Everything is a separate entity, yet at some point, everything comes together.
Alan’s comment about coincidences inspired me to post some of my own interesting coincidences:
–my first job in LA was working at a film production company at the Fox lot. When I was leaving and they were replacing me, we got like 30-50 resumes a day and it was my job to pull them from the fax. I was glancing at them one day and I saw the name of a girl, Sarita Choy, who went to college with me. We were two of the only 3 Asian girls in Michigan’s film program at the time (with the other one being my best friend, Rie). We had never really hung out in college, but we had some things in common, mainly, some connection with a certain TA with an Asian fetish. So I pulled her resume out of the stack and told my bosses that she was good, and called her up and had dinner with her. She was offered the job but declined and took a job at an agency; we became really good friends. Fast forward 3 years and she’s now an agent at that agency. She tells me one day that she has a really cute coworker (Jake) whom she found out also went to Michigan. She said that she kind of wanted to set him up and that he had hinted about needing a date for a screening, so she asked if I was interested. I ended up meeting up with him. We hung out a lot and one night, he was telling me that in college, he actually went by Chill (his Korean name). For some reason, something sounded very familiar but I wasn’t sure what it was. It bugged me for weeks, elusively flitting at the edge of my mind but I couldn’t quite grasp it. Then one night, it suddenly hit me. I had actually been introduced to Jake 6 years before, my freshman year in college. I remember that he had a red parka and I thought he was really cute, which made me nervous because back in college, I was extremely, extremely, disgustingly shy. So I asked him and it turns out that his good friend from high school was a friend of mine, and that he knew my freshman year roommate.
–after my ex and I broke up, the first people we were with had the exact same birthday, down to the year. Except I think mine is an angel and his is whatever. Whatever. :)
–on a dare, I asked out this guy with a pretty solid pick-up. Later, I found out that the chick my ex was dating knew this guy (in fact I think their bands have performed together). Since I’m really private and don’t want anything to do with him or her, even indirectly, I lost interest in this guy.
–when I was writing a Scrubs spec, I developed a huge crush on Zach Braff. One day, I woke up and said, I’m going to let my psychic antennae guide me to Zach Braff. And thus, conducted the Looking For Zach Braff Project, where I just drove around aimlessly, stopped at random places, etc., trying to bump into him. The day ended and I was unsuccessful, though it had been an interesting day. That night, I went on a date with Eyton, the media mogul. We went to see a comedy show starring a guy I had had a crush on a few months back. We went to coffee after the show and the only seats available were these two chairs facing each other. The only other seats in in that area were these other two chairs and they were occupied by a couple obviously on a first date (I overheard bits of their conversation and the tone was somewhat awkward). But I wasn’t paying attention to them because Eyton is really attractive. So he’s asking me what I write and I tell him that I just finished a Scrubs spec. I was talking about the show and about what I liked and I was about to say that the only thing I didn’t like was that I thought the character of The Todd was stupid and the actor was really annoying, but I got distracted and went off on some other tangent. Later, when the cafe closed, we got up as did the other couple. I noticed the guy looking at me so I looked over. It was The Todd. And he kind of grinned at me like, “Thanks for complimenting my show in front of my date.” And I was SOOOO glad that I hadn’t said my take on The Todd. So I went out searching for Zach Braff. And I ended up finding The Todd.
–During the summer that I was at USC’s film program, I never saw a single celebrity until one day, I saw Mario Lopez (AC from Saved By the Bell). So he was my lone celebrity sighting. A year later, after moving to LA, I hadn’t seen another one, which is remarkable since I worked on the Fox lot. One day, someone’s friend who was visiting from out of town gushed at how many stars she’d seen in her short time in LA. I said that I was jealous since I lived here and the only person I’d ever seen was Mario Lopez. A day later, I walk into California Chicken Cafe and in walks…Mario Lopez. So he was the only star I had seen…twice.
–Freshman year of college. I was in love with Brian G, the Arts Editor at the newspaper. I mean, all-encompassingly crushing. One day, I was looking out the window and saw him walking by. So I said hi from the window and he told me he lived in “that building,” pointing to the building across the street. Turns out, I could see his LIVING ROOM and KITCHEN from my window. Well, you can imagine…that was probably not a healthy revelation. I fought the frequent temptations pretty resiliently. And as aforementioned, when Brian graduated, he went to write for a newspaper in Maryland. I went on to have a small crush on a guy who looked like him. Turned out, this guy’s mom worked at the paper back home in Maryland with Brian.
