Not only is it a small world, but it's a self-intersecting one too.
The first time I realized this was 9^th grade at the local bus stop. Half way through the year a new kid shows up at our stop and in overhearing a conversation I learn he's from North Carolina, which I felt was very cool since that's where I was from (more or less—we moved to North Carolina when I was five, then moved here to Lower Sheol (and I had yet to forgive my Mom this transgression) when I was ten; I was hardly from North Carolina) and wanting to know more, I asked him where he moved from.
“Brevard [1],” he said.
I could not believe it—I too was from Brevard. Upon further discussion we realized we knew the same set of kids too! We hadn't met because his family moved there about a year after we moved away.
Small world.
Today was another realization of the self-intersecting nature of this world.
I met my friend Ken D. at FAU (Florida Atlatic University) [2] to buy a telescope from him. I had met him only last year through one of the gaming groups I attend. We were in the parking lot talking about the changes to the campus since I last attended (oh, perhaps a good six to seven years or so), pointing out the hideous designs of the new buildings and the renovations of existing buildings (the Biology building [3] had been completely gutted) when talk turned to Flemming Hall [4].
No, it had not been renovated yet, “and it still looks the same when I attended summer classes there in '86,” said Ken. “In 10^th grade, I took part of a summer program they offered here.”
I could not believe it—I too participated in that same program (only I was in 11^th grade). Turns out we took at least two classes together, or at least the same classes but possibly at different times. I don't remember him, and I don't think he remember me, but still, it's a wierd feeling when my past comes crashing into the present at such odd moments.
[3] http://www.fau.edu/map/images/bs.htm