About Us
Scott Michael Garrabrant
Scott, 24, was born in Southern California and moved to Las Vegas at the age of seven. He grew up, along with his three younger siblings, playing a large variety of board games (a hobby that he and Joanna share). From an early age, Scott knew he wanted to study math. He attended a yearly math camp, led math teams in middle school, high school, and college, won numerous awards, and solved the Rubik’s cube in less than 20 seconds. Scott has a Bachelor’s degree in both Mathematics and Computer Science from Pitzer College. He is now a graduate student at UCLA, working on a PhD in Combinatorial Mathematics.
Joanna Eileen Hanff
Joanna, 24, grew up in the San Fernando Valley with her parents and five older siblings. Always an avid reader, Joanna sometimes had to have her beloved books taken away so that she would do her chores. She loved to sing even before she could talk, and has performed in various musicals, choirs, and as a soloist. Always very smart, Joanna tested out of high school at 16, and started college two years early. After working and living on her own for several years, Joanna moved up to Fresno to finish her degree in Child Development. Since meeting Scott, Joanna has moved back to the SFV, where she works as a nanny.
Our Love Story
from Joanna's perspectiveIn mid-December of 2012, I logged onto a popular online dating website I’d been considering giving up on. I’d joined a couple of months prior, but without much expectation that I’d find anyone interesting. I wasn’t even convinced that I’d be willing to meet anyone I found online. I’d received many messages in those months, but they ranged from creepy to uninteresting, and included a lot of clearly copy-pasted messages that I’m sure were sent to many other women. In the rare instances where I replied, it took me a few days to even decide if I wanted to.
On this particular night, I scrolled through a list of a handful of new visits to my profile, clicked open a few that seemed interesting, and read through them. Some shared hobbies, many were nerdy, and most were local. *Spoiler:* One of the visitors was Scott.
Reading through Scott’s profile, I knew instantly that we were dest– well, actually, no. He seemed friendly, nerdy, and definitely smart. He had life goals, strong values, and was looking for commitment. He loved to play games, even lesser known games that I loved, and he had a welcoming smile. He also lived about 3 hours away in Los Angeles, but that didn’t matter so much as the fact that I didn’t think I was really looking for someone. I closed my browser, and went on with my life…
…for about two minutes. Not long after I checked out Scott’s page, I saw a pop-up notification that read, “New Message!” I’ll point out again that every other time I’d replied to a message, it took me a few days to even decide to write one. After reading Scott’s message, I immediately started typing my response… which included letting him know that I’d be in Los Angeles later that month.
The next day, December 12th 2012 (12/12/12), Scott sent me a “Hello!” and we haven’t stopped talking since. We met in person a few weeks later on New Year's Eve, and moved into our new apartment together on April 1st, by which time we had already decided we would marry. Scott officially proposed on September 22nd, 2013, in the garden of the church where we would hold our wedding. I cried. In the words of Nora Ephron, who wrote When Harry Met Sally, “When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”