–When I was casting my senior film in college, I chose this actress, Tina Kapousis (currently featured in Sprint’s Sorority commercial…”I love you, Seven!…”). So I told her that I would bring the script over to her house since she only lived two blocks down. When I got there, my friend Ed from freshman year answered the door. I was shocked but happy to see him. I was like, what a small world! I guess they were housemates. A few weeks later, I went by Tina’s house again to drop off a shooting draft of the script. This time, this guy Jack answered. I’m like, holy shit, you live here, too?!? Jack was one of my nemeses at the newspaper. He’s a sniveling little closet bitch who was secretly in love with Brian, our editor, who was also the love of MY life. It was weird how I knew all these people who lived in her house.
–a guy I used to date was a dealer at a casino. My family stays at his casino all the time so whenever we go, I usually end up seeing him. At this point, we’re civil but he says really bizarre things to me. Anyway, the last time I was there, he wasn’t there. So I was at a table and I asked the dealer, “Hey, does so-and-so still work here?” She kind of looks at me funny and says, “Why?” I say, “I’m a friend of his from out of town.” She says, “He took the day off because he got married today.” I was definitely surprised, since the the last time I saw him, he had just broken up with his fiance. I asked her who he married but at this point, she was tapped out by another female dealer. So she tells me to ask the other dealer. So I ask the other dealer what the deal was. She looks at me funny too and asks, “Are you Michelle?” I say, “No.” And she says, “Okay, because I’ve heard him talk about a Michelle.” And I know who Michelle is, it’s his ex ex ex; she came before me. So this conversation is too weird so I stop talking to her. Later, the first dealer taps back in. She asks me what I found out. I’m like, whatever. Then she tells me that the dealer who just left used to date this guy. I’m starting to get a little overwhelmed by this information. Then she says, that what happened was, those two were dating and then she went to a bar after work, and saw him making out with some chick from his home country. So she calls up her friend (the other dealer) who comes over and bitches him out and leaves. And that girl he was caught with was the one that he had married that day. WHOA. This whole thing was too overwhelming for me, that of all people, I would talk to these two specific people about h
im, and to find out that they were first-handedly involved in this drama with this guy that I knew.
–I used to always run into this guy I used date. It really sucked. But I remember one day, I got these t-shirts I had designed in the mail. They say, “Bad Ass Yellow Girl” on them. I was about to leave to do some work, but then I decided to go back and change into one of them. I was so happy and it made me feel all tough. And I remember thinking, as I left my apartment, “I bet of all days, I run into him today.” So I’m sitting at my Starbucks, and I’m writing in my freewrite journal about how great it would be to never see this guy again, when he comes walking up. Even though it was really funny, it really sucked, but I was so glad that I had changed into this shirt because it made me feel like a Bad Ass Yellow Girl, while meanwhile, he looked like shit. So he’s trying to small talk with me but then says, “Nice shirt.” Yeeeah. The universe let that one fall in my favor.
–My cousin, Albert and I are the same age. He grew up in Los Angeles and I grew up in the Bay Area. I don’t really see him a lot and we’re not really close. So when I applied for college, I was trying to decide between Michigan and Berkeley. I ended up committing to Michigan cuz it was nice, it was far away, I would be in the Honors college and the boys were definitely cuter. Months before college started, I found out that Albert had also committed to Michigan. It was so bizarre since we were both from CA and both committed to the same school without even knowing that the other had applied. There was only one other guy from my high school who went to Michigan. Minh. Near the end of my freshman year, I discovered that Minh and Albert were frat brothers. What a small freakin’ world. Tangentially, my senior year, I was casually dating a guy named Marvin. I say casually, because he would persistently ask me out, and I would go, even though I was too shy to date and being in a one-on-one situation with a guy was gruelingly painful. Marvin told me that he trained for martial arts during the summers in China, with a guy named Andre who also went to Michigan. When Albert and I graduated, we were all at a bar with his friends, and a frat brother of his comes up and asks, “Are you Julia?” I say, “Yeah.” He says, “Do you know Marvin?” I’m like, “Yeeah! Marvin’s a great guy!” He says, “I know. I’m Andre.”
