Another Significant Coincidence

Weird Things Happen. This we know. I mean, the second that I started writing this blog a second ago, a song called Is She Weird by the Pixies started playing. Weird. The spelling of the word weird is in fact weird. Or is it just because I am using a different kind of font. Why would I even do that? Just to be weird? I'm not really all that weird. Seriously.

One day a couple of months ago, I was heading to a thermodynamics class while listening to one of 8300 songs on my iPod. Upon entering the classroom @ 8am that morning a Bad Religion song came on called "Entropy". Weird. How so? The second I sat down in the classroom, the weird Dutch prof turns on his mic and says that today we will be starting our lectures on ... entropy - the natural tendency of things to drive towards disorder or chaos.

If you only knew the half of it.

But let's move on. Back in October, I was beginning my pursuit of trying to get a date with a very nice girl. She was around from time to time but hard to meet up with seeing how we are all so busy all the time. But we would meet when we could and when we did it was fun. One of our first "dates" was actually just one of those extremely random occurrences where I was heading from the bus to my car on my way back home. I thought to myself, only for a split second "gee, wouldn't it be nice if I could see her here now waiting for the bus so I could just drive her home, (so to speak). So I was sitting on a bus for my short ride to my car then decided to jump on the other bus instead that was going to leave 2 whole minutes earlier. I get on. And there she was. I drove her home. Weird.

Oiler game. March 2009. My friend got handed a pair of tickets and asked me to come with. We get there, the puck drops, I get a text message. Apparently a friend of mine was at the same game. I didn't even know who it was cuz I didn't end up getting the person's number back when my phone finally broke a month prior. But after a few texts back and forth, she decides that she would come and say hi to me --- until she realized that I was there with my friend. Her ex. And that's not even where it stops. She was there with her new boyfriend. A mutual friend of all of us. Weird. So yeah. I didn't end up seeing her that night.

Months ago. Or years? I dunno. But a friend of mine from high school had a little sister. Uhh ohhh. Yeah, maybe I should just stop here. Fuck it. Let's be candid. Well, we got to be pretty decent "online pals" thanks to the atrocity called facebook. We would bullshit about trivial nonsense and worse. In one of those undirected and random conversations, I even got this girl's phone number. Weird. We met up once. Weirder? You betcha. But nevertheless I thought "hell, I can wait a while longer for her to maybe try being mmmm... less weird? - I've waited this longafterall". Now for the weird part: I don't play around a lot with music on facebook cuz I've got 14000 songs on my iTunes. But the very same day that I happen to be listening to Death Cab for Cutie on facebook music, I find out that this very same girl will be going to see that same band play live in Halifax (fucking terrific city) cuz of a trip her friend won. We don't talk much on facebook these days...maybe because she's dating some guy...

In February 2008 I got shit-faced. It was my 24th birthday after all. It was also just around a year since I had a pretty bad break-up. So my friends were heading to the bar. The same bar where me & my ex hung out sometimes. A bar I liked. Guess who we saw on our way to the bar? Yep. Her. Yikes. I think it probably did help matters that I was already half-shitfaced thanks to drinks @ RATT. Oh wellll. I survived it.

Let's go on. Or back. Say, 1995.
1995: I learn about social justice from a top-notch teacher who adopts a child named Tab from Chad on behalf of the classroom. Enter: Tom L, parents: engineers. Maggie, conceited, popular girl.
1997: I pick up the french horn. I am captain of my hockey team and take pride in showing off mad skillz in games against millwoods.
1999: Meet marni. Probably one of the most significant women in my life even to this day.
2002: 6th year of french horn, last year of hockey. myspace reconnects myself and tom L. He's in socal now, where pennywise etc. comes from.
2003: GMCC- I see a friend from 1995. Our lockers are next to eachother. Same birthdays.
I end up sitting beside maggie from grade school in Soc 100. We are the 2 most interested people in a class of 50 soc students. My passion for development issues swells a little more.
I discover the amazingness of Fractal Pattern: A social-justice oriented instrumental band from edmonton featuring a french horn.
2004: Meet an engineer who lived in mdot & played the french horn. I join Engineers Without Borders - the best run social justice student group on campus.
2005: Propagandhi releases best record to date: social-justice music at its best. I apply to go overseas with EWB, but get beat out by a one & only liberal arts major, Maggie, from grade school.
2006: Fractal Pattern goes on hiatus.
2009: Fractal Pattern plays McDougall united, not 2 days after releasing a statement saying how they will no longer be featuring a horn. This happens on the same day that my engineer friend buys a horn wanting to see if she can still play, without knowing this about the band. She liked fractal pattern but not until after the hiatus. FP drummer wears Propagandhi shirt, as usual.

Also this year: When not listening to propagandhi (etc.) I am expanding my horizons by going to real canadian folk shows - talented musicians with songs that don't require you to be swinging fists when listening to it. On one such occasion, I messaged my friend to meet me in SUB for coffee where she can get her luke doucet tickets from me. She doesn't get the message, but shows up on time at the exact same place in SUB that I suggest we meet. She agrees to come to the show, which is a good thing, since I had already bought 2 tickets. She gets the message about meeting for coffee a day later. That same night, the most popular girl from highschool sees me at RATT (yes, i drink a lot), but we don't talk. But after going to the Luke Doucet concert, i follow my "date" to starlight room where the same popular/pretty girl from my highschool is there too. She admits to seeing me @ RATT just the other day, but not saying hello (for whatever reason). She knows my "date" from a really weird connection between their families. A pal of mine admits to infrequently spotting this girl's facebook page, saying: "God, Ryan knows a lot of pretty cute girls". But really, who cares when there's only ever really been one that you've been interested in. It must be said: The Luke Doucet concert was way better than the after-party. Wool on Wolves is a good local band though.

Lastly, and most recently: Social and environmental justice becomes a stronger focus in my life than ever before. All of the past significant coincidences with respect to people, relationships, events, music, movies... everything...It all seems to be amalgamating into one huge juggernaut of who I have become thus far, and more importantly, what I know I have yet to become. I wonder what tomorrow will bring...

It would be much too structured to insert a quote from entropy here, but please take solace in the fact that Perfect People by Pennywise came on randomly just now, one of my 13,964 songs.

"I BET YOU THINK THAT I'M INSANE! "

This is chapter 58.