Taking it back to '95

As I was leaving Chief Ike's Mambo Room Saturday night, I saw a woman I had seen earlier - and looked just like a girl I had known at Michigan.  It was driving me nuts, so eventually I asked one of her friends out of earshot: "Excuse me: what 's her name?" pointing at the lady in question.

"Monisha," he answered. 

Yup...that's her, I thought.  "Monisha!" I called out.

"Who..." she said, confused.  Than "Wait a minute -- I know you!  You're...Jide, right?"

"Yeah." 

"HOW ARE YOU?!?  WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"

So Monisha was an acquaintance of mine at Michigan.  We had freshman orientation together, and she stood out to me as very friendly and outgoing - possibly the most outgoing person I'd ever seen.  Back then, she seemed like some kind of unstoppable social juggernaut; she knew at least as many people as I did -- and at the time, that was saying something.  I also had a couple of classes with her, and one my friends had an unrequited crush on her.  Mike, Chris, Jeff, Rajiv and I (all my friends/housemates) all knew Monisha, of course; I'm pretty sure she lived with us in WEst Quad at some point.  I had even hung out with her a couple of times in Chicago, since we both moved there after college.

One of the more confusing aspects of our ensuing conversation was when she commented, "You look really built now."  "Really?"  I said.  "Yeah -- it looks good."  My first thought was 'Damn...have I put on that much weight since I left undergrad?'  Which was quickly replaced by 'Dude, she's paying you a compliment.'

As it turns out, she is now living in D.C.  So we exchanged e-mail addresses and phone numbers.  It's so weird how you run into the most random people at the most random times -- and how when you think you see someone familiar, you're usually right. 

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