Luck. Fate. Blessing. A glitch in the matrix. Or, if you’re more skeptical, just acoincidence.
It’s a phenomenon that, from a statistical perspective, is random and meaningless. But for us humans, it often feels so surreal that a supernatural or divine explanation seems far more plausible—not to mention a lot more fun to believe.
More info:Quora
This post may includeaffiliate links.
RELATED:
I was headed in for a job interview several years back. As I’m walking in, two other men are approaching the door from different angles. One of them speeds up to cut off the other and get in the door first, and the other walks in, shaking his head in disbelief. As I walk in behind them, the first guy runs to the elevator and presses the button, not holding the elevator for the other guy and me. Again, the second guy just shakes his head and we wait for the next elevator. I say “Can you believe some people?” And we both chuckle a little bit.As it turns out, we are headed to the same floor, so we get off the elevator together. As we walk into an office, there is guy #1 Mr Impatient, standing at the desk tapping his foot as the receptionist is finishing up a phone call. The receptionist asks him “can I help you?” And he says “I’m here to see Mr Smith for an interview at 3:30.” (it’s currently 2:50).I think to myself “Great, this guy is interviewing for the same position I am and he will act like the sweetest guy during the interview.” I lean over and tell the receptionist “I am Mr Smith’s 3 o’clock interview.” Mr Impatient GLARES at me.The other guy I walked in with (the one Mr Impatient cut off) then says “Hey gentlemen, I’m Mr Smith.” And turns to Mr Impatient and says “you don’t need to wait around. I’ve already determined you are not a good fit for our company. “I got the job.
I once stopped to help a guy change a tire. He had an arm in a sling and two very young kids in his car. He thanked me saying he didn’t want to hurt his arm any more and wanted to get back to work.Fast forward three months and I’m in a very ugly motorcycle wreck. One of the EMTs noticed my back was broken. Had they continued I’d have been paralyzed. His quick thinking prevented that.After I recovered I got to meet the EMT crew that saved my life.The guy that noticed my back was broken? The guy whose tire I had changed.
38 years ago I had to go into London for an interview. The job was for 3 times existing salary and I was nervous so set off early, driving down the M4 and planning to park at Hammersmith and get the tube to their offices near Leicester Square (now a MacDonalds).I didn’t usually drive into London so stopped my MG Midget at the petrol station at Hammersmith to fill up and ask where there was a car park. As I went to pay a man entered in an obvious hurry so I stepped aside and said “You go first. I’m in no hurry.”. He paid, thanked me and left. I paid, parked and caught the tube to my interview.Yes, you guessed it. The man in a hurry was my interviewer and he recognized me, hired me and I spent an interesting time in the USA working in Georgia, Ohio and Manhattan, New York.Sometimes Karma can take a while to arrive, but in this case my politeness to a man in a hurry gave me almost immediate payback.
So one day I lost my dog, Marko. He’s the most adorable and adventurous corgi ever and he got out of the house and ran away. However, I wasn’t heartbroken for long because I eventually got a voicemail from a neighbor further down the street, (let’s call her Sarah Hall) saying she found my dog and her kids were bringing him over. Thank God his dog tag had my name, phone number, and address.Anyway, half a year later I was walking Marko in my neighborhood and he came across a black dog running around the front of the houses, just sniffing around the bushes. The dog sees Marko and they do their dog thing, sniffing each other’s butts and getting along right off the bat. This dog had no collar and seemed lost. As I walked Marko back home, it followed us home since I guess it had nowhere to go. I took him in and called him Kaiba while Marko was just so happy to have a friend spend the night. The next day I set out to post up lost dog posters when I see a family I never met before already posting up posters looking for this dog. It was perfect timing and they were so relieved I had him. It turns out his name was Bruiser and the story goes, they were just friends of the family that owned Bruiser. Apparently the original family moved away to the other side of town, Bruiser escaped, but rather than finding his way back to the new house, he was able to trek all the way back to the neighborhood they used to live, where I found him. I bid Bruiser/Kaiba a fond farewell and kept one of the posters as a memento.I thought that was a great end to the story, but then later I’m clearing out my voicemail history while waiting in line at Disney when I remember Sarah Hall’s voicemail. Something clicked. After a fun day at the theme park, I went home, grabbed the poster and saw the name at the bottom, “If found, please call Sarah Hall…” The number was the same and I was just in awe. She finds my dog and then half a year later, I find her dog and it all comes full circle.
