Yesterday I was at dinner with some friends, and Chetan was talking to some of his medical buddies about this guy named 'Hawk'. As with most conversations, I was half listening to the conversation, but when he said 'Hawk', my ears perked up a bit, because that's a pretty unusual name. It made me think of my TA (teaching assistant) for Biology in college, whose first name was 'Hakan', but he told us to call him 'Hawk' for short. He was a pretty cool guy, only several years older than us, and since we were freshman he gave us pointers on what bars were cool and often told us stories about crazy parties he'd been to.

Then Chetan said Hawk's full name, which made me do a double take - he said the name of my old TA! I asked him if Hawk went to U of I, and Chetan said yeah, and I told him that Hawk was my TA. We had a good laugh about it. Who would have known? Not that I'd tell Chetan to tell Hawk I said 'hi' or anything. I didn't do that great in the class, I hardly remember anything from it.

Dave was telling me in the car on the way home what a wild coincidence that was, but I didn't think it was that wild. I guess because it was tiny compared to my weirdest 'It's a Small World' experience.

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Several years ago, my sisters and I went on a sister vacation to Orlando. We did the usual things, Disney World, Universal Studios, etc. We were at Islands of Adventure (which is the AWESOMEST amusement park. If you like thrill rides, go there!) and the Spiderman ride had just opened up.

The line was about 1 1/2 hours long, but it actually ended up being about 2 1/2 hours because the ride kept on breaking. Any of you who have waited in line at an amusement park know that you get familiar with the other people in lines, what their faces are, when you're going to run into them. For that hour, those are the only faces you see.

There was a family that was in line ahead of us who were also on vacation. I remember them so well because I was remarking to my sisters that the son, who was about 16 or 17 looked just like a young Davy Jones. But better looking. There were two sons and their parents in line, and they were speaking Spanish. They were a very good looking family, and of course, I had about 2 hours to remember their faces.

Then, after we rode the ride, I forgot about them. On a sidenote, SPIDERMAN ROCKED! It was totally worth the wait! I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

...

About six months later, I went on vacation with Dave's family to Puerto Rico. Our hotel had a casino in it, which is pretty dangerous to me since I've got that whole genetic gambling addiction thing. After a day of sightseeing, everyone was pretty much pooped and passed out. However, I couldn't let the night get by without going to the casino to try my luck. Dave's brother Justin and I headed out to try our luck.

I sat at the roulette table to play for a couple hours (I can make my money last for a while at that game) and I noticed a family sitting at the table with me. Not just any family, a family with two sons, one that looks like Davy Jones! Yes, the very same family that I was in line with at Islands of Adventure. I didn't say anything because a) My Spanish sucks, and b) What would I say? "Hey, I was watching you guys when we were in line for the Spiderman ride. Do you remember me? I was the sunburned girl who was torturing her sisters!'

But still, that was totally bizarre.

If that's not 'a small world' story, I don't know what is!!!

Posted by Yano at April 23, 2005 02:54 PM