–I saw Bo Outlaw, formally of the Phoenix Suns, at the gym one day. I walk into the basketball courts because I always shoot baskets at the gym and he and two of his teammates are shooting around, and they jokingly invite me to join them, cuz, you know, I’m a girl. So I join them and ask if they want to play horse, and since they don’t know that I hustle at this game, they agree. So I proceed to beat them all in a game of 4-way horse. It was the crowning achievement of my basketball career. A few months later, I’m at a Radiohead concert. As we’re leaving, first, I see this guy who asked me out randomly the week before (I was sitting at Starbucks and had seen him sitting across from me. We made eye contact and smiled. Then I saw him leave so I’m like, whatever. A few moments later, he’s standing next to my table, has my cell phone in his hand and says, “I’m programming my number into your phone so you can call me.”) . I’m tripping over what a small world it is. Then I turn around and see Tom Gugliotta, Bo Outlaw’s teammate and incidentally, my favorite player growing up. My screenname was Googs or something and I always tried to model my style of play after him when I used to play. So of course, I have to go talk to him, and I’m telling him that when he sees Bo, tell him Julia says hi. He started laughing when I told him that I had beat Bo at horse, saying, “That’s not hard.” Thanks, Tom.
–My first day of training for a soon-to-be-opening Mexican restaurant during my last semester of high school, I arrive to discover that out of the four employees, one of them is this guy that I went to elementary school with, and whom I had repeatedly tried to beat up in the 5th grade. This person was Aubrey Cox and even though we weren’t friends and never talked all through junior high and high school, we ended up getting to know each other because of work. Now he’s one of my closest friends.
–My first year in LA, I was severely depressed. In fact, there was a timespan when I rarely left my apartment and had too much anxiety to interact with people. One day, I asked for God’s help because I was desperate, and I begged him to send me something. Then I forced myself to leave my apartment. I went to California Chicken Cafe for lunch and to write. The only seat available was next to this elderly couple, and I was a little annoyed with them because they were saving a table next to them that was more accessible. Later, their son joined them. The couple was talking and I remember the way the husband looked at the wife, consistently, captivated, like she was the most amazing, interesting, beautiful thing he’d ever seen. I kept watching and I started to think about how amazing it was, the way he was looking at her, and about how I’d love to have someone look at me that way someday. Listening and watching that couple really cheered me up and gave me hope for the future. A few months later, I was in the market to buy a condo. I was looking in a low price range and the pickings were pretty slim. My dad came down one weekend and when he saw what was available in my price range, he decided to help me put more money in so that we could get something nicer with better investment value. We started checking out nicer places. On the last day, the sun was setting when we rolled up to the last property. I saw these two guys standing outside and went, “I know them!” They were the old man and his son from that day at California Chicken Cafe. I remembered how watching them had really brightened my day. So we ended up buying the place and that’s where I live now, which is an abode that makes me feel very safe and happy, something I’ve never really had. Also, in the process of getting this place, I found out that the wife, the woman the old man had been gazing at, had cancer. She ended up passing away. I struggled with this for a while, and finally decided to write them a very honest card where I told him about actually having recognized them from that day at the restaurant, and just how much impact they had had on my life. They were really touched by the story and we became close friends.
–I once signed up for an online dating site so I could browse (some of you know that when I’m really bored, I’ll browse the listings to see if there’s anyone I know). Some guy emailed me based on the scant information in my minimal profile. His letter was actually interesting so I wrote back. He was saying that he grew up in the bay area. I said I grew up in Fremont. He said that HE grew up in Fremont and went to MSJ. I wrote back and said I went to MSJ. Turns out, he’s this guy I went to high school with whom I always thought was really cute, and we had actually gone to elementary school together as well. Really nice guy.
–I was hitting on the guy who was teaching a psych class last summer. So I would meet with him to chat, and we’d talk about theories and authors. He’d recommended a book by Steven Hayes about Acceptance and Commitment Theory, even though he thought the guy was pretentious and hard to read. A few weeks later, I interviewed for a research assistant position. I have no psych background and wasn’t a student so it didn’t look good. But she was talking about psych and mentioned “Acceptance and Commitment dynamics” and I interrupted, “Steven Hayes?” She looked surprised and said, “You know who Steven Hayes is?” I said, “Yeah, he developed the Acceptance and Commitment Theory as an approach to Behavior Change.” She was really impressed and said, “Not many people know who he is. I’ve actually met him…blah blah blah” and I ended up getting the position. What she didn’t know, was that I know nothing of this theory, have never read anything he’s w
ritten, and the only reason I was able to make my one comment, was because I had looked him up on amazon.com the night before, and his book is called, “Acceptance and Commitment Therapy : An Experiential Approach to Behavior Change.” I got really lucky, getting the right information at the right time.
I’ll add some more of these stories later. But I just wanted to say that I think sometimes, when you really pay attention, life works out in funny ways and things really happen for a reason.