I was awoken from my hazy sleep one morning with a frantic call from a good friend of mine.He informed me about how his car was stolen that morning and filled me in on all the details. How they broke in, how he’s called the cops, etc. All the boring stuff. He ends with jokingly “Keep your eye out for it”. Yeah right I thought, it is most likely already trashed. We hang up and I begin my day as usual.Lunchtime arrived and I decided to go home to eat, about 5 mins drive. On the way home in the car, I received a call from my friend. Just a catch up call, nothing to do with the stolen car.As we are speaking, I pass a car heading the opposite direction that looked familiar. I asked my friend the licence of his stolen car, did a u-turn and proceeded to catch up to the car I saw, all the while still on the phone with my friend.I caught up with it and yep, it was definitely his car. Long story short, I chased the car down while my friend was in another car on the phone to me and the cops at the same time, directing the cops to my location. It ended with a heap of police cars converging on the stolen car, pulling the thieving s**m from it and locking them up.So basically, his car was stolen in the morning and I found it at the same time as talking with him later that day. Not much of an amazing coincidence I suppose, but still a cool one in my opinion.
This happened to me yesterday.I was at a bar in Oceanside California and noticed one of the barbacks was wearing a shirt with a silhouette of Ohio on it. I grew up in Ohio, so I asked where he was from:“I’m from Cleveland.”“Me too. A little south of it.”“We actually know each other. You trained me at a restaurant and gave me my first AFI album”I’m 33 years old. When I was 19 or 20 I trained this 16 year old kid named Pete how to bus tables at an Italian restaurant — and apparently gave him an AFI album (which probably explains why I can’t find it). That he recognized me after over a decade and that we both happened to be in the same place in a random bar in Southern California is pretty incredible to me.
I was in a casino and a mother and son sat down at slot machines on either side of me. They were have a loud conversation and the sons phone kept ringing over and over but he kept declining the calls. Turns out he was leaving his wife that day and he spent 30 minutes talking about how horrible she was and his mom throwing in her 2 cents.Finally as a joke I said “let me answer the phone”, so he laughed and gave it to me. When she called back I said who is this, turns out it was my sister and the man was my brother in law. My sister started screaming at me to get away from her husband. I have 7 sisters and this one I had not talked to in 5 years due to some stupid argument we had.She divorced him and her and I are now best friends, Funny how life works. We laugh about this a lot.
Late one night, George and I sat up playing backgammon and talking. We’d spent many nights like this one—playing past midnight and telling each other stories.This particular night the topic was, “unbelievably stupid things people we knew had done.” Like backgammon, our storytelling was fiercely competitive. George told such good tales that I was finally forced to pull the ace from my sleeve: the story of Uncle Louie. You see, Uncle Louie did something downright brain-dead. Let me see if I can explain.It happened at one of those noisy family gatherings—Christmas I think. All the family had gathered together at Mama Tencha’s. Everyone was crowded into her steamy little apartment in the Ukrainian neighborhood.Uncle Louie, being the youngest unmarried son, still lived at home even though he was a grown man. He participated in questionable activities. Strange smelling smoke leaked out of his room from time to time. He hung out at the margins, coming and going at all hours of the day and night. But because he was family, his rascally ways were entirely overlooked.During this particular gathering, Uncle Louie got a pain—like a stomach ache. At first Mama Tencha and the rest of the family suggested the usual litany of home remedies— the Pepto, the bi-carb. But Louie wasn’t having any of it. Not him. He was going to be fine.When Louie began looking a little green around the gills and took to his bed, the family grew more concerned. Maybe a heating pad or some of Mama Tencha’s hot tea?“No, Ma. I’ll be fine. I’m just gonna sleep it off.”When Louie began to writhe and moan a bit, the family grew increasingly disconcerted. Several relatives suggested he should visit the doctor or the emergency room.But Louie said, “no.” He wouldn’t go. They might as well stop bothering him about it. He would be fine in the morning.In the morning Louie no longer had any problems. Of any kind. The autopsy revealed that he’d died of a massive infection, the result of an untreated ruptured appendix.It was a family tragedy, Louie dying like that, but nevertheless, George and I cracked up. We couldn’t stop laughing. What a fool Uncle Louie had been! What a dufus! He’d been too macho to get help. You’ve really got to be an idiot to go like that.Uncle Louie’s story obviously won that night’s contest. George and I were still smirking when he left to go home, defeated, but happy.The next morning the phone rang and woke me up. It was George who said, “You won’t believe where I am.”