Its a small world, part 2
By ElicBxn
@ElicBxn (63235)
United States
January 25, 2010 9:56pm CST
I was in the vets the other day and got to talking with a lady about cat rescues - mine and hers.
After talking, she introduced herself.
'!' I thought.
"Do you know..." and I named a name.
She kind of looked sideways at me and carefully said, "I know A..."
I said. "I think we caroled at your place once."
She was now looking full on at me. "I think I may have gone caroling with you a few times."
Now, you have to understand, when I'm in a group of people, I'm pretty forgettable, or can be anyway. Especially when so many of the group were as memorable as Maggiepie and the monks.
I reminded her that I had been with Maggie and it came to her.
I then said that I had probably one gone once with her, because the following couple of Christmases I had been sick, and unless you want a frog singing, I wouldn't be appreciated - and besides, I didn't need to 1) be out in the cold air and 2) going to retirement homes.
We talked some more and then she collected her cat and I got called in so Frankie could get his shot before going to his new home.
So, as I've said before, Austin may be a big city, but in some ways its still a small town for me.
And last week at Walmart, I ran into a lady who used to do samples at the pet store the lady running the adoptions worked out of.
So, I know some of you live in small towns, but Austin isn't unless you've lived in it for almost 55 years like I have. But do you run into people at unlikely places like I have?
5 people like this
16 responses
@writersedge (22563)
• United States
26 Jan 10
I went camping in Chazy NY with many teenagers my age. One day, my Dad said, "Let's go to Albany,NY." We did, at a Mall in Albany, I saw one of the teenagers, the only one I would have liked to have seen again. I had been thinking of her a lot and I had wanted to tell her, that she was the only real friend I had when we went camping. I got a chance to tell her. That was really cool.
I'm like Maggie. Everyone remembers me. Hard to forget someone who rocks all the time. I've subbed if 5 large school districts (they combined all the small town schools and made one large district after another in my area, so now they cover many, many miles) and all the kids and teachers seem to know me, but I don't remember very many of them.
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
26 Jan 10
I do live in a small town but can go years & not see someone. I have always thought that strange. Of course i'm not out & about like i use to be either but even when i worked i saw the same people on a regular basis. I never forget a face but names go in one ear & out the other. Use to i very seldom went anywhere w/out seeing someone i knew but it's not like that anymore & i miss that.
@ElicBxn (63235)
• United States
26 Jan 10
I hear ya about that out and about thing. I generally am only at the store, my job, my mom's and the vet. I haven't even been to the doctor's office since my flu shot in Sept!
I am always surprised when I run into someone I know, and somehow it seems that after I run into them once, I will run into them again soon - like we ran into the roomie's friend and her mom at a book store and then later that week I ran into the mom and dad at the Walmart!
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
26 Jan 10
I live in a small town, but I have been as far as an hour away, in a larger city, at an event, and met people I know from here. I have only been here thirty three years. I am more astounded that I have run into people on MyLot and Gather that have lived in this small town. I even know some of their relatives.
2 people like this
@stephcjh (38473)
• United States
26 Jan 10
Yes. I used to clean houses and this one lady that I used to clean for used to work at a bank. I recently took our pup to the vet and the lady who waited on us looked very familiar. I soon figured out that she was one of the ladies I used to clean for. Small world.
2 people like this
@ShepherdSpy (8544)
• Omagh, Northern Ireland
26 Jan 10
It hasn't happened very often to me,but one of the memorable occasions I remember was when I was in Germany on a Language course years back,and I was in a Bar one night with some of my group,and I recognised a girl who was in there as being a former workmate! She had been travelling in Germany,and was completely coincidentally there visiting..
2 people like this
@Loverbear (4918)
• United States
26 Jan 10
I live in a small town, and a LOT of people remember me, but I'm one of those people who have a memory that flushes like a toilet!!! LOL. I did a show in a near by town and this guy dressed up as a clown kept coming by my booth saying "I know you, do you remember me?" Yeah right, like I'm going to remember someone dressed up in a clown outfit with full clown make up! I have days that I check my drivers license to find out who I am! LOL!!!!
I admire that you go caroling! My claim to fame is that if I were to try to sing I would sound like someone rounded up about 2 dozen tom cats and threw them in with a female in heat. 
I can't carry a tune in a bucket!
I'd be thrilled if I just sounded like a frog croaking. Oh well, a person can't have everything.
