OMG, the weirdest thing happened yesterday when I was out walking the dogs. At the intersection, I noticed this Middle-Eastern dude crossing the street. Of course I didn’t have my contacts in, but I thought he looked a lot like my college crush (pre-John, of course), Ali. We both did a few double-takes, but that was it. After all, Ali’s in med school at Penn; why the hell would he be in CA and in my neighborhood, of all places? Still, I thought it was freaky enough to warrant an email just to say, “I know this is unlikely, but maybe it’s possible??” Well turns out, that guy wasn’t him, but Ali actually IS in the Bay area– Menlo Park, just a few exits down. Isn’t that odd? He’s interning for some venture cap firm in Baltimore, and the company sent him to their CA office for two weeks.

The Chinese term yuan2 fen4, (缘分), comes to mind. 缘分 translates to “fate,” and it isn’t necessarily romantic– it’s just this connection between two people who are otherwise unlikely to meet and click. At least, that’s how I interpret it… Yeah, so Ali and I went to Duke together. He worked a bunch of summers in Bethesda, Maryland (not far from my hometown). Then, I went to grad school in his hometown, Gainesville. His girlfriend is from Baltimore, my birth city. Now I’ve just moved back to the States, and he’s on the peninsula? Well, I think it’s interesting anyway, especially considering I haven’t been in touch in like three years.

You know, my buddies in college used to tease me about hanging out or meeting up with Ali after I started going out with John. They warned that old sparks might fly and then, I would have a dilemma on my hands. Ha, ha. If only my life were as dramatic as Laguna Beach. Ah, everything worked out. In the summer of 1996, I revealed my feelings to Ali. He rejected me (quite bluntly, in fact) and a week later, I asked John out on a date. The rest is history. When the summer ended, I went back to school and everything was fine. The Ali crush was over– no messiness, no confusion. Hurray for Bubbey!

From 2005.08.11