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Gregory Keiji Okada

@tenacious_g

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Engaged! 💍

Since @tenacious_g posted all the fancy photos I get to do our highlight reel!!!

We met on OkCupid. 96 % match 🥰. Greg messaged me and offered to take me around San Diego when I was in my second year of graduate school. I was still fresh out of Rochester and barely knew anyone. At first, I was hesitant to meet someone from online and Greg was very patient with me. He exchanged emails for weeks and persisted with asking me out to dinner until I eventually said yes. He also sent me pictures to verify his authenticity and some of the first photos he sent me were of him and his family in the very Japanese garden where we eventually took our engagement photos.

Hey Greg! I love you. Thank you loving my morning “butt trumpet” and for being my heated and weighted blanket every night. 9 years of terrific adventures with you cannot be summed up in a single post. I think of you every time I hear the song “Ladyfingers” and I wish we were slow dancing in our kitchen right now. Last night we finally got around to watching Wuthering Heights and your deconstruction of the textual romance made my heart flutter. You’re so fun to debate and I’m always surprised about what’s in your noggin! I’m so lucky I get to witness the world with you and all its wonders. Here’s to more cuddles, cooking, traveling, surviving graduate school, adopting Pickles, and seeing you every day I come home. 🏠 You are home. 🏡 So, glad that’s solved! Now we only have to tackle the rest of life’s mysteries.

Oh! Last, Greg sends me photos of him posing with flowers when he’s at work. The last images are just a taste of the beauty I get to have on my phone. 💕 by @tenacious_g

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6 days ago

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always loved love.

I used to fantasize about who I would get the chance to embarrass in front of the world with my rendition of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” except instead of Frankie Valli I’d make it Lauryn Hill because of course I would. I used to wonder how I was going to share a bed with someone for the rest of my life when I run so hot yet love cuddling so much, knowing it would hurt my feelings to not be able to spend the whole night with my forever person. I used to try to imagine, if love is something so universal and yet singularly experienced, how would it manifest for me?

I got close enough with you right away after putting on a playlist of songs that I thought I sounded halfway decent singing on shuffle the first time you were in my car and the first song that came on was “Too Close” by Next, and you can bet I gave that one my all.

Not only does it turn out that your body runs cold and my body heat serves as a big plus rather than a con, but for all the times when it’s too hot and I would be undoubtedly at a more “comfortable” temperature if we slept separately - I’d rather lose the winks of sleep than the moments away from you.

And I don’t have to imagine anymore. There was a moment when you were whisked up by the servers in front of the entire sushi restaurant in your flowing dress and danced amidst several other diners and all I could see was you. There was a moment when my subconscious compelled me to take another picture of you while you were sleeping and the realization why struck me like a warm hug. There was a moment when I was looking up at you looking at me when I was on one knee.

I can’t wait for the lifetime of moments to come.

I’m so thankful that I get to keep loving love for the rest of my life - because you are what love is to me.
You were the one I was always waiting for, and the one I will always be with.
To forever, and whatever happens after that. by @tenacious_g

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6 days ago

Honored and so excited to announce my Mel’s new webcomic @doomed4good she just launched!! Watching Mel constantly create entire worlds from scratch and seeing her boundless creativity manifest in so many beautiful and surprising ways has truly been one of the greatest joys of my life. Doomed 4 Good is one of those such creations that has become near and dear to my heart for its universe, its characters, and its message. To me, it reminds me of not only the horrors in this world we must face, but simultaneously the reason we face them anyway - the bonds and souls that make it all worth it. For anyone who can use the reminder that even that which is doomed can still be and have good, I invite and encourage you to give the account a follow.

Also on Webtoon and Twitter, with updates every Friday!

P.S. - Thank you, Meru, for being my reason to face it all everyday. by @tenacious_g

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2 years ago

Andddd here are the rest of the photos I meant to post!

Special thank you to @kusaki_la for helping us celebrate our big day with some bomb vegan omakase.

Here is some of our year in review and obviously Pickles is very happy to have finally made it on main. by @tenacious_g

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2 years ago

7 years ago, with the sun behind you and in my face, I first saw the outline of your hand waving at me as we met eyes for the first time. I noticed your long, slender fingers, and immediately thought about what beautiful tools you had to weave the stories you create. I then proceeded to talk way too much about myself and asked you far too little about yourself, but you still gave me a chance (though dinner would come later). That night, I committed myself to telling you right away how taken I was by you, telling you how you were so much yes. And yes, and yes, and yes. And how unequivocally, awe-inspiringly gorgeous you are. And how all I wanted was to find ways to keep you around and as close as possible.

