I grew up in a house two blocks away from a grocery store, and a mile away from the first school I attended, where my mother later worked. It was typical to go to the grocery store and run into someone my mother knew, if not someone I knew. All this despite living in a city with a population larger than that of Wisconsin. So, while it fascinates me that the last three times I have attended the Maryland Renaissance Festival that I ran into a co-worker, two teens from a church committee, and another advisor from the youth group (in addition to the normal wenches, privateers, and such that I expect to find there) - it doesn't completely surprise me. Which doesn't mean I don't make particular note of such things. But it did remind me of two scenarios where it was a little unusual.
I was in Salzburg staying in a hostel (which I wish I could remember the name of because it rocked, it was on a cliff overlooking the city). Since people in hostels are living communally, we were all doing the where are you from bit. It was June so there were a lot of college kids or recent grads backpacking about. One woman said -that her friend's girlfriend is/was from there. So she got her friend who tells me yes his girlfriend is from DC but she went to high school in some snooty girls school in Maryland. Hey - I resemble that remark. Turns out his girlfriend was a grade behind me, and yes I knew just who she was.
The aforementioned school had a uniform. Since it saved me a lot of fashion worry (at least for most of the days of the week), I kind of liked it. Yes, we had a plaid skirt we had to wear. But it was the Gordon tartan - aka generic plaid - so it was fine. Well, it my first week of college, and this guy (who I had previously run into at other events) is wearing a plaid shirt. So I tell him that I like his shirt and that I went to a school that had that same plaid. (Yes, I'm an oversharer.) He nods politely. Several minutes later he turns to me and tells me that he took guitar classes at my school. This is particularly strange since He was from New Jersey (turned out he moved a few times).
Rants About New (and old) Things
