|
small world. [interconnectivity of everything]
StoreTags: weird links, coincidences
Author: Zanf on January 15 2008 Viewed 2288 times. 26 people liked this blog. You can rate it below if you haven't already.
People who enjoyed reading this: daswesen, mulletballet, Hikikomori, delete, thehydrax, Moriarty, tmns, bla, Avarice, adcBicycle, Roshi, bb01, frnortnr, jogn, hecanjog, yghartsyrt, KidQuaalude, ignatius, reehc, Unknownforce, mixedtape, monty, mrmistermr, bodo, soft, owl
-->
You may remember that I work for one of the largest global IT companies and at the end of 2006 and the start of 2007, I worked around the country, rolling out new XP machines for the client [one of the biggest global insurance companies] I provide support to.
For the last 7 months or so, I have worked in the London office, providing dedicated support to one specific division of our client.
My team [5 of us] sit with all the other IT guys [app dev and support, networks, server infrastructure, phones, etc etc] and some of the project managers who roll out various projects. One guy, Sati, is managing this high end scanner project that is being rolled out to 4 sites, with the [6] scanners costing about £12.5k each.
I hadnt really spoken to him beyond saying hello or giving a nod whenever I saw him until I was told that I would be supporting these scanners when the project went live and was formally introduced. In some of the conversations that followed, we talked about where we live, etc and it transpired that he still lives in the area we both grew up in. We soon learnt that we went to the same school [but he is 8 years older than me] and had a laugh recollecting some of the teachers who taught us both.
Today, my manager, Neil and the team coordinator, Helen, came to London to have a meeting with the team and catch up type stuff as they are based in Swindon, about 90 mins from London and dont get the chance to come up that often.
A little while ago, there was an issue with one of the scanners not being delivered [when it was it was to the wrong site and damaged] that was part of Sati's project that involved a lot of service managers making noises, etc, including Helen. So when Helen and I went to get a cup of tea, I pointed Sati out and mentioned that we went to the same school. Helen asked where and was surprised as it was the same general area she had grown up. I know she lives in Cheltenham so thought she had grown up there.
After talking about it for about 5 mins and laughing how small a world it really is [doing the reminiscing about landmarks etc], I asked where she went to school and the one she named is where my oldest sister went to. She asked her name and stopped in her tracks when I told her. It turns out that her older sister used to go to school with mine and they all used to hang out together.
I rang my sister a little later, asking if she remembered the name and she couldnt believe that I had worked with her old friend Clare's little sister for over a year.
When we told the scanner guy about this, Helen and him chatted and they realised that they lived about 200 yards from each other, are about the same age and shared a few mutual friends.
It has been a very strange day today.
Strange because of the bizarre connections that have revealed themselves but sort of reassuring because we are all interconnected in some way, we just have to dig, share and reveal ourselves to each other to find out just how much.
What bizarre and joyous interconnections have you discovered with seemingly complete strangers?
A further addendum:
There is a new woman working in one of the departments that I provide support to, who used to be on 'The Bill' [long running kitchen sink drama cop show in the UK]. It turns out that she played a lesbian who died but in real life dated the guy that was on there, who is now in eastenders. He happens to be the brother of a good friend of my flatmates.
That isnt quite as mindblowing as the main story but just a little tidbit of celebrity gossip really! ;) | |
Comments
01/16/08
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
filarion
you mean the scanner guys are from the Swindon branch? :p
funny coincidence, though I don't belive in your hippie-esque interconnectivity bullshit ;)
01/16/08
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
Zanf
lay off with the hippy shit or Ill stamp on your machine drum next time we meet and show you exactly how much my chakras are aligned. ;)
Sati, the scanner guy works in the London office. Helen lives in Swindon or Cheltenham.
01/16/08
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
filarion
my lame attempt at a The Office reference obviously didn't tickle your testicles. Can't blame you really.
And I broke off one of the dials on my Machinedrum last week, so you preemptively stomped on it!