“Where are you?“I’m in the hospital.”“What?” I asked in disbelief. “Are you okay?” I was alarmed.“Yeah, but listen to what happened. When I got home last night I went right to bed, but I was having trouble sleeping because my stomach hurt.”“I tried to ignore it and just go to sleep—but it got worse. When it got even worse, I was still gonna tough it out because it was so late. That and I absolutely hate going to doctors. I’ll admit it. I’m pretty macho. But then I remembered how stupid Uncle Louie had been and decided maybe I’d better have it checked out.”“When the doctor in the emergency room told me that I had appendicitis, I called my sister, who’s a medical student and asked her to come. She watched during the surgery. She told me that the doctor said I had the most inflamed appendix they’d ever seen that hadn’t ruptured yet.”“I guess I was pretty lucky. I might have died. Thanks for telling me about Uncle Louie.”It’s remarkable how life works. Even doing something terribly stupid can end up serving someone years after you’ve died. Redemption can occur spontaneously. Contribution can happen unexpectedly. Grace arises from absurdity. A story can save your life. Thank you Uncle Louie.
I have always loved history.When I was 12, I got a brand new social studies book, filled with pictures and charts. I remember pawing through it, fascinated, and I remember a particular photo of a white-haired, old man, sitting in a wheel barrow in front of the first oil derrick ever dug in Pennsylvania.Fifteen years later, I got married. After the wedding, my father-in-law sent me a clipping in the mail, including thatsamephotograph: the man in the photo was my husband’s great-great-great-uncle.What are the odds that as a child, I’d see a photo of a relative of the man I would someday marry?
I still can’t believe it!Once I went for an examination. 15 mins were left for the commencement of exams. So, I thought it’s better to interact with the guy seated beside. And it goes this way…Me:Hey, I’m Anish.He:Wait, What? Even my name is Anish.Me:Surname?He:George! (Anish George)Me:Even my full name is Anish George! Wow!He:Woho, what a coincidence? Suddenly he gazed at my screen and said, “No way, it can’t happen!”Me:Hey, what happened?He:We share our birthday on the same date and year.I was insanely surprised!!Later, many similarities were revealed except he wasn’t my doppelganger. Sigh..Cheers!
Once when a class of tenth graders and I were discussing Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven,” an actual raven landed on the tree outside of my classroom and started cawing loudly … no kidding! The students and I lost it!I’ve taught in that room for almost twenty years, and I can’t remember another time when a raven has landed in that tree, let alone under such specific circumstances.
I was living in Philadelphia, the fourth largest city in the USA if I recall correctly. Millions of people. I’d moved there years before from Ohio. I’d grown up in foster care, some of the time with my father’s side of the family. My bio mother and maternal grandmother (who had adopted me and given me her married last name) had died. I didn’t really have much connection with that side of my family. Foster care at that time didn’t work so hard to maintain familial relationships as they do now. So in Philly, I started to create my own family of friends. I started attending Quaker meeting, and I joined a personal growth support community as part of my healing and to find joy in my life.One of the gals I met, Jen, and I became good friends. We were in both of these communities and tended to have the same sense of humor. Heck, we even has the same body type and pretty similar hair. We both were artsy types with similar styles and willingness to try any crazy method of arting. One summer, she was visiting her dad in Kentucky, and I was visiting my friend and mother figure in Tennessee and we decided to find a way to hang out. I drove to her parent’s home in Kentucky and realized we weren’t too far from where my bio sister’s daughter lived. I called and invited her down to visit with us. As I started to give her directions, she says… “I know that road. That’s where Aunt so and so lives.” Aunt so and so was Jen’s grandma. It turned out Jen’s grandfather and my grandfather were brothers!So… I met my bio cousin and became friends with her without even knowing we were related!For truth,I’m not 100% sure of the relationships(great grandfather, uncle, etc. of her side, but I know the connection was through my maternal grandfather). Jen’s dad had done a genealogy chart, and I was on it with the last name that I’d been born with!