I can't carry a tune in a bucket! I'd be thrilled if I just sounded like a frog croaking. Oh well, a person can't have everything.2 people like this
@ElicBxn (63235)
• United States
26 Jan 10
I almost never run into people I worked with, once my supervisor (not the one I quit over) and another time a co-worker at a book store - now I was leaving the hospital after surgery in 1998 and ran into my former supervisor coming in - weird. (she was visiting someone not going in to have work done.)
@BarBaraPrz (45487)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
26 Jan 10
I have problems recognising people out of context, but you've reminded me of an incident that happened when I first moved back to Ontario... I went to the Emerg with a very sore wrist (I had punched the headboard while dreaming) and wanted to make sure I hadn't broken anything. I stepped up to the intake window and before even saying anything, the triage nurse blurted out my name in pleasant surprise. It threw me for a loop. I quickly looked at her name tag and realised she was a younger sister of two girls I went to school with and hadn't seen in more than 20 years!
1 person likes this
@scarlet_woman (23465)
• United States
28 Jan 10
i've actually run into people i know several states away,which is kind of weird.
but we travel in the same circles,so i guess it's not so unusual.
it's a nice surprise.
@Maggiepie (7816)
• United States
27 Jan 10
Oh, I just remembered a couple of them.
One day at work at UT, I was manning the phone & got a call from a woman I disliked intently, & hadn't seen for some time. She was that snippy little woman that worked with that "periodical," Trajectories. Her voice was oddly pitched, & unforgettable. I didn't let her know I'd recognized her, as I didn't want her in my life again! (Dodged that bullet! Whew!)
Then there was the time I was at the local political convention & ran into that boooorrriiinnng, red-headed woman ("Marilyn?"), the one from the itty book club when we first met? You know her; the one who ended everything with that contrary whine, "Well, the trouble with that is..." & off she'd go, complaining why your idea couldn't possibly work. 
Unfortunately, she recognized me...& of course she wanted to sit next to me the entire convention. I finally managed to lose her, but it was hours....
So it's not always fun to see (or hear) old acquaintances again!
Maggiepie
YOUR VOTE: USE IT OR LOSE IT!
Unfortunately, she recognized me...& of course she wanted to sit next to me the entire convention. I finally managed to lose her, but it was hours....
So it's not always fun to see (or hear) old acquaintances again!
Maggiepie
YOUR VOTE: USE IT OR LOSE IT!1 person likes this
@Maggiepie (7816)
• United States
28 Jan 10
I might not have stated it quite as bluntly (that's one of your talents), but I'd have found some excuse to opt out of joining, had I learned she'd be coming. On the other hand, I'm glad you did say it. Someone needed to, & it's reassuring to find out it wasn't just we two who disliked her attitude! They laughed, huh? That's just too funny.
Kind of pitiful for her, though. Someday, someone brave must tell her why people avoid her. I'm not that brave, & I wonder, even then, if she'd not just reply, "Well, sure, I lose touch with friends sometimes, but I don't think it's anything I'm doing. You see, the trouble with that idea is..."
And I'd have to kill her...
Maggiepie
YOUR VOTE: USE IT OR LOSE IT!
Kind of pitiful for her, though. Someday, someone brave must tell her why people avoid her. I'm not that brave, & I wonder, even then, if she'd not just reply, "Well, sure, I lose touch with friends sometimes, but I don't think it's anything I'm doing. You see, the trouble with that idea is..."
And I'd have to kill her...
Maggiepie
YOUR VOTE: USE IT OR LOSE IT!1 person likes this
@Maggiepie (7816)
• United States
27 Jan 10
What makes you think she'd recall me & not you?? 
I certainly noticed you the first time we met. Just because we didn't get to talk much the first few times our book club got together means zilch! At the first opportunity to just sit & talk, do you remember how it was? As if we'd known one another all our lives? Well, the first time I saw--no! Before I even saw you--I felt your presence behind me. I had to turn around to understand the vibe I was getting! I'm quite sure that had we met in some other event or surroundings, the same thing would have happened.
Some folks are just fated to be involved in one another's lives! 
