It's A Small World

It's such a small world, even in NYC. Sure, over eight million people reside here, but everyone is somehow connected. They've either worked with, lived with, dated, or are Facebook friends with someone you know. A perfect example was yesterday, when I worked for the attorney near Wall Street. The first few hours consisted of re-typing court documents that required a "by hand" copy, which I actually enjoyed since I like to type. I didn't understand half of the jargon, but hey, it was a fun challenge to make my fingers spell foreign words. When I finished up that assignment and made a few copies on the copy machine (and by few, I mean a couple hundred), David, my boss, sent me to the New York County Courthouse. The weather was gorgeous, so I was happy to take the 20 minute walk up Broadway. My mission was to figure out the status of a court document that the county clerk was supposed to have scanned into some system back in September. Does that statement make it obvious that I had no idea what I was actually doing? Oh well. I did everything David instructed, down to "for a last resort, go to court room 242 and talk to the clerk on the left hand side of the room." "Um, what do I do if there's a trial in session?" "Just walk to the front and wait for the clerk to acknowledge you." Great. That won't be embarrassing at all. I trusted that my boss knew the appropriate behavior in a court room though, so when I hit dead ends everywhere else in the building, I made my way to 242.

A picture I sent to my friends while waiting

I awkwardly shoved open the unnecessarily heavy wooden doors to find an empty court room, thank goodness, save the police officer sitting in the witness stand. He told me the clerk would be back in 10 minutes, so I made myself comfortable. Five minutes later, a good looking guy in a suit (we all know I appreciate suits) asked to speak with someone, too, and sat down a few benches away. Nice! But a man came out of the back office and called him in, leaving me alone again, texting random court room pictures to some friends. Normal.

Ten or fifteen minutes later, the good looking guy in a suit reemerged, raised his eyebrows at me humorously, and asked "So, are you just hiding out in here all day?" I laughed and explained my situation. He then said "You know, I swear I know you from somewhere. You look so familiar." He looked kind of familiar, too, but in a generic good-looking-guy-in-a-business-suit way. We started brainstorming what the connection could be, but of course at that moment, the clerk walked in. I said, "Well maybe we'll cross paths again and figure it out!" and rushed off to take care of business. I didn't make much progress in terms of what David needed to get accomplished, but at least I got a signed copy of the document from the judge...and he said I did well when I got back to the office, so that's a plus.

When I walked out of the courthouse, our paths indeed crossed again. Brad (I learned his name in the 30 second conversation) was waiting for his father at the entrance. He's an attorney, as is his dad, mom, and two brothers. Wow. His dad walked up right after he explained the family occupation, so we said hello and turned to leave. Great timing. On our walk back to Wall Street, he asked what I "do." HAH. Not much. I explained the musical theatre scene and brought up the promotion gigs. He said, "Oh, I know some girls who did something like that for Street King the other night." STOP IT. I couldn't believe it. This was the Brad that my friend Rayna, who I met at the Street King promotion, had mentioned she'd been hanging out with. It dawned on him that the reason I looked familiar was because he saw a picture of Rayna, Kelly, and me at the promotion on Facebook. Go figure.

That great, big, long story all goes to show what a small world we live in. We probably pass dozens of people every day who are somehow connected to us. Strangers are less of strangers if we see the world in that light, which is a comforting thought in a city of eight million. Viewing the vast population becomes less daunting with that mindset, too, because I feel more confident befriending strangers. For example, last Thursday I met a really nice guy who went to Villanova that works in the building next to my apartment. We grabbed lunch today! Or at the Halloween event on Monday, I met a guy who just moved here from Ireland and we're going out for a drink later. Okay...that just makes it sound like I'm finding dates. What I mean is that I've been more proactive in meeting people (even girls- like Kelly and Rayna!) because everyone seems less intimidating as I've come to find so many connections.

Tomorrow, Brit and I are going to an audition together, then meeting Lindsay and a friend of her's from college, Laura, for happy hour! I'm really looking forward to this weekend!