I was working in an Emergency Room in Atlanta, Georgia. We had a new doctor who had just finished her residency in Boston. She was working her second shift with us when an ambulance came in. She looked at the patient on the stretcher and said, “Hey. I know him.”She followed the stretcher to his room and said, “Randy, why are you in Georgia?” He looked up at her shocked and said, “Ah s**t. I can’t get away from you can I?”Apparently he had been a"Frequent Flyers"at her previous hospital and she had just taken care of him several days before leaving Boston the previous week.it must have been shocking for him to take a bus to Atlanta and have the same Doctor take care of him. There are a lot of hospitals in America, the odds of the frequent flyer picking the same hospital in the same state, in the same city, on the same day, on the same shift that the same doctor was working was insane to comprehend.
This happened to me recently.Background :My parents created my profile on one of the matrimonial websites to find a suitable match for me. They keep searching over it. They send or receive proposals/requests over there.Scene 1 :One evening, I came from office and saw my mom going through the profiles of girls who had sent the request to start a conversation further. My mom showed me the picture of a girl. She accepted the request from a girl and hence my phone number became visible to that particular girl as she had a premier membership on that website.Scene 2 :Same day, at night, I received a call from an unknown number. (My mom had added my number unconsciously while creating the profile) I picked up the phone. The lady on the other side explained that she had sent a request/proposal for her daughter as she liked my profile and the request was accepted from my side in the evening. I told her that my mom had created my profile and it would be better if she talks with my mom directly for this matter. She asked me basic details about my job and told about her daughter. She said, she would talk to my mother and took her phone number.Scene 3: Next morning, I boarded the metro train from Kashmere gate metro station (Delhi) on yellow line towards Central Secretariat (My office). The moment I entered the metro, I saw a girl who was standing opposite to me. She started staring at me (I was also doing the same else how would I know that she was staring at me ? :D ).I thought I have seen the girl somewhere. By her continuous staring, I thought, she must be thinking the same. I started thinking about her with full concentration . After 2 mins, I realized she is the same girl whose profile my mom showed me last evening on the matrimonial website and her mother called me later in the night.I had doubts about it. Instantly, I messaged my mom to whatsapp me the picture of that particular girl whose proposal she accepted last evening on that matrimonial website. She sent me the screenshots of her profile. I kept staring her and looked at my phone several times to confirm.By this time, the girl had also realized what I was doing or trying to do. She was also clear about her doubts (I thought so) and recognized me (I thought this too).Eventually, I took the courage and turned my phone’s screen towards her and asked“ Is this You ?”She was already smiling like a little kid, her face filled with innocence and shyness.She nodded her head and said“Yes, I recognized you”.