Today, I find myself feeling the same way, if not deeper, and more profoundly. You are so much yes. And yes, and yes, and yes. You are unequivocally, awe-inspiringly gorgeous. And you clearly always will be. And all I want is to continue finding ways to keep you around and as close as possible.

I’m listening to a playlist I made of random songs that make me think of you and no joke, Celine Dion’s Because You Loved Me just came on. And, while I’m just now processing that this song is in the past tense, it’s only solidifying to me that of all the things that will ever give my life beauty, or color, or depth, or purpose, you loving me will always be the single most impactful thing that ever, ever happened.

I do have faith because you believe, and I will undoubtedly be forever thankful for you. I can’t wait for what our next chapter has in store for us.

Happy anniversary, my love.
With you, I look forward to infinity, and beyond. by @tenacious_g

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2 years ago

明けましておめでとう.

What a year. Mel got her doctorate. We celebrated Erin and J-Bro’s wedding. I finally became an attorney. And so much more. I’m honestly filled with so much gratitude.

Even so, for all 2023 offered to celebrate, I’m even more so looking forward to 2024 and beyond, genuinely more than I think I’ve looked forward to any other year I can remember.

I can’t wait to be the partner, son, brother, the person, the advocate, and friend I’ve been promising myself and so many others I can and will be for so long.

Thank you for waiting for me. I’ll do everything I can to make it worth the wait. by @tenacious_g

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3 years ago

It’s hard to come up with the words for this moment, even just as your cheerleader for the past almost 6 years, but. You did it, Meru.

I really do believe you are your ancestors’ wildest dreams. You are out here changing the very concept of what a dissertation can be, of what scholarship means, of what using academia and research to critique and sow seeds to ultimately transform what knowledge production can and should look like. You are out here showing how, if you make the right connection when you’re a young, spry, rebellious 19yo, that person can be on your dissertation committee, cheering you on while you run your victory lap to get the highest degree in all the land. You are out here facing all these forces that have sought to destroy you and coming out stronger, with more clarity, and more opportunity than you ever had before. You are out here showing what integrity and dignity and conviction can achieve. Your very school is going to publish your dissertation where you actively talk about how that very institution and the institution of higher education as a whole has not only a pattern but an active, intentional practice of killing and otherwise silencing or at the least undercutting Black AFAB people. You don’t even love cake but you’re leaving this place having yours and eating it too because you fucking earned that. You’ve raised the bar as to what it means to be the best of us, and I can’t help but sit in awe of you.

This was a peak, but I couldn’t help but feel the majesty of all the peaks that are yet to come, and it was staggering. You are staggering.

It's time to celebrate, little one. You’ve made my life infinitely brighter, wider, more beautiful, and more full of light and laughter than it could ever have been without you. The world is truly your oyster, and while I’ve known for a long time that you’re the best of us, I can’t wait for you to be able to enjoy that reality yourself more and more as you continue to spread your seemingly infinite wings and soar into your next chapter, and beyond.

Congratulations, Meru.
I am so, so, so proud of you. by @tenacious_g

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3 years ago

Because it's important to celebrate, especially when you're feeling low or stressed or otherwise less than your best, some congratulations are in order for Ms. Melanie West.

Mel just won UCSD's President's Dissertation Fellowship, which means she was one of only five grad students on the entire campus to get paid to literally just work on their dissertations for the entirety of this upcoming academic year! Meaning, she'll finally be able to finish her PhD program by next June, and we'll have 5 degrees between us up in this house.

This is especially big for us because we are preparing our move to LA, I just put us six figures in debt with this stinkin' law degree, and personally, I've been absolutely ravaged spiritually and emotionally by law school and bar prep, so something this big is such a gift and a blessing that I'm forcing both of us to celebrate this.

So give it up for Mel, because she deserves it. And remember to celebrate the moments that make the fatigue and the stress and the suffering worth it, because we deserve it. Whatever reasons there are to feel disillusioned or hopeless or just overwhelmed in this world, Mel has shown us today there are reasons to hold on, brilliance and tenacity can and will be rewarded, and everything is not lost.

Thank you for that reminder, little one.
Make sure you celebrate this one with me. by @tenacious_g

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4 years ago

Posting now because I finally have enough incontrovertible evidence to say it out loud and I’ve clearly been more than just a little stitious, even though this picture was taken three weeks ago.

10 years ago, I was asking my Philosophy professors who I’d never spoken to in my life for potential letters of recommendation for a law school application that I was sure I would “get to in a couple of years” because I figured that was what you were supposed to do.

For 7 years, I made my money convincing people to give me theirs and teaching others how to do the same.

This August, I get to begin my dream job of representing and advocating for indigent people accused of crimes by our morally depraved criminal legal system, and begin my journey towards the abolition that those wronged - whether in the past, present, or future - so profoundly deserve.

