Fradam

Roni Tropper and Allen Applbaum met at summer camp when they were both 15 years old. They had secret crushes on one another, but as luck would have it, he was dating someone else. Fast forward a few years: they found each other at the City University of New York in Queens, but again in relationships with other people. They stayed friends for a while but eventually lost touch.

Nearly twenty years after they first met, Allen found Roni again—this time on Facebook, where they were able to catch up and share memories of how Allen even helped teach Roni how to drive. And this time, they were both single!

Despite being on opposite sides of the country, they found a way to be together—Roni and Allen spoke every day and used Facebook to stay in touch. “It was like no time had passed, and we still had feelings for one another,” Roni said. Eventually, Allen moved from New York to Scottsdale, Arizona, and they are now engaged to be married.

Originally posted on the Facebook blog; hurray for wedding bells that are coming! I love stories like this. Pretty easy to make me happy isn’t it? The origin of where love blooms always interest me. It can be a peculiar thing to watch sometimes; when two people grow in a mutual admiration for each other, all wrapped up in those other emotions and feelings and whatnot. It’s something I’ve wondered from time to time.

What if one person grows in that emotion before the other?

Does the other one just get pulled along for the ride?

What if they didn’t want to come along?

Or what if the pull is what helps them discover the emotion was there all along?

Or what if they make an intellectual decision about the emotion, and justify it to themselves in hindsight claiming it was there all along?

Okay, so perhaps its not an equally growing feeling that seems to find balance in each other as it grows.

But does that even matter?

If people do love each other, does it matter how they got there?

Perhaps not, but I like the story all the same

A recent visit to glitzy Star City to see Guy Sebastian on tour with Kellie netted quite an amazing evening. First of all, it was a very different concert to previous ones. There appeared to be less flash and bang… definitely less dancing, yet, an overall richer experience.

It began with, as many people immediately labelled, “a kid”, by the name of Tom Jordan. I kid you not however, the guy had an immense talent for a 13 year old. Given the opportunity of a lifetime in being able to tour with a star like Guy didn’t appear to perturb his lyrical waxing, as he sang a few covers and also a few tunes he had written by himself completely! I especially loved the “I’m too young to have a girlfriend, but too old to cry about it!” song

As for Guy… Quirky humour and silly anecdotes filled the gaps between songs — and as always, preceeded by the inevitable “Can I have the houselights up..?”. Kinda funny in a way, at other concerts, the lead singer often tries to talk to the audience, but it is only after a concert like Guy’s do you realise that the people on stage can rarely even see those who aren’t on stage!

I guess that kind of honesty/taking-the-mickey-out-himself is part of what made it a great concert. At one point, he had his guitar swapped for another one, and quipped with something along the lines of, “apparently, all big rock stars just get their guitars swapped for no particular reason…”. Crazy!

A truly amazing thing to witness, was one dedicated fan and her boyfriend being called onto stage. Turned out the boyfriend had a question for her, and soon, he wasn’t just a boyfriend anymore. I think that is the first actual proposal I’ve ever witnessed… which in hindsight doesn’t actually seem that surprising — I mean, how many people follow other lovers and listen to them as one proposes to the other!? So, that was quite a magical moment, and certainly a night neither of them will ever forget. Especially amazing to consider, it all came from the boyfriend-turned-fiancee emailing Guy, earnestly seeking this chance to show how much he cared for the one he loved… How many artists would reply to a person’s email and allow such an opportunity to unravel on stage? I’m sure it’s not unheard of, but wow.

Another truly special part of the evening was a tribute to Australian music. It seemed like something else… almost intimate, hearing classics like Burn for you (Farnsy) coming from Guy and his band. Certainly rewarding however!

Other interesting parts of the night included sitting a few metres behind the “celebrity table”, i.e. Guy’s girlfriend, her friends, and the other names that support Guy — e.g. Mark Furze from Home & Away and Jennifer Hawkins from.. somewhere, not quite sure I remember where She was sneaky though, and didn’t stay too long in the open. Interestingly enough, given the option of kissing her, Guy declined. What a Guy!
So, I think the conclusion of this post is clear: I will need to grow a fro, enter Australian Idol and win. Malaysian Christians have a good chance I hear!

P.S. If you’re reading this, I expect you to vote for me!