01/16/08
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
thehydrax
This does remind me of a story a friend told me years ago: He travelled to the north of Scotland and was standing on a platform waiting for a train when he noticed two familiar looking girls nearby. It turned out it was 2 sisters that we went to school with back in Australia. Just when you think Australia is too small... but then you can wander around your own suburb's main street sometimes & never see any one you know
01/17/08
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
mrmistermr
that reminds me of another story like this - i went to australia when i was 20... i met a girl i had been at school with in an airport in brisbane!
01/17/08
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
thehydrax
I once went on a blind date with a girl who I thought was a complete stranger but it turned out we had met briefly several years before.
01/17/08
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
Zanf
filarion said: "my lame attempt at a The Office reference obviously didn't tickle your testicles. Can't blame you really."
The Office is based in SLOUGH not Swindon [rolls eyes]. This came up before on a previous blog that I happened to mention my job. Dont you people ever pay attention? Its me, isnt it? You just dont pay attention to me. Well F the lot of you then. ;)
filarion said: "And I broke off one of the dials on my Machinedrum last week, so you preemptively stomped on it!"
Ive always worried about how fragile those things are - when I saw one at turnkey, it was so dinky and looked very plasticy. Too plasticy for £1k
01/17/08
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
dach
they are also smooth, which makes them slippy when you are sweaty at a live gig. and slippy knobs are not good. uh...
01/17/08
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
filarion
Man, the guys from the Office are based in Slough, but aren't they afraid of their competing branch in Swindon in some of the first episodes? well fuck this, I'm not reading _every_ blog you post in. I feel bad enough for stalking people in real life.
the knobs are about the only thing that seems fragile to me - and luckily the repair is gonna be cheap (I fortunately didn't break the thing off the circuit board :P) -- and damn yes, they would be so much nicer if they had some grip to them.
01/17/08
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
soft
Stuff like this always happens to me .... ALWAYS!! ... Too many times to even remember.
The internet is also a great way to see the ways in which people are connected.
For instance .... this band i kinda know from manchester (split up now) .... we used to chat about remixes and that when we were drunk and they were good mates with a couple of good friends of mine .... it turns out one of the guys in the band (Danny Saul - a solo singer songwriter now) is mates with (and i think has collaborated) with Greg Haines who randomly turned up with the boltfish lot at STFU Weimar. I didnt know this till about a year after Weimar when i saw Danny at the hippocamp HCgreen night in manchester .... he was there to watch one of the hippocamp members 'anexium'.
I mean this kinda thing happens to nearly everyone i ever meet!!! They always know someone i know or we are connected in some roundabout way.
There is also a long tale (i told already on here once, but can't seem to find it) about me and paul (radio909) jamming with a band in manchester and a guy that was randomly there was in another band with my ex-g/f's new b/f ... but i dont feel much like telling that one.
Very very interesting stuff.
I reckon everyone in the whole of greater manchester could be connected by an average of 3.5 degrees of separation.
I recently read ' Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means for Business, Science, and Everyday Life' ... which was pretty damn interesting but kinda 'slow' in places.
I liked 'Emergence' a lot more ... thx zanf for that recommendation 
01/17/08
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
owl
Haha, such a small world. I have a few ones, it's quite scary and coincidental as they both happened today, and nothing like them has happened for quite a few months. Firstly - I saw my crazy old science teacher filling up her car at a petrol station, looking like she was on some sort of unnatural high (she was always like that in lessons, I'm all for happiness- but you had to see this woman, it wasn't real - just an unsettling act, i've just remembered she serially dated the teachers too xD....) I hadn't seen her since july of last year.
Secondly - I remembered today that my closest friend from where I used to live and my closest friend from where I live now both have pictures in their kitchens of them as children sitting in those 3 big red chairs in Disneyland Paris . Last year I went there and sat in them, now all of our butts have touched the same chair in a theme park in france.
01/17/08
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
Zanf
With Disney, its always that THEY have touched your butts.
01/18/08
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
mrmistermr
butt have they always touched your disney?
Register / login
|
^
EM411 is Copyright 2001-2008 EM411.com
All rights reserved. | Contact | RSS
|