Today, my final grades came in and I have satisfied the requirements to receive my Juris Doctor degree.

Whether it’s because this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done, or because there’s still the mountain that is the bar still left unscaled, I’ve been in a very real daze for these past few weeks.

But after today, it’s beginning to clear.
No matter what anyone says; no one can take this from me.
And, very likely, if you’re reading this, then they can’t take it from you, either.
Because this moment took a real fucking village to get to.

Thank you to everyone who has loved me when I didn’t know how to love myself, who has celebrated with me, who has cried and clawed and scratched their way to achieve their dreams like me and with me, and for just being here. I genuinely don’t think any of you will ever know how much you all mean to me.

Especially you, @melmelmel92.
Your guy finally got this stupid piece of paper, found himself a paying job as an actual employee at the LA Public Defender’s Office, and is so excited to embark on this next chapter with you by his side, and for every chapter after that.

If you have the means, I ask you to reward yourself today.
Pour a drink, roll a joint, order take-out; just something nice for yourself.

Celebrate with me, because I'll be celebrating all of this, and all of you. by @tenacious_g

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4 years ago

Hey.
I hope you’ve been able to catch your breath today, even just for a moment.
It’s the day we’ve been thinking about for years now, and it’s already almost over. I hope you’ve taken some time to catch the breeze caress your face, or the warmth of the sun kiss your skin. You deserve it.

This life has already asked so much of you, and you’ve already given so much back, from awards and scholarships and achievements, to publications, friendships, a whole new coast, and even me. While hard work and dedication and selflessness and sacrifice led you to the rest of them, I have to think that luck was the biggest factor in bringing us together. And I hope you know how much I thank my lucky stars every day for that, but today more than all others.

Over these years, I have heard enough laughs, seen enough tears, and cuddled enough times to last a lifetime, and yet we still have our entire lives ahead of us. For that, I’m so, so thankful.

Today, I celebrate you.
I celebrate your beauty that transfixes and ensnares and also motivates and inspires.
I celebrate your creativity and artistry that challenges and interrogates and asks the world to look at its mirror both of what it is and what it could be.
I celebrate your devotion to the human condition, to the ones you love, and to me.
I celebrate every inch of you that ever was and every inch of you that has not yet come to pass.

A toast today, and a thousand toasts to tomorrow; because somehow, some way, the world has brought us together.
Thank you for your part in that, thank you for being here, and thank you for filling my life with more beauty, art, and love than I ever thought possible.

Happy birthday, my love.
You are a greater dream come true than anything I could have ever imagined on my own. by @tenacious_g

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4 years ago

I'm very, very late, but this woman deserves a very real congratulations for what she's done this week. On Monday, Mel passed her prospectus exam with flying colors in front of her PhD committee, which means all that's left to do in this entire program is to finish her dissertation and defend it. And she's not even 30! After that, my love goes from Ms. Thang to Dr. Ms. Thang.

You are the most impressive specimen I have ever encountered, with or without this piece of paper you've been working so hard for 6 years to get. You show me what it means to be prepared. What it means to look so good and smell so good and feel so good and thus be so good. What it means to have real zeal, real passion for what you do. What it means to get knocked down 7999 times and get up that 80000th. What it means to be authentically gentle and loving. What it means to be somebody, because with you in my life, it's hard to believe I'm not at least that. How could I not, if someone like you chooses to spend their days with me?

Congratulations, my love.
You're on the home stretch, and I am running right next to you, ready to feed you pasta alfredo during the race with a pair of pom-poms in my back pocket to cheer you on at the end of it.

You're so close, and I'm so, so proud of you. by @tenacious_g

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5 years ago

Happy [belated] anniversary, beautiful.

These posts have become more and more meaningful to me over the years because with each passing one, we pack so much life into it. So many adventures. So many laughs. So many long talks; giving and receiving advice or input or support or challenges or exploring each other in any and every way we can. Part of me wants to sit here for hours and try to catalog as many moments we've shared over this year as possible - another part knows how unacceptable it would be to spend so much time and still leave so much out.

So instead, I'll make a few promises. I promise to love and honor you fiercely, completely, and challenge myself to embody it as fully and earnestly as I know how, until the end of my days. I promise to do my best to make this year in SF as enjoyable and fulfilling and warm and joyous as possible. I promise to finish this stupid law school thing and pass that stupid bar thing and get a job that can support us and be something you can be proud of. I promise to always find cute date ideas and get us out of the house at least every once in awhile. And I promise to keep growing. To keep becoming the me I've always wanted to be, and continue learning more and more ways to love and support you.

To the next 4 years.
To you and all your glory.
To infinity, and beyond.

Cheers to us.

Know that the impossible is possible because of you, and I will love you past forever. by @tenacious_g

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5 years ago