I was walking in Tokyo one day and met a random Japanese stranger. We chatted and she said she had a cousin that lived in the US. It turns out her cousin was a classmate of mine in high school. I was a little surprised because number one, what are the odds of that happening. Small world. And two, I never knew my classmate to be part Japanese because of her Spanish last name.
It makes me think how connected we are, many times unbeknownst to us. A few other random connections come to mind.
– A colleague once was telling me about his son’s upcoming wedding. It turns out I knew his future daughter-in-law from church when I was in elementary school.
– I have a good friend from my college days. We’ve been friends for decades. It turns out we are distantly related.
– I had a coworker that is connected to me through LinkedIn. I saw we had a mutual connection. I learned my good friend from high school was his college volleyball coach.
Although these are not as distant or random as the girl I met in Tokyo, they remind me of Six degrees of Kevin Bacon. Well, maybe for my own game, it’s more like the six thousand degrees of separation. But that’s OK. It’s still fun.
I’m stumped for a song today. I racked my brain for songs about strangers, looked at soundtracks for movies about chance encounters, Kevin Bacon movie soundtracks, searched for songs that included random in the title. I turned up empty. I kept coming back to The Smith’s album Strangeways Here We Come. That’s a stretch, especially since Strangeways is the name of a prison and has nothing to do with strangers meeting at all.
I think I’m landing on Echo and the Bunnymen’s cover of People are Strange. Not quite the match to my story, but it’s in closer proximity than a prison. At least there’s the mention of a stranger in the lyrics. Close enough, it will have to do.
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People are strange when you're a stranger
Faces look ugly when you're alone
Women seem wicked when you're unwanted
Streets are uneven when you're down
When you're strange
Faces come out of the rain
When you're strange
No one remembers your name
When you're strange
When you're strange
When you're strange
People are strange when you're a stranger
Faces look ugly when you're alone
Women seem wicked when you're unwanted
Streets are uneven when you're down
When you're strange
Faces come out of the rain
When you're strange
No one remembers your name
When you're strange
When you're strange
When you're strange
When you're strange
Faces come out of the rain
When you're strange
No one remembers your name
When you're strange
When you're strange
When you're strange
MyGenXerLife 
Love Echo and the Bunnymen!
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Me, too!
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Even their name rocks.
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It does, doesn’t it? I have no idea of the meaning behind it. Maybe something to look up. I think it’s way cool and when you think about it, a brave choice. Bunnymen is not the most masculine of names. But strangely when you pair it with Echo, it’s effing cool.
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It is, I know!
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Wow, that’s wild about the Tokyo stranger! Also, I didn’t know Strangeways is a prison. I think the huge popularity of genealogy research and “23 and Me” (DNA testing) proves your point. We are all connected. If only we’d act like it…
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I’ve been tempted to do the 23 and Me. It sounds interesting. There must be stories out there that uncovered surprises. I’m not sure if want a surprise! Still sounds fun. Did you try it?
Yes, we certainly don’t act like it. The news stories always provide a number of reminders…
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No, I’ve not tried it, but my husband and daughter have. (They like comparing exactly what percent Italian they are.) And I just got one for my mother for her birthday (she’s really into genealogy). I’ll probably do it eventually – before I go to Ireland, I’ll want to know how Irish I actually am.
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That sounds pretty fun. You definitely have to get it before your trip!
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That was an interesting random encounter. It’s strange what a small world we live in.
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When it happened, I thought it was pretty cool. I don’t know why it didn’t dawn on me how really random that meeting really was. It’s a little mind blowing now, decades later after the fact.
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Loving your taste in ear Candy… I appreciate your blog and lists
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Thanks so much!
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It’s very interesting to find connections like you’ve described and I find that’s one of the benefits the internet has provided through platforms like LinkedIn; whether the positive of that outweighs some of the darker aspects of the web is another discussion. In my city of 750,000 the joke is that everybody knows the same people, and it’s not often wrong!
Our son and family recently vacationed in southeast Asia. He sent us a photo with a stranger from the tour party who was wearing a Winnipeg t-shirt!
I didn’t mind this cover but to be honest it comes from a far-back position for me as I’ve never been a fan of The Doors. I’ve tried but they’re just not for me.
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I didn’t listen to too much of the Doors growing up. I do like the Echo song, though. I remember it playing on the radio a lot as a kid.
It wouldn’t surprise me if there were layers of connections, even in a big city like yours!
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I enjoy a number of Echo songs… it’s incredible how long they’ve been around, too.
Yes, those layers… it’s funny sometimes.
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