Maggiepie
"(Global warming is) the worst scientific scandal in history...When people come to know what the truth is, they will feel deceived by science & scientists." -- UN IPCC Japanese scientist Dr. Kiminori, award-winning PhD environmental physical chemist
I certainly noticed you the first time we met. Just because we didn't get to talk much the first few times our book club got together means zilch! At the first opportunity to just sit & talk, do you remember how it was? As if we'd known one another all our lives? Well, the first time I saw--no! Before I even saw you--I felt your presence behind me. I had to turn around to understand the vibe I was getting! I'm quite sure that had we met in some other event or surroundings, the same thing would have happened.
Some folks are just fated to be involved in one another's lives!
Maggiepie
"(Global warming is) the worst scientific scandal in history...When people come to know what the truth is, they will feel deceived by science & scientists." -- UN IPCC Japanese scientist Dr. Kiminori, award-winning PhD environmental physical chemist1 person likes this
@Maggiepie (7816)
• United States
27 Jan 10
Capes--especially black ones--are a dime a cliche at scifi cons; you know that. Besides, I didn't see you until I felt you, which is why I turned around. I felt you watching me. As a fellow telepath, you know how that works! 
Face it, Metomot, you're not as unforgettable as you imagine!
Maggiepie
YOUR VOTE: USE IT OR LOSE IT!
Face it, Metomot, you're not as unforgettable as you imagine!
Maggiepie
YOUR VOTE: USE IT OR LOSE IT!1 person likes this
@cerebellum (3863)
• United States
26 Jan 10
It seems I always run into people I know when I look my worst! If I don't wear make-up or just wear old clothes I know I am going to see someone. I don't go out too much. I am pretty forgetable also. I have a friend that seems to know everyone. Everywhere we go she knows someone. She is very friendly and talks a lot and I am kind of shy and don't talk as much. She is on a first name basis with just about everyone. She has had a lot of health problems lately, and she'll say she called so-and-so and I am not sure who she means. It turns out it's a nurse or someone she just met briefly.
@cerebellum (3863)
• United States
27 Jan 10
I would probably like it if no-one recognized me. If I see someone I know I try to avoid them or pretend I didn't see them.
1 person likes this
@faimei (127)
• Philippines
27 Jan 10
It happened to me just November of last year. I attended a party and I saw a familiar face. So I was looking at her face to remind me of something and all I can remember is her face. It really looks so familiar. On the other hand, she was also thinking the same way. It broke off when my friend suddenly introduced me and said I was a graduate of a certain school. And she told me that she remembered me. LOL. How could I forget her, she was always the person in charge in the xerox machine at our school. I was always there because I was tasked to photocopy all our notes. Gee, silly me. HAHAHA.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63235)
• United States
27 Jan 10
That's funny, but I sure can understand knowing the face but not knowing her - because she wasn't standing next to a copy machine!
Honestly, I wouldn't have recognized people I knew from school, but one of my sister's friend's MOM thought I was HER! (actually not uncommon since we look a lot alike and it has been YEARS)
Heck, I had my second grade teacher recognize me as someone she TAUGHT when I was in COLLEGE and I had changed schools after 4th grade!!!
Honestly, I wouldn't have recognized people I knew from school, but one of my sister's friend's MOM thought I was HER! (actually not uncommon since we look a lot alike and it has been YEARS)
Heck, I had my second grade teacher recognize me as someone she TAUGHT when I was in COLLEGE and I had changed schools after 4th grade!!!
@Maggiepie (7816)
• United States
27 Jan 10
Not exactly...but when I was hitch-hiking around the country, on occasion I'd run into someone who used to live in Austin, or who used to live near itty burgs, such as Beeville & Tyler, Texas, or once, even Noble, Louisiana, which as you know, is barely a speed-bump on highway 171! (I met that guy in a wax museum in Hollyweird, of all places!)
The world can be a very strange place. Sometime or other you must tell everyone about my new supervisor, Mary B., your old pal, to whom I tried to introduce you!
Oy. Shove over; it's getting crowded in here...
Maggiepie
"(Global warming is) the worst scientific scandal in history...When people come to know what the truth is, they will feel deceived by science & scientists." -- UN IPCC Japanese scientist Dr. Kiminori, award-winning PhD environmental physical chemist
Oy. Shove over; it's getting crowded in here...
Maggiepie
"(Global warming is) the worst scientific scandal in history...When people come to know what the truth is, they will feel deceived by science & scientists." -- UN IPCC Japanese scientist Dr. Kiminori, award-winning PhD environmental physical chemist1 person likes this
