Road Warrior

This is one of those journeys that happens at random.

I was at a reheasal dinner at a Chinese restaurant. I was approached by an elderly gentleman who told me that he was my father's (and my uncle's) cousin. I had no idea they had cousins in the US. I asked him where he lived. He said he lived in Montclair.

Ding, ding, ding!

Let me explain.

Maybe 13 years ago minus a few months, I was in year 5 of grad school, something that took utterly too long. It was during grad school I met Gabe who would go onto some minor fame as founder of his website. Gabe's slightly paranoid. He was reluctant to say which university he had gone to, but eventually said he went to Montclair State.

Now, New Jersey isn't known for its powerhouse universities, save one, and that's Princeton. Second place, I'd imagine is Rutgers, and I don't know what follows after that. Given the number of people who live in Jersey, it's surprising they don't have a more famous college system. Indeed, many Jerseyites go to New York or Massachusetts or Maryland or any number of nearby states to get a college education.

After checking it out on Google Maps, I realized good old MSU was only about half an hour away.

Here was my game plan. Eat lunch at a Malaysian place that I saw on the way back to the hotel. Then, head to MSU for an hour or so, then head back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding.

Although the morning was sunny, by the time early afternoon came around, it was rainy. I was trying to find the Malaysian restaurant despite the mess that is New Jersey traffic which isn't conducive to left turns. I asked my GPS to find the restaurant, Penang, under Asian restaurants, and the closest one it found was some 20 miles away, which I knew was untrue.

When I adjusted it to all restaurants, it managed to find it. Fortunately, I distrust the data that comes with GPS enough to do that.

The restaurant was pretty nice, looking initially like one of those Bugaboo, Famous Dave's, I'm in a Canadian hunting lodge feel. Stare at the back, and you could see the numerous chefs cooking in the back. I looked over the dishes and got some kind of roti with chicken curry. Malaysian chicken curry is the kind of curry that Indians probably laugh at, as not being quite authentic enough, yet the Brits and Americans love it. Still, it was good enough for me. The roti was particularly oily, but agai, that was fine with me.

I got a beef curry noodle dish, as Malaysia is one of those countries that eat huge bowls of noodles. This one had beef, with enough beef tendon or some other internal glue to make it taste authentic. The soup itself was swimming in coconut milk, though the taste of coconut was not that strong.

After being stuffed, I headed over to MSU.

Despite being only about 20 miles away, it isn't 20 miles of highway. I took a path that went through this place and that, and as I got closer, there was no indication that there was even a university nearby. It wasn't until I practically got on campus that I saw it. Not good for people visiting.

Alas, the weather was rainy and I had no umbrella. I was relying on maps nearby. The campus was pretty much abandoned. Graduation appeared to have happened at least days earlier. Few people were on campus. I went into some facility where kids were playing Suzuki songs, songs I recall since I played them as a youth. Amazing how resilient the Suzuki method has been.

So I was running hither and thither, seeing what little there was to see. It felt very much like an oversized high school, though I suppose many universities have that feel. Only the University Hall looked something more than blah.

This is one of those things where the last time Gabe was likely on campus, parts of it looked, I'm sure quite different. It seems, for example, the computer science department is only 10 years old, which means Gabe graduated after it opened up.

As it was, since I had to get back for the wedding (it's in 45 minutes from now), the 25 minutes back put me just before 5 PM.

Oh yes, oddly enough, as I was driving back, I was behind a very large SUV whose vanity plate read "Hamburg". The finals of Hamburg was just played this morning, with Nadal showing his mastery of Federer, winning in three sets. I thought it coincidental, yet fascinating.