newspaper article number 1
Spring is in there air. Even though the first day of Spring isn’t until March 20, the weather turning from the constant winter drizzle to sunshine and cloudless skies marks Spring’s imminent arrival. Along with graduation and summer vacation only being a small distance away, Spring marks the beginning of “Ring by Spring.” For those unfamiliar with the concept of “Ring by Spring” it is only a matter of time before you start to notice a particular trend here at Bethany. Once the weather warms up a miraculous thing happens. People fall in love. Not only do they fall in love but they decide to get married. As if the seeds of love had been planted in the cold winter months and the sun’s rays have brought them to flower, Spring time marks the season of love here at Bethany.
Now if you are one of those people in a relationship, committed and true, then this is probably going to be the time for you to start thinking about taking things to the next level. If you are a man it’s time to drive yourself down to the jeweler and start looking for rings. The rule of thumb is to spend at least three month’s salary on an engagement ring. This may cause problems for some of the population because not all of the men here have jobs, or if they do most have to make monthly payments on bills. Of course, if your committed other is willing to accept a cracker jack ring as long as you are truly in love then not only do you have something rare, and more than likely incredibly unhealthy, but you lucked out because you no longer have to spend any money on a ring. For those of us who live in the real world however, even if she isn’t a gold digger she ain’t messing with no broke. This means you either need to work out a payment plan with the jeweler, ask a friend or family member for a loan, ask a bank for a loan, or if you are highly skilled and have a loving grandmother, convince her to give you her ring. Women will love it if you get them a ring with more than just monetary value. It still needs to have monetary value, but most women would rather have a really expensive ring with a nice story to go with it than just a really expensive ring.
If you are a woman who finds herself in a beautiful caring and supporting relationship you are more than likely thinking it’s time for him to go ahead and show me he’s serious. Seeing as how the majority of women refuse to accept the newly found rights and civil liberties they attained within the last century when it comes to relationships it is up to the man to actually buy a ring and propose. Of course, if you are a woman who is independent has a good job and love your man, feel free to spend three months salary on a ring for him and make that happen. Everyone likes a go getter. However, for the rest of the women who refuse to take that hard earned money and buy a ring because “it’s the man’s job” there are things you can do to make the “Ring by Spring” happen. You will need to start dropping hints. Now you may think that your hints are not subtle but there’s a good chance that they are anything but obvious. Things women can do to let their man know that it’s time to put up or shut up: When you two love birds are out stop by the mall to go shopping. While there find a way to get into a jewelry store. From here make sure to point out different cuts that you like, whether you like gold, silver, white gold, etcetera and most importantly make sure you mention your ring size. You want to make sure that expensive ring fits snug so you can wave your hand around effectively without it falling of your delicate finger. Mention friends or family members, or even famous people you don’t know, that are newly married or engaged. Talk about how beautiful it is and how happy they must be. Your man will more than likely just say something along of the lines of “Oh they got engaged? That’s cool.” This is not a recognition that he should decide to get married. This is a recognition that those two people did in fact get engaged. These are just two things you can do to start dropping serious hints that your man needs to get his game together.
When you finally get a woman you want to be with and a ring to give her when you ask how do you actually go about it? There are many ways to go about actually popping the preverbal question. The first thing you are going to want to do is pick out the day that you are going to want to ask. It’s good to pick something that is going to be very significant to the two of you. New year’s has already passed so unless you are willing to wait around the long months with several karats of diamonds burning a hole in the back of your sock drawer that isn’t an option. Popular days to ask are Valentine’s day, Anniversaries, or her birthday. If you have a birthday coming up you could ask her on your birthday and give yourself a great birthday present.
Having a date picked is only half the battle. Once you know the day you need to figure out how you are going to ask her. If you find it hard to talk about feelings and love steal something someone else said. Women love Shakespeare so make sure to include as many lines from Sonnet 18 and A Midsummer Night’s Dream as you possibly can. If you have kept some sort of journal you could find the day in which you wrote about knowing that she was the one that you wanted to marry. You can remove this page and incorporate it into the asking. The most important part of the asking though is making sure that you do it at either sunset or sunrise on a cliff by the ocean. Women love the ocean and sunrises/ sets. Asking on a cliff will give you an extra edge as well. Not only will you have a great view but also the firm knowledge that if she denies your proposal you can always push her off the cliff to make yourself feel better.
Spring time is a magic time here at Bethany. Whether you have someone to spend your days and nights with or not, there is something about Spring that brings new life (much like Easter Sunday). No matter how you find yourself spending time this semester remember that you should make the best of what you have. More importantly though make sure you find someone to spend the rest of your life with. Otherwise…
