So I read this article in Popular Science. For those of you who are busy: The article seems pretty full of shit to me, but it got me thinking. In some ways, it's a really small world. Sometimes you meet somebody in multiple, completely independent contexts. Sometimes you're halfway around the world and run into your next-door neighbor. FOCUS: Tell your stories of it being a small, small world.
I read that article and it reminded me of this one: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceupbin/2011/10/22/the-147-companies-that-control-everything/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceupbin/ ... verything/</a> The premise that "hubs" develop naturally in complex systems is pretty interesting, and not far fetched. Focus: fuck six degrees of Kevin Bacon. I bet you one of the movies or shows you've seen in the past two days featured an actor that appeared Black Hawk Down. I watched that when I was sick a few weeks ago, and was astounded.
Apparently, I am a distinctive person. At least five times, I've been noticed by some random dude at the store. "Holy SHIT, that's Omegaham!" He then comes over and shakes my hand and asks how I'm doing. All of them have been from A-school; I had been in charge of about a hundred people for less than two weeks and then didn't talk to any of them for more than a year. And all of them immediately recognized me and did the male version of OHMAHGAWD. It is extremely awkward to say hi to someone who knows your name when you don't know who the hell this person is. The fact that I'm at a training base where people from all over the US come to train means that awkward meetings with these people will continue.
When I went to Paris after graduation I, of course, had to check out the Shakespeare and Co. bookstore. Upstairs there's this little room with a piano, and when I went up there there was this old man who was playing beautifully and a big group of people had crowded in to listen to him. I had to squeeze in right near the window, and as I stood listening I leaned against one of the dozens of tall stacks of books that were just lying out everywhere. When he was done playing and people were filtering out, I finally started looking around at the books, beginning with the stack I was leaning on. I look down, and right on top is the book my thesis adviser had written. It was so weird.
I worked for a while in a company of <100 workers. I knew probably half of them, because it was a manufacturing company so many worked on shifts that did not overlap with my 9-5 work hours. One year, my girlfriend and I decided to go to Times Square to watch the ball drop in NYC. We got there a few hours early to get a good spot, walk through the gates and line up in the group with the rest of the enormous crowd... and the people behind us were two of my coworkers. Estimates are that about a million people attend the NYC new year celebration and the two people who are standing immediately next to us are two out of ~50 coworkers from 6 hours away.
I saw my ex-boyfriend from freshman year of high school at a rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike. This is weird because he moved to Utah during sophomore year. This was last summer, eleven years after he moved.
When I was in Italy 2 months ago I ran into a guy from work that I cant stand. Of all the restaurants, on all the streets, in all the cities in the world, I run into this fucker. Also, I'm surprised at how many people on a random Internet messageboard are from CT.
A few days ago I posted a Reddit AMA about how I had part of my house redone on Holmes on Homes, and a guy recognized the house, and apparently lived in the same house I did - but not the one that was redone. He recognized the street as he used to live there, and we lived in his old house until we moved into the bigger one that was redone. Was pretty weird.
When I was in Morocco, I ran into a girl I knew from school in Washington, DC. First thing I said to her was, "Were you just about to steal my fucking taxi?" Her: "Harry???" Me: "Yep!" [Gets into taxi and leaves] I haven't seen her since.
I was in a coffee shop the other day standing in line and the guy in front of me turned around and asked if I went to Such-And-Such Elementary School (an hour's drive away in my home town). I did, for a grand total of 3 years, until I was 7. He fucking recognized me from second grade, which was almost 25 years ago. I have no idea who this guy is, but apparently I made a hell of an impression on him.
I was hiking in the Cinque Tuerre in Italy, it's at the top of the Med east of Genoa. Middle of this 7 mile hike, and I hear someone in the group approaching us mention Sugarbush. I told them I was from VT, they were from the town over and knew my sister.
Maybe it's because you're Asain? I didn't think there were that many of them up there so you might be distinct because of that? Otherwise he's probably a creeper with a closet shrine dedicated to you and just made 'first contact' before his big move.
When we were on our honeymoon in Ireland, we were attending a medieval banquet at Bunratty Castle our first night. We were seated with 4 other American couples, notably older than us. After first name introductions, the men fell back into their conversation, as did the women. The men were talking about their time together in the Navy. Turns out they served together as the executive officers on board the USS Macon under Adm. Arleigh Burke. My father, a Marine, was Burke's bodyguard on the Macon, and sure enough, they remembered my father (one to the point of being able to recall Burke informing my dad that my grandfather had died while they were in port at Gitmo). As Stephen Wright said, "It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it."
I can do you one better - a buddy of mine's cousin is the guy that gets operated on in the movie. Two (three?) degrees of Jews from the Chicago Suburbs strikes again.
A couple years ago, I was going through the Halloween thread on the RMMB and someone posted a picture of themselves dressed up as a keg. It only caught by eye because my roommate had worn the same costume that year, but I looked closer and realized the kid was my best friend who lived down the street when we were growing up. A couple PMs back and forth confirmed that it was the same guy and we started catching up via PM. Then I think he posted something idiotic in the Advice section and was run off the boards/banned. Haven't heard from him since.
On a high school trip to Europe we ran into a math teacher from elementary school at the Louvre in front of the Mona Lisa. She wasn't on the trip but had been visiting friends in Paris that week. The over bearing Christian asshat teacher that was leading our tour was later caught fucking a different math teacher that same summer. Not a small world thing but he was an asshole and we thought for a while it was the math teacher we bumped into. Living in Shanghai I was really surprised at the number of people I met from Cincinnati that were over there. I met a two people that had lived not more than a mile from the home were I grew up (went to different schools) in a single weekend at a bar I frequented. I also met a guy who lived on the same street as I did going to college.
On my solo trip around northern Europe, I met my cousin's prom date, staying at the same hostel as me in Amsterdam. I had never met her before or had any idea who she was, only discovered the connection through conversation. Same trip same city, I was within striking distance of Antonio Banderas, Cameron Diaz and Jeffrey Katzenberg at the Shrek 3 premier.
When I was in middle school my family went on a tour of the Hoover Dam while visiting Vegas. A week after we went back to Texas the family went out for dinner. At the table next to us was another family in our Hoover Dam tour group. Weird. Similarly, I ran into a former patient when I was in Maui over the summer. The last time I saw her was 2009-ish, so when we saw each other we kind of stood and stared for a solid 10 seconds, trying to figure out how we knew each other. The next day her mom saw me and asked if I worked at Blah Blah.
I was up in PA one time and I ran into Ned Ryerson whom I hadn't seen since high school. That asshole just kept trying to sell me insurance. Also, on the lawn at a Slayer concert in Albuquerque (I live in CA and was in NM visiting family) I ran into 4 friends who happened to be there as well.