cream, walk on the beach and watch the sunset, go out on a fancy dinner, slow-dance at a ball and cuddle each other to sleep.
Love,
Naoki Minamo
Top 10 Things I Would Change in A House like a Lotus and An Acceptable Time in an Anime Adaptation 10. The fate of Mrs. Gray (Zachary's mom). In A Ring of Endless Light, she's mentioned to have perished in a car accident and have been kept cryogenically frozen. Instead, I've decided to alter her fate. She is alive, but, in fact, divorced from Zachary's dad. Indeed she does fall victim to a car accident, but instead of dying instantly she is injured, fallen in a coma and lost her memory. That way by the time she regains her memory she meets her future daughter-in-law Polly O'Keefe. 9. To keep it PG, Polly doesn't actually "do it" with Renny. Also, all use and mentioning of alcohol and drugs are taboo. You do want to set a good example for the children, after all. 8. Instead of having Zachary admit to be an atheist, he'll tell Polly he's a '60s-'80s rock music enthusiast. I always imagined him to be a fan of Queen, Rush, Scorpions, Air Supply, Elvis, the Beatles, and more, but especially Neil Diamond (whom the Bishop from An Acceptable Time looks and sounds like and is modeled after). 7. We actually get to see Polly's and Zachary's poignant, bittersweet goodbye at Athens airport. Sure, it'll be tearful for both the characters and the audience, but once in a while it's okay to have a good cry. 6. Maximiliana Horne would live long enough to meet Zachary (in person or on the phone). Then Zachary would show up at Max's funeral to comfort Polly, who is experiencing the 5 stages of grief - because she needs his emotional support. 5. Zachary would meet the O'Keefes (his future in-laws). I hope they like him, especially Calvin (Polly's marine biologist dad). Then Zachary would meet Renny and the two of them would fight (physically and/or verbally) for Polly's affections... then they'd make up and Renny would cure Zachary's heart failure (or at least try). He is a doctor, after all. 4. Both movies should be musicals or at least contain pop songs. Who doesn't love music?! 3. Since An Acceptable Time takes place on All Hallow's Eve (Halloween), a bunch of trick-or-treaters would visit the Murrys' house to collect candy. Or maybe Zachary and Polly attend a costume party, with the latter masquerading as a goddess. Also, there would be a Fall Ball where Zachary and Polly are crowned king and queen. 2. Instead of rheumatic fever, Zachary's weak heart would be the result of a curse that'll break when he finds a woman who will love him for who he is and not for his looks or money. Beauty and the Beast much? Honorable mentions: Zachary and Polly would've known each other since they were little and given each other a normal childhood - aww. They'd go to the same school: Polly in preschool through 2nd grade; Zachary in 4th grade through 8th grade. Or maybe, Polly could be an academic prodigy and Zachary a rebel and they'd enroll in the same university abroad: Polly skipping a few grades and Zachary repeating the same year twice or thrice. Anaral, Karralys and Tav, being pacifists, would care more about Zachary and his weak heart, because - any friend of Polly's is a friend of theirs. 3 millennia after they passed in their own time, they'd be reincarnated into modernized versions of themselves in 1989: Annabel (or Annie for short), Karl and Todd, who dress for Woodstock, tell fortunes and make their own home remedies. Sophonisba and Tullia will be given short nicknames that are easier to pronounce: Sophie and Tilly. Polly would succumb to her insatiable desire to be loved and feel special (instead of Zachary desperately begging her to help him) and let herself believe that she is, in fact, a goddess. Unless she can summon the power of the four elements and bring a rainstorm to the People Across the Lake, her bluff will be called. Zachary already met Adam Eddington in A Ring of Endless Light, so Polly would meet Vicky Austin and the four of them would be best friends. And the #1 thing I would change in A House like a Lotus and An Acceptable Time in an Anime adaptation is... 1. Instead of Polly ending her relationship with Zachary, they end up together. They get married, live in Zachary's hometown of Los Angeles, have daughters Maximiliana Victoria (after Max and Vicky) and twins Pandora Ophelia Grace and Persephone Diana Juliet and adopt a pet mouse from China named Amanda (or Mandy) who is the protégée of Bernard and Bianca Newhart and Jake from the Rescuers movie duology (in The Rescuers' Wrinkle in Fate).
Dear Brianna, You may be far away, and we may be apart, but I'd rather have a real friend who's far away than any fake friends who are close, because friendship is not about distance, it's about heart. You make me strong. You're the reason I keep on living on this beautiful Earth, although it's not a perfect world. You make me feel "cool" - because being "cool" is not about who has the most money, looks the best, lives in the biggest house or drives the most expensive car; or the best hair, eyes, skin or body; but it's about confidence and self-love. I don't need a skin gloss to give me a "glow" upon my face; all I need is your sweet, kind words of encouragement. You give me that beautiful glow. So remember: be kind and treat everyone with respect. And above all... STAY YOUNG, HAVE FUN, and BE HAPPY. XOXOXOXO, Mandy Austin @neonakane