"Hey liangyuan, I can't make it to dinner tonight because I have loads of work to do and since I'm flying off to Florida tomorrow at 12pm, I need to pack. But as I will be leaving my car unmoved for a few weeks, I am going down to Princeton today to drive it around, so would you wanna come? You can take the train to New Brunswick and I'll pick you up from there. The train leaves for New Jersey at 4:01pm"
So that was what Jared Feiger told me at 3:45 pm today - I had come out of class to listen to his voicemail and upon hearing that he couldn't make our pre-arranged dinner, I had called him back to find out more. I looked at my watch, 3:46:45 .. 3:46:46..3:46:47 .. time was running out and I had to decide - an evening trip to Princeton or Advertising management class. Well, since it was officially the last class before Spring break, my brain did some quick cost-benefit analysis and the next thing I knew I was running to the subway station.
And my my, what a fantastic decision that was.
Princeton and New Brunswick aren't exactly near to Manhattan- it's not the same as saying "hey liangyuan, do u want to go to East coast park for a jog? " or "hey liangyuan, do you want to go to Newton for dinner?". It's more like saying "hey liangyuan, Do you want to go to Bintan for a swim?"
Yes, princeton is the same distance from Manhattan as Singapore is from Bintan (that's what the measuring tool in Google told me and for the non Singaporeans who read this blog, Bintan is an island in Indonesia) , so to give someone 20 mins to decide if he wants to go to Princeton from Manhattan isn't exactly quite normal! Ok, maybe it might be to some certain extent, 'normal' in the States, but it is definitely not normal in Singapore!
But having made that decision, I must say that although the tickets to NJ and back cost me US$22.25 (SGD$35: ok I didn't know it was that much then!) and that I only spent a mere 3.5 hours between New Brunswick & Princeton, I did enjoy every single second of that short-lived trip.
And I mean EVERY SINGLE SECOND because Jared had us making use of EVERY SINGLE SECOND! ( I say 'us' because Jared also had a friend , Stacy, along. She's one amazing person who left a very brilliant first impression - firstly because she looks like she either drinks from the fountain of youth or has some elixir of life and secondly because she's terribly intelligent and has such a great sense of humour! ) It seemed like I was on some Amazing Race of sorts - running to the subway to get to Penn station by 4:01 , running to buy the tickets for the 4:28 NJ transit train because I missed the 4:01 one by a few mins , running to the train station at night to catch the 9:20pm train back into manhattan. There was alot of running to do!
Both Stacy and Jared do this alot- the last minute impromptu trips, the running about to catch planes/trains/taxis and all. Just last week, the 2 of them decided within a few days to go over to Paris for the weekend! I had queried Jared on the costs, but he said "Liangyuan, I only go for good deals. (cue business man-ish wink)". You might all think impromptu trips are tiring and bothersome, but now I see why they love it all so much. :) haha.
Also, another highlight of the 'trip' was that while we were driving all around New Brunswick / Princeton, Jared was driving us in his almost brand new BMW M3 (not the normal 3 series ok!) which he had financed on his own! The guy is superbly entrepreneurial and resourceful I must say.
The M3 is a real luxury, so to get to sit in one is sheer pleasure. When Jared stepped on the pedals, I could really feel myself lurch back into the seats - and the thing is, Jared did not flex the muscles of the car to its fullest! The roads had too many potholes so he didn't want to damage his suspension by hurtling over them at I-dont-know-how-many km/hr. Can't wait till Jared gets out to somewhere smoother and gets to show the car's power in full force.
This is how the car looks like, but his was in a Black-blue metallic colour. Some 'Jervis' Blue or something which when he first said, sounded like 'Jared's Blue' and I was like, wow... custom colour? haha. Stupid of me right. I know.
Arghhhh..! I think I shall put the camera into my bag from now on, regardless of whether I intend to sight see or not!
The following are a few pictures I managed to take while on the train there. These were all that the phone could manage!
Some random station.Sad that these were the only 2 photos I managed to take before the phone went phttttt.
Now I need to go settle some major stuff before getting a well deserved night's rest. heh.
Till then, see you and have fun!
The next time you hear from me I'll probably be in Salt Lake City!
:)
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