See Also on Bored Panda
I befriended a Colombian guy at my university. One day I was showing him pictures of my trip to Santa Marta, Colombia and he suddenly exclaimed:“Man, that sunset looks really familiar”“What, dude? There’s no way”“Hold up, I think I have a photo”“WHAAAAT —- Holy ****, this can’t be real”And there it was, a picture of the same exact sunset taken within 3 minutes of mine. We couldn’t stop laughing. We just realized that we were in the same city at the same time, weeks before we actually met thousands of miles away.Here’s the sunset from my point of view (island in tayrona), and below is his ( santa marta)
Continue reading with Bored Panda PremiumUnlimited contentAd-free browsingDark modeSubscribe nowAlready a subscriber?Sign In
Continue reading with Bored Panda Premium
Unlimited contentAd-free browsingDark mode
Unlimited content
Ad-free browsing
Dark mode
Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber?Sign In
My father was a naval officer, so we lived in a lot of places - some fairly unusual. When I was 13, we moved to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Our home was 8500' above sea-level and 600 miles from the Red Sea - not a place you’d expect to find US Navy.Dad got to know the Marines in the security detachment at the US Embassy well, and one day Bob, the Gunnery Sergeant, came to him with an unusual request. His fiancee Carol was coming to Addis; they were to be married at the embassy. Bob wanted my dad to stand-in for her father - to give the bride away. My dad agreed immediately. In fact the reception was at our home.A few months later Bob got orders; he and Carol left Ethiopia, promising to keep in touch. A year later, on a Thursday in September, Bob was walking into the American Embassy in Amman Jordan on his day off; he’d forgotten something. One of the on-duty Marines asked, “Hey Gunny, weren’t you in Addis before you came here? Some Americans from there were in a car accident on their way back from Petra. Do you know anyone on this list?“My name was on that list. You can read about my NDE in another thread. Bob sent the ambulance which brought me from the government aid station, in the middle of nowhere, to a private hospital, in Amman, the next day. He cabled my parents that I was seriously injured; that they needed to come at once. For the next two days, until my father arrived, every time I opened my eyes either Bob or Carol was sitting next to my bed.Probably just coincidence.Near-Death Experiences: What is it like to have a near-death experience?
Enzo Ferrari, founder of Ferrari (on the left), died in 1988. Mesut Özil, footballer (on the right), was born in 1988.
In high school in the early 70’s I had a crush on a guy named Michael McCabe. A magazine article suggested casting a love spell, burning pink candles, chanting, etc… to gain your crush’s attention. So I cast this spell, planning to get his attention at the next school dance in 2 weeks.The night of the dance comes, and I’m sitting in the back of the gym on the bleachers listening to music, very disappointed because Michael McCabe wasn’t at the dance. While sitting there, another guy sat down next to me and said hello. I said hello back, and being the obsessed nerd I was, my idea of small talk was to say ““Do you know Michael McCabe?” He smiled and nodded. Then he scooted closer and said ““What?” The music was really loud, so I repeated my question. ““Do you know Michael McCabe?” He frowned at me, then pulled out his wallet and showed me his drivers license. He was new at this high school and his name was Michael McCabe. We ended up hanging out together the rest of the evening and had a good time, so my spell actually worked, just not how I’d planned.That was 1973 and I haven’t met another Michael McCabe since.
I was an officer in the Army going to flight school for helicopter pilots in Texas. This was during the buildup in Vietnam so there were many potential pilots and few places to live. I fortunately had rented a house and was living alone. One day I met another flight student who was living in a converted gas station and having a constant cold because it was wet and dank, (which is not good when you fly). I told him to pack up and come live with me which he did. We became fast friends and even had a dog which we named Bud, after the beer we liked to drink. We ended up with a fairly large circle of friends who also were potential helicopter pilots. The primary flight course was completed and while about ninety percent of the class was sent to Alabama to complete the advanced rotary wing course, he and I and our friends were selected to go to Georgia.In Georgia, we lived on the Atlantic Ocean in an old resort, completed flight school, partied, met each others girl friends and gave the dog to a painter from Maine.You see, everyone who completed flight school was automatically sent to Vietnam. We knew that and accepted it. He was sent to Vietnam 30 days before I was, and when you were given orders you receive only an APO number (Army Post Office, much like a zip code). Now there were several thousand helicopter pilots in Vietnam stationed from the DMZ to the Mekong Delta and who knew where you would end up. I flew to Vietnam, was assigned to a division, was assigned to a battalion, was further assigned to an assault helicopter company stationed in a small rubber plantation. The company assigned me to a hooch and eventually to a two man room in the hooch. I grabbed the empty bed and in walked my old roommate. What a lucky coincidence.Three months later he flew out on a mission and never returned. It seems that he was involved in a mid air collision and he and seven others were killed. The military investigates all mid air collisions and writes a report. I ended up writing friends and family about his death, but the military would not give me the results of their investigation since I was not family, so I couldn’t tell them much.Approximately six months later I was tasked to investigate another mid air collision (another great story) and was given an old file which if I followed, would show me how to do a complete and thorough investigation. Imagine my surprise when I opened the file and found it contained the details of the death of my roommate.
