Grasping Adulthood

I had a dream that the 6 of us were having dinner at Shabuway on Tuesday night, instead of just the current group of 4 we have now. Nothing else was different. You were there with us, also talking about the daily going ons of your life, also giving your opinions on the upcoming birthday bash, also talking about what your future wedding would be like, also showing your discomfort with the idea of having kids any time soon. We cheers-ed with our sake bombs and you got your infamous Asian glow. We playfully argued over who was the coolest pair of buddies and we reminded everyone that at least you and I had perfected a buddy-walk during pledging, which automatically made us better. No one agreed and someone brings up our issue from 2005, which makes us lose points. We shrug it off and state that that’s a time we’d rather forget than remember so it doesn’t count. It was a vision of what life would be like if you had never left.

Grand jury indictes Esteban in Le case - ABC 7-KGO TV

HAYWARD, Calif. — In a bid to move her case closer to trial, prosecutors have obtained a grand jury indictment of Giselle Esteban on charges that she murdered nursing student Michelle Le.

Le, a 26-year-old San Mateo woman who was attending Samuel Merritt University in Oakland, disappeared from Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Hayward in May. Her body was found in a remote area between Pleasanton and Sunol on Sept. 17.

Esteban, a 27-year-old Union City woman who attended high school with Le in San Diego, was charged with Le’s murder on Sept. 8 — before Le’s body was found — based on DNA evidence and cellphone records.

Story: Delay in proceedings of Michelle Le murder suspect Esteban appeared in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland today on the murder charge contained in the indictment, but her arraignment and plea entry were delayed until Jan. 20 at the request of her attorney, Andrea Auer.

Auer asked that the hearing be postponed until February because she is busy with another murder case, but Judge Carrie Panetta denied her request.

Prosecutor Butch Ford said an Alameda County criminal grand jury indicted Esteban last Wednesday after a three-day hearing. The transcript of the hearing is 470 pages long, and remains sealed for the time being.

The grand jury indictment allows prosecutors to bypass the step of having a preliminary hearing — a hearing at which a judge determines whether there is enough evidence against a defendant for a case to proceed to trial.

Ford said his office sought a grand jury indictment to make the trial process “more efficient.”

After Esteban was charged in September, a number of her hearings were postponed because of medical issues related to her pregnancy. She has since given birth.

Le’s cousin, Kristine Dinh, and several other family members and friends attended Esteban’s hearing today but declined to comment afterward.

(Copyright 2011 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, re-transmission or reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. Is prohibited.)

Original article here.

Nothing will ever bring her back to us…but at least justice can be served. May the bitch who took Michelle away from us rot in hell.

“When I am gone, release me, let me go I have so many things to see and do. You mustn’t tie yourselves to me with tears, just be happy that we have had some years. I gave you my love, you can only guess how much you gave to me in happiness. I thank you for the love you each have shown, but now it’s time I traveled on alone. Do grieve a while for me if you must then let your grief be comforted by trust. It’s only for awhile that we must part, so keep our memories within your hearts. I won’t be far away, for life goes on, so if you need me call and I will come. Though you can’t see or touch me I’ll be near, and if you listen with your heart you will hear, all my love around so soft and dear. And then when you must come this way alone, I’ll greet you with a smile and say welcome home.”

See you on the other side, Bud. This weekend was a roller coaster of emotions but I’m glad we were able to finally say a proper good-bye to you, and I’m glad that Alpha Zeta was able to do it together. We will forever be incomplete without you but you will live in our hearts, and in our souls, forever. The love we feel, you will feel; the success we achieve, you will also achieve.

Thank you for teaching me the importance of forgiveness and showing me the strength of unconditional love. Thank you for the late night talks as we stood by our bedroom doors, the never-ending supply of ramen, the bathroom-for-dishes deal, the endless rides to anywhere and everywhere, the clothes that somehow fit me even though you were 8 inches taller. For all the memories that we had, the words that were exchanged, good and even the bad, I will remember forever because those were the moments that shaped our friendship, it is what made us who we are.

I love you, Buddy. Continue to party hard and dance like nobody’s watching.