I've had some powerball-esque odds things happen in my life, wish I'd just win the power ball instead. A few examples:
1. I was interviewing with a firm in Cincinnati, and the one attorney asks about where I'm from and I say central PA. He says his father is from a very small town outside State College. I say so is my mother. Turns out they both lived in Howard, PA, population under 700 and went to school at Bald Eagle together.
2. I was at a federal contracting conference in Tampa a few years back. At a bar across the street, I start talking to another guy attending the conference. Eventually turns to where we live, and I say a small town outside Columbus (population under 6k). He's from the same town. Then later it comes up I lived in Texas once. He asks where and I say a small town outside Dallas (Flower Mound). He grew up in Flower Mound. So we're likely the only 2 people to ever live in both Flower Mound, Texas and this small Ohio town, and we happen to meet each other at a bar in Tampa. His company then became a client too.
3. This is the most absurd one. In addition to Dallas, TX, I also lived in Dallas, PA in elementary school. I moved away after 5th grade and didn't really keep in touch with anyone. Years later I'm in law school in Pittsburgh and in a study group with a guy who was a couple years younger than me, and though we didn't know each other because he was younger, turns out he lived only 5 houses away from me in Dallas. So I ask about what became of some of the other kids from the neighborhood. Turns out my closest friend from across the street was also attending law school in Virginia. A year and half later I accept a summer associateship with a firm in Cincinnati (see the interveiw story above). At the firm, I meet one of the prior year's summer associates and find out he is attending that same Virginia law school. I ask if he knows my friend I recently found out was going to law school there. It's his roommate. So if I don't happen to meet another kid from the neighborhood at law school, I don't even find out my friend is going to law school, so I wouldn't even have known to ask this Virginia law student at a firm in Cincinnati whether he knew my friend from Dallas (which makes you wonder how many of these insane coincidences we experience without ever even knowing). Final cherry on top, a year and a half later I'm working at an appellate court in a Cincinnati suburb. She has the same last name as the associate who was roommates with my old friend, so I ask if they're related. She's his wife.
1. I was interviewing with a firm in Cincinnati, and the one attorney asks about where I'm from and I say central PA. He says his father is from a very small town outside State College. I say so is my mother. Turns out they both lived in Howard, PA, population under 700 and went to school at Bald Eagle together.
2. I was at a federal contracting conference in Tampa a few years back. At a bar across the street, I start talking to another guy attending the conference. Eventually turns to where we live, and I say a small town outside Columbus (population under 6k). He's from the same town. Then later it comes up I lived in Texas once. He asks where and I say a small town outside Dallas (Flower Mound). He grew up in Flower Mound. So we're likely the only 2 people to ever live in both Flower Mound, Texas and this small Ohio town, and we happen to meet each other at a bar in Tampa. His company then became a client too.
3. This is the most absurd one. In addition to Dallas, TX, I also lived in Dallas, PA in elementary school. I moved away after 5th grade and didn't really keep in touch with anyone. Years later I'm in law school in Pittsburgh and in a study group with a guy who was a couple years younger than me, and though we didn't know each other because he was younger, turns out he lived only 5 houses away from me in Dallas. So I ask about what became of some of the other kids from the neighborhood. Turns out my closest friend from across the street was also attending law school in Virginia. A year and half later I accept a summer associateship with a firm in Cincinnati (see the interveiw story above). At the firm, I meet one of the prior year's summer associates and find out he is attending that same Virginia law school. I ask if he knows my friend I recently found out was going to law school there. It's his roommate. So if I don't happen to meet another kid from the neighborhood at law school, I don't even find out my friend is going to law school, so I wouldn't even have known to ask this Virginia law student at a firm in Cincinnati whether he knew my friend from Dallas (which makes you wonder how many of these insane coincidences we experience without ever even knowing). Final cherry on top, a year and a half later I'm working at an appellate court in a Cincinnati suburb. She has the same last name as the associate who was roommates with my old friend, so I ask if they're related. She's his wife.