Oh, I could tell a hundred stories.For instance, I am hitchhiking from Riga to Moscow. At some point, I stop a car and the driver agrees to take me. We start to speak. In few minutes, we discover that we’ve both studied at the same faculty and we have lots of common friends.Or else…I am in the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem, Netherlands. I hear a couple speaking Russian. I address them in the same language and we start to talk. They live in Canada for 30 years, having emigrated from St. Petersburg. When I tell them I am from Moscow, they smile:Oh, we do know one person from Moscow. This “one person” is the professor Dmitriev, someone I know very well. A week later, in the huge French National Library in Paris, someone touches my shoulder. It is Dmitriev.Or else…There was a moment in my life that I was obsessed with two songs. Both in Russian. One was about Istanbul. Another one was about silkworms. It was then that a Turkish friend invited me to her wedding. I walked around Istanbul and remembered the song about Istanbul. And few days later, in another Turkish city, when visiting a school, they told me:Oh, we need to show you something special. Our pets. It were silkworms.Ok, ok, I stop. I have really many stories of that kind. Are these coincidences? I am not quite sure of that.
I was listening to an episode of “This American Life” about coincidences a few years ago while at work and was reminded of a strange scenario that happened around Christmas of 2000. As soon as the podcast was over, I relayed the memory to two of my coworkers: my mom talked my dad and my two brothers and I into going to one of her friend’s houses for Christmas dinner. I hated that kind of st but I agreed because it was going to make my mom happy.This was back in Chicago and her friend was/is apparently a relatively famous psychic. I didn’t ask too many questions because my parents have lots of crazy friends so I was like, whatever. At any rate, when we arrived I was the first to approach the front door. After knocking, I see this tall lanky bald dude with a santa hat walk up to the door through the window. He looks familiar and when he opens the door he yells, “Merry Christmas!” That’s normal. What’s not normal is that it’sBilly Corganfrom the“Smashing Pumpkins”. I look back at my brother and give him a look that says, “is the f***g for real?” and we all go inside.So we’re all hanging out drinking spiked eggnog and chowing down on this amazing roast beef that the psychic’s husband made with his secret Coca Cola marinade recipe (important for later), and at no point in the night did it come up that we were hanging with Billy Corgan. It was just my family (5 of us) the host family (Mom, dad, teenage daughter and son) and Bill Corgan. The Smashing Pumpkins may or may not have been broken up at that point but they were not so far removed from being one of the biggest bands on the planet, so this was kinda crazy.But this isnotthe coincidence.My coworkers noted the story was weird, but not a coincidence.This is where I think it gets crazy.After work I go to this part time job I used to have and I start telling a couple of other coworkers about both the podcast and my Billy Corgan story. One of the guys I told, Greg, is probably 15 years older than me and we rarely worked with one another since we were both part time.At any rate, when I get to the Billy Corgan part of the story, Greg was like, “Wait, are you talking about Sonia?”WTF. YES!The psychic was married to Greg’s brother — the guy with the kick-as Coca Cola beef marinade. When I told him about the recipe, he was like, “That’sMYrecipe!” I was floored.So to recap, the Christmas dinner happened over 15 years ago in Chicago. Now I live in Los Angeles. I happen to hear a podcast about coincidences and am reminded of a strange, but non-coincidence memory about Billy Corgan, his psychic friend, and her husband’s kick-as Coca Cola beef recipe. Then that same day I relay this story to a coworker who I rarely work with and it turns out that it’s his secret Coke beef recipe and it’s his brother’s house/family involved in the Christmas dinner.These things always seem more crazy to the people that they happen to, but I think this is a weird one nonetheless.
