This one is a little complicated, but it is pretty amazing. About 8 years ago I worked in an espresso bar on 87th and Lexington in NY. One of my coworkers there was a guy named Brian who had recently graduated from Ohio State - he also worked for Conan O’Brien and Saturday Night Live doing cue cards. More than two years later I ended up bartending in a restaurant down at the South Street Seaport. One of the other bartenders there was Chris, who graduated from Syracuse - he was the head cue card person on SNL - not only Brian’s supervisor, but also close friend. Five years later, long after I had lost touch with both of them, I heard Chris call in on a radio show that I happened to be listening to; my interest was piqued and I ‘googled’ his name and found out that he had moved out of the city to the burbs in NJ - to my hometown of Fair Lawn. I called the number and ended up speaking to his wife, but not Chris. About six or seven months later I went to a Sunday game at Yankee Stadium. Arriving a bit early, I ended up in Stan’s (one of the bars accross the street from the stadium). It was here that I bumped into Chris. We reminisced and I asked him about Brian. Chris informed me that Brian had moved out to Los Angeles. Well, in January of this year I decided to move out to L.A. Before I began my drive, I ‘googled’ Brian and came up with an e-mail. I used it, but received no reply. When I reached the coast, I again e-mailed Brian to no avail. My first job that I got was a catering gig that my friend Adrian arranged for with his friend Patrick, who is a party staffer. One night, Adrian suggested that we pay Patrick a visit. Along I went, and we were having beers and conversing in his apartment when a knock came at the door. It was Patrick’s next door neighbor - Brian! All I could think of was Rick’s line in ‘Casablanca’ - “Of all the gin joints in all the world…”. I can’t even comprehend the likelihood of that happening (in a city of millions these people live right next to each other). Last week, Syracuse (Chris’ alma mater) won the national championship in basketball. Earlier this year, Ohio State (Brian’s alma mater) won the national championship in football.
On my drive out I stopped at Graceland and picked up a keychain that has one of Elvis’ favorite sayings on it - Takin’ Care of Business, and its got a lightning bolt and the initials TCB on it. That job that I got with Patrick - the name of the catering company - TCB catering (standing for the same thing).
Oh, the apartment building that I moved into is right next door to a company that is named Gemini - and they have a fifteen foot high Gemini symbol on the corner (I’m a gemini). That one might be a stretch, but I have never in my life seen any zodiac symbol used as a marker for a business; the fact that it’s next door to where I moved into is what freaks me out.
Even more fun: just north of Denver is a town called Erie, and one of the phone exchanges for the area is “666”. It would be better if it was spelled Eerie, but you can’t have everything. I was trying to get a hold of someone who lives there, and the friend telling me their phone number had to go “Yes really” at least four times 
During freshman orientation at college, I ran into the girl who had the locker next to mine junior year in high school. Being Air Force brats, we had both moved since then, she ended up graduating HS in Alaska, me in Colorado Springs (so its not like we both ended up at the same state university).
And as a happy coincidence, the first movie I’ve been looking forward to this year (X-men 2) is opening on my birthday.
This one has stuck with me for so long and I think about it so often that I’ve almost given it it’s own thread on several occasions.
When I was a freshman in high school one of my brother’s friends named Kenny came to live with us. For the purpose of this thread we’ll say his last name was Smith because the story involves all three of his names and I would feel weird posting someone else’s full name here. I don’t know why, I guess it was just one of those goofy things you do when you’re young (and possibly stoned, I don’t remember), but I looked at him one day and called him Kenneth Blaine Smith.
Now his real middle name was Michael. I have no idea where I came up with Blaine but everyone laughed and it stuck. We pretty much called him Kenneth Blaine for the next 6 months or so and then one day the biggest coincidence I’ve ever seen or even heard of in my life happened.
He got his medication and right there, printed on the perscription bottle, TOTALLY by mistake: Kenneth Blaine Smith.
Have to post again because I just had another coincidence happen. I met a woman recently named Anna. Last night we were playing monopoly out at my friend’s apartment, and it struck me that she really reminded me of a former girlfriend (Laura) who I miss dearly. So, today, I looked up Laura’s number (I haven’t seen or spoken to her in almost two years) and left a message on her answering machine. Laura lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Today she was shopping in her neighborhood and she ran into my friends Mark and Becky (who Laura met only once, at their wedding eight years ago). They told her that I moved out to Cali, and they gave her my e-mail address, which she was about to use when she heard my message.
Have to post again because I just had another coincidence happen. I met a woman recently named Anna. Last night we were playing monopoly out at my friend’s apartment, and it struck me that she really reminded me of a former girlfriend (Laura) who I miss dearly. So, today, I looked up Laura’s number (I haven’t seen or spoken to her in almost two years) and left a message on her answering machine. Laura lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Today she was shopping in her neighborhood and she ran into my friends Mark and Becky, who live in Inwood in upper Manhattan (who Laura met only once, at their wedding eight years ago). They told her that I moved out to Cali, and they gave her my e-mail address, which she was about to use when she heard my message.
:smack: