Fate and Coincidence
Before I get into this, I want to say that I’ve never been a believer in fate. Whenever someone says “it was meant to be”, I cringe, and think to myself, that’s poppicosh (I don’t know if that’s a word, but that’s what I think), they don’t know what they’re talking about.
I should warn you that this is long, and if you have better things to do, go do them.
My story begins with the 2006 World Cup (which seems to be on my mind ALL THE TIME these days), and ends in 2001, at a Mexican Restaurant/Karaoke bar.
I’ve been looking for videotapes, as of late. 8-hour videotapes, to be precise. I want to tape world cup games all day, which is about 7 hours of TV, and most videotapes can only hold 6 hours. I know I’ve seen 8-hour tapes somewhere, and with my illogical way of thinking, I thought I could find them at Costco (they sell stuff in mass quantity, so they must sell 8-hour tapes, because 8 is a larger quantity than 6).
I’ve also thought about getting pizza from Costco as of late. I’d never gotten a whole pizza from Costco, and I have had pizza on my mind for over a week, without actually consuming any.
I figured, between getting tapes, and pizza, I would go and deal with the craziness that is Costco, and went there a little after 5 pm.
Costco doesn’t carry 8-hour tapes (big surprise), so I got other stuff that we could use in the house (butter, paper towels, Kleenex) and then went to get my pizza.
“It won’t be ready for 10 minutes”, she said. I thought, “dammit, I now I have to kill 10 minutes for a pizza, after not finding my 8-hour tapes”. I contemplated sitting in Costco for 10 minutes. I decided against that, and instead went to Office Max, which is on the opposite side of the shopping center, to look for 8-hour tapes (Office Max does not carry 8-hour tapes).
On my walk back from Office Max to get my pizza, I see someone sitting outside a coffee shop. I recognize this person, but I don’t remember if this is someone I want to avoid, or someone I want to say hello to.
After we share a “you look kind of familiar” look, she says “Jeff?!?”. Ohmygosh, it’s Nellenda. Someone I haven’t seen in at least 3 years (I think it’s more like 4, but who really cares).
Nellenda was in a student group with me at Michigan State. I found out she was moving to San Jose, only a few weeks before I moved to San Jose, back in 2001. We hung out a couple of times, but she never had a phone, then her email stopped working, and yada, yada, yada, we lost touch.
We caught up briefly, then she needed to get going. As she was walking away, she said something to the effect of “whenever I think of Karaoke, I think of you. That night we dragged you out to that Karaoke bar, even though you didn’t want to go”.
Funny thing is, whenever I think of Karaoke, or drive by that Mexican restaurant, I wonder what ever became of Nellenda.
Now, was it fate that I ran into Nellenda? That’s poppicosh, It was a just a series of coincidences. But I have to say, I am glad I couldn’t find those 8-hour tapes at Costco.
I should warn you that this is long, and if you have better things to do, go do them.
My story begins with the 2006 World Cup (which seems to be on my mind ALL THE TIME these days), and ends in 2001, at a Mexican Restaurant/Karaoke bar.
I’ve been looking for videotapes, as of late. 8-hour videotapes, to be precise. I want to tape world cup games all day, which is about 7 hours of TV, and most videotapes can only hold 6 hours. I know I’ve seen 8-hour tapes somewhere, and with my illogical way of thinking, I thought I could find them at Costco (they sell stuff in mass quantity, so they must sell 8-hour tapes, because 8 is a larger quantity than 6).
I’ve also thought about getting pizza from Costco as of late. I’d never gotten a whole pizza from Costco, and I have had pizza on my mind for over a week, without actually consuming any.
I figured, between getting tapes, and pizza, I would go and deal with the craziness that is Costco, and went there a little after 5 pm.
Costco doesn’t carry 8-hour tapes (big surprise), so I got other stuff that we could use in the house (butter, paper towels, Kleenex) and then went to get my pizza.
“It won’t be ready for 10 minutes”, she said. I thought, “dammit, I now I have to kill 10 minutes for a pizza, after not finding my 8-hour tapes”. I contemplated sitting in Costco for 10 minutes. I decided against that, and instead went to Office Max, which is on the opposite side of the shopping center, to look for 8-hour tapes (Office Max does not carry 8-hour tapes).
On my walk back from Office Max to get my pizza, I see someone sitting outside a coffee shop. I recognize this person, but I don’t remember if this is someone I want to avoid, or someone I want to say hello to.
After we share a “you look kind of familiar” look, she says “Jeff?!?”. Ohmygosh, it’s Nellenda. Someone I haven’t seen in at least 3 years (I think it’s more like 4, but who really cares).
Nellenda was in a student group with me at Michigan State. I found out she was moving to San Jose, only a few weeks before I moved to San Jose, back in 2001. We hung out a couple of times, but she never had a phone, then her email stopped working, and yada, yada, yada, we lost touch.
We caught up briefly, then she needed to get going. As she was walking away, she said something to the effect of “whenever I think of Karaoke, I think of you. That night we dragged you out to that Karaoke bar, even though you didn’t want to go”.
Funny thing is, whenever I think of Karaoke, or drive by that Mexican restaurant, I wonder what ever became of Nellenda.
Now, was it fate that I ran into Nellenda? That’s poppicosh, It was a just a series of coincidences. But I have to say, I am glad I couldn’t find those 8-hour tapes at Costco.
posted by Jefferson at 7:16 PM
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