Well if you’ve ever heard about the fabled s*x clubs in New Jersey, I don’t know about now, but they sure did have them in the past. I had a guy I was dating drag me to 1. Thought it might be interesting. I wouldn’t go to another, But it definitely WAS interesting. People were very friendly. We got in as a group of newbies and a very nice young lady was showing us around the different rooms where different things happen. Large room for group dex, smaller rooms for couples, places for dancing etc.Then telling us rules, like places guys could only go with gneir ladies, and then there was a lovely buffet and drinks were included, and she was just trying to make us feel welcome.. and later another one or two people joined us to tag along at the very end for about 8 minutes or so. We got back to where we started and she asked if anyone had any questions, and all the sudden she got a strange look on her face and stared past the group and said “DAD?”Now THAT is a coincidence!!!!
Spring break.Our whole family is driving to Washington DC. Eventually, when we’re driving through Pennsylvania, we decide to stop at a rest stop.We pull up and walk in. We get in line to get food when I look up and say “hey, isn’t that K from our school?” My sister looks up and says “Yeah…” and waves to her. Seconds later, I glance at the door, and one of my friends walks in with his family, them having stopped on their way to Baltimore. We sat and ate lunch together.Then, while talking, I notice a girl from the grade above us that goes to our school at another table. Not short after, I see a girl from my world history class walk out of the bathroom.Finally, as we’re about to leave, a man comes up to my sister, who is wearing a sweatshirt with our town name on it and says, “Hey nice sweatshirt, I’m from there too.” And it’s not like we’re from some big city where hundreds of thousands of people live either.
20 years ago, I was an aspiring actor and opera singer, and I became interested in screenwriting. I wrote a spec script of The Simpsons, and in the early days of the internet, I posted on message boards to see if anyone might know how to go about getting such a thing noticed. Incredibly, someone did reach out to me - his name was Rich Miller. Rich is Dennis Miller’s brother, and at the time, he booked stand-up comedians. One of his clients was a guy named Johnny Hardwick, who had just started doing a show called King of the Hill (he played Dale, the paranoid, cuckolded neighbor). So, basically, the thought was that it’s a small world, The King of the Hill people know the Simpsons people, and Rich could get the script to Johnny, who could get it to The Simpsons. Made sense. I mailed a script to Rich and got back to other matters, which included shopping for a new telescope. I was about to spend the summer in Aspen, with beautiful dark skies and clear viewing, so I wanted to get a very high-quality one.Again, I took to my search on the internet, and after a while I found pretty much the exact scope I was looking for posted in a classified. I emailed back and forth with the owner, and we scheduled a phone call. Here’s basically how it went:“Hi, this is Erik, I’m calling about the telescope.”“Oh yeah, hey man, how’s it going?”“Good. Just wondering why you’re looking to sell it.”“Well, I love the thing, but I just haven’t had time to use it because I ended up getting really busy with this show I started doing.”“Oh yeah? Which show?”“King of the Hill.”OMG.“Wait…what’s your name?”“Johnny Hardwick.”JAW. DROP.“Do you know Rich Miller??”“Yeah, he used to book me in comedy clubs!”JAW. ON. FLOOR.After recovering from the shock, I flew to LA. My girlfriend at the time lived there, and she was going to be spending the summer in Aspen with me, so I was already planning to go there to pick her up. As an aside, I called Johnny at work, and his voice mail is still the best I’ve ever heard. It was Mike Judge, as Beavis and Butthead, saying:Butthead: Uh….Johnny HARDwick isn’t here right now, so, like, leave a message or somethin’.Beavis: Meh heh heh! Hard. Boingggggg!!!BeepWe met Johnny, I picked up the scope, dropped off the script, and flew off to Aspen. What are the odds of all this? Gotta be astronomical.PS The script was never produced, but I still ended up with a good story.
