It's a small world after all....

Yes indeed it is. In the past few days, I've had the smallest world encounters. In a city with over 8 million people, you wouldn't think you'd see people as much as you do. But Manhattan is a very small island. Very small.

Example 1:
There's this woman who I see every morning on my commute. We both get on the train at 96th and ride it uptown, with her going somewhere past my stop in the Bronx. We always end up in the same train car, which makes sense because it's the fastest way to get out of the station depending on where the stairs are. And after riding the train every morning and having a commute where a 30-second hustle can make the difference in 20 minutes, every little bit counts. Anyways. Seeing this woman every morning is normal, and not too uncommon in rush hour New York.

However, on SATURDAY afternoon I saw her!!! And not even on the train that we ride into the Bronx every morning, but on a different one!!!! This random lady, in a city of 8 million people, and I see her everyday, INCLUDING THE WEEKENDS NOW. Like wtf. I mean it's not a bad thing, she seems very nice, but how strange is that. We smiled at each other because we obviously recognized one another but didn't say anything. When I got off, I waved goodbye. Very strange and awkward.

Example 2:
On Fridays in July, we had workshops for NYCTF that we had to go to (ahemagainstourwillahem). There was this girl in mine, I think she said she lived and worked in Brooklyn. Then today, I'm sitting on the train minding my own business, reading Random Family, and all of the sudden, I look up, and she's across from me! Had another awkward smile and "hey how's it going" type conversation (luckily my stop was next because there's only so much awkwardness I can handle). But seriously. What are the chances???

Example 3:
On Thursday, I was walking around the UWS (Upper West Side for all of you who aren't down with the cool sounding New York lingo), and I saw this transsexual (male to female if you must know). She was dressed very loudly an obviously stood out. No big. Then on Friday, I saw her like 30 blocks farther uptown on my block. I mean, she's not hard to notice. But seeing the same person, 30 blocks away, 2 days in a row... very strange. Right place at the right time, I guess.

Many people have also heard the story of me seeing an old accquaintence (how do you spell this??) in my neighborhood while sitting in my favorite cafe in June. And he's not from New York, doesn't live here. But was just walking around, randomly uptown. How do you explain that?

I wonder if all of these chance encounters are fate or if it's more common than we think. I vote for the latter of the two. Any ideas on the matter?