What was the best thing that happened to you recently?

I just got engaged.

Oh, nice.

Yes, I got engaged in January.

How long have you two been together?

Three years. So it was kind of planned but not really. I just decided it was time.

What’s her name?

Martha. She’s a student here too.

How did you two meet?

It’s funny. We’re both from the same hometown. She is best friends with my cousin’s ex-girlfriend. So we were always at the same places but we never met until she came up to Tucson to play soccer. That’s where I met her.

How did the relationship start?

Um, I don’t know, like how they all start? (Laughs.) We met and then we catched up over the Internet because it was really hard to do over the phone. She didn’t have a cell phone at the time, so it was a lot easier to do (instant) messaging. So that’s how we started talking initially, as friends. Then we would started using the phone, and then I would travel to see her or she would come up here to meet. Then I just asked her out.

What did you do on your first date?

We went to the movies.

What did you guys see?

We saw “”Apocalypto,”” I think?

Wait, what was that?

“”Apocalypto”” with Mel Gibson.

Oh my god, “”Apocalypto?!”” (Laughs.) One of my friends told me that they went on a date to see that, and she said it was a date killer.

It was kind of. It was one of those movies that we shouldn’t have gone to, but there was nothing else out at that time that looked interesting. I think it was on a Friday. So I was driving from Tucson to meet her. It was only thing playing. “”We could watch this or we could not do anything.”” “”Let’s go watch it. It’s Mel Gibson, it should be good.”” We didn’t know anything about it at the time.

How did you recover from that? How did you keep her interested after that?

We just made fun of the movie. There were some good action scenes. I guess I just made it work — we made it work. We both don’t keep the same conversation for too long, we just kept flowing.

So do you have any advice for single guys?

Don’t look for a girlfriend or don’t look for someone.

Huh, that’s counterintuitive.

Well, it’s kind of weird. I wasn’t looking for a girlfriend at the time. (Martha) wasn’t looking for someone at the time, either. The same thing happened with a friend, and he was done looking. Now he’s doing well with his girlfriend. So don’t look, and just see what happens.

— Steven Kwan