This happened a long time back so some of the details may be hazy.In 2007 I got a not so good rank in IITJEE. Now before the counseling process(where you are allocated a college and a branch based on your rank) you have to get a demand draft of a certain amount made. I was returning from the bank with the IIT invitation letter envelope in my hand.I was traveling on the front seat of an auto rickshaw.On seeing the envelope the driver, a middle aged man asked me about my rank (6280), and proceeded to tell me that his son had also got selected with a 5600ish rank. I smiled cynically thinking he was just making things up.Later I remember telling my mother of the incident and remarking how everyone claims to know someone who clears IIT.Fast forward 2–3 months I didn’t get any seat in IIT counseling and got into NIT Surat with a AIEEE(another engineering exam). There I met a boy(who later became and is a good friend) who was from Patna, and whose father worked as a auto rickshaw driver in the area of Patna from which I belong and who had got a 5600ish rank in IITJEE without any coaching and sufficient books or guidance.I later came to know that his father was a physics graduate but had failed to secure a job owing to the job crunch in the state.I felt petty that day but I learnt something that day. I can’t say that I haven’t judged people since then. But it is a good reminder whenever I do so.
A few months ago, I went to Chicago to see my wildly-talented singer/songwriter nephew [shameless plug:Luke Metzlerplay in a small music club as he passed through from Rochester, NY on his way to L.A. After his sound check we went out for a bite to eat and then back to the club where I ran into my neighbor from back home. “What are you doing here?” I asked. She replied that she was there to seehernephew play. That’s right… her nephew, from Austin, TX, was playing on the same bill as my nephew from NY. Same city… same club… same night… same little stage. Either the world of traveling minstrels is much smaller than I thought or there are strange forces at work in the universe that I don’t understand.
I was in a bar with a group of friends on Mykonos in Greece one summer back in the day. Mykonos being what it is, the group were from all over the place. One of the women, an Australian, was leaving the next day, we’d spent a lot of that summer together (great times!). So we were all exchanging home contact details. She gave her phone number in Sydney, my other friend gave hers in London. They were identical except for the international code (of course). Thing is, these two women, although born some 25 years or so apart, were both born on the same date in September. Haven’t seen either of them in years but they were both fabulous.
ILOVEtheFrench film,Amélie (2001). Would have seen it over 5 times forYann Tiersen’s soulful music andAudrey Tautou’s indelible performance as the quirky protagonist. Needless to say, I am a fangirl. Now comes the coincidence (s) part:1.Ms. Tautou and I share our birthday.Before you think I am being flippant, I know, that’shardly a coincidence. The websiteOMG Facts takes it one step furtherand claims that each person shares his or herbirthday with approximately 18 million people worldwide.By that logic alone, at least one celebrity should be there for each of the 365 days that comprise a year (not counting February 29) given how sweeping the term ‘celebrity’ is. So what if this not a coincidence, at least appreciate me for knowing my onions, when it comes to trivia and pop culture ;). Moving on to the next.2.Ms. Tautou has donated both her time and money to charities.I work full time for nonprofits and do have my pet charities. Again no biggie, you will say since most celebrities do charity for - PR, feel good factor or genuine goodness of heart. But wait till you see the last one.3.Ms. Tautou’s father is a dental surgeon and her mother a teacher.My parents have the exact same jobs. I was like,get out!Source: Wikipedia page ofAudrey Tautou.
Modal closeAdd Your Answer!Not your original work?Add sourcePublish
Modal close
Add Your Answer!Not your original work?Add sourcePublish
Not your original work?Add sourcePublish
Not your original work?Add source
Modal closeModal closeOoops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.UploadUploadError occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermarkInstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermarkFacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermarkChangeSourceTitleUpdateAdd Image
Modal closeOoops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.UploadUploadError occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermarkInstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermarkFacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermarkChangeSourceTitleUpdateAdd Image
Ooops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.
Upload
UploadError occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermarkInstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermarkFacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermark
Error occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.
TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermark
InstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermark
FacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermark
ChangeSourceTitle
You May LikeHow To Ruin Your Entire Life: 35 Scary And Sobering Stories Shared By People OnlineIlona Baliūnaitė‘Strange Earth’: 50 Happenings That Are Borderline UnbelievableViktorija Ošikaitė“Now Unrecognizable”: 30 People Share What Happened To The Prettiest Girl From Their HSMantas Kačerauskas
Ilona Baliūnaitė
Viktorija Ošikaitė
Mantas Kačerauskas
Curiosities
