What are the odds?? I have a good story for you all… please share your stories of cool coincidences.

[Bad Things]

The lovely Mrs. Bad Things and I just returned from a fantastic 3-week holiday in Fiji.  
Bula Vinaka!

 

While we enjoyed each and every day of our trip, we assumed the final day was going to be a kind of a throw-away, travel day, as we had to fly back from the beautiful outer islands, to be near the main center of Nadi, for our early morning flight back to New Zealand.  
This throwaway day wound up providing me with of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had.  I’m still shaking my head about it.

 

About 7-8 years ago, I got a nice Polynesian armband tattoo, here in New Zealand. The tattoo artist did a fantastic job adding designs from all of the Pacific islands I’ve already visited.  https://www.taupoutatau.com/tuigamala-andy
It was always my intention to keep adding to it, as we continue to explore the islands.  (New designs have been added while on Aitutaki and Rarotonga.)

 

To mark our wonderful experience in Fiji, Mrs. Bad Things reminded me to get a traditional Fijian design added before we left, so I had our accommodation recommend a local tattoo artist to do the work.  It was a bit of a worry, as I wasn’t able to see any of the artist’s previous work.  I just had to put my trust in this random stranger.

 

That afternoon, I met Simms (The artist) and discussed what pattern I wanted him to do.
I had a couple shots of rum, while he was setting up his stuff and then got to work.

 

After about 5 minutes, he stopped working, looked up at me and said, “I think I recognize your tattoo”.
“Excuse me?”
“I think I know this tattoo”
“What?” (His English wasn’t the best, so I thought he simply meant that he knew some of the old-school designs in it.)

 

He got excited and said, “I DO know it… I have a photo of it on my phone!”
“What?!? What are you talking about?”

He took out his phone and scrolled through his photos for about 10 seconds and said, “Here it is!!”
“What?!?”

 

He held up his phone, and my mind went blank because I couldn't comprehend what was happening.

Sure enough there was a photo of MY arm with my armband tattoo on this complete stangers phone!
It was a photo that the tattoo artist in Wellington had on his website for a couple days after giving me the tattoo all those years ago.

 

I was gobsmacked, stunned, speechless.

Simms said he stumbled on the photo years ago and loved the design and workmanship, so he kept it as one of his favorites.
He looked up at me with a massive smile and said, “And now I get to work on the original!!”

 

What are the odds of something like this happening? It’s crazy!
A random Fijian tattoo artist having a picture of me is weird enough to think about.  
For me to randomly hire him is even more of a coincidence.
However, for him to recognize me from the artwork on my arm is simply incredible.

If this wasn’t meant to be, I honestly don’t know what is!

 

Here’s a photo with me and Simms, with the photo of my original tat on his phone.

Life is awesome!

 

If you have any cool stories, of strange coincidences, please share them with the rest of us!

Let’s go Buffalo!

 

 

Edited Monday at 04:56 AM by Bad Things
changed photo to avoid pervs :)

[Warcodered]

Not only did you happen to hire the guy, you specifically hired him to work on the thing he'd recognize you for.

[SinceThe70s]

Great story, thanks for sharing! 

 

There have been a few mind-boggling crossed paths n my life but one stands out.

 

Around 10 -15 years ago we took a family trip to Alaska with my wife, her two brothers, their parents and all of our kids. Checking out of our hotel in Valdez (aka the middle of nowhere)  my BIL struck up a conversation with a guy behind him also waiting to check out. They didn't know each other but as it turns out the guy had lived a block away from where my wifes family grew up. The timing of the encounter is stupefying to me. 

 

 

[Bad Things]

6 minutes ago, SinceThe70s said:

Great story, thanks for sharing! 

 

There have been a few mind-boggling crossed paths n my life but one stands out.

 

Around 10 -15 years ago we took a family trip to Alaska with my wife, her two brothers, their parents and all of our kids. Checking out of our hotel in Valdez (aka the middle of nowhere)  my BIL struck up a conversation with a guy behind him also waiting to check out. They didn't know each other but as it turns out the guy had lived a block away from where my wifes family grew up. The timing of the encounter is stupefying to me. 

 

 

That one reminds me of a time when I was living in Colorado during the 1990's.

 

I was chatting up this pretty young thing at a bar, when she mentioned that she was visiting from Nantucket.  I said, "really?  I have an old high school friend of mine that lives there."

We come to find out that this was his ex-girlfriend!  Jim broke up with her just a month earlier.

 

<Did not get laid>

[SinceThe70s]

26 minutes ago, Bad Things said:

That one reminds me of a time when I was living in Colorado during the 1990's.

 

I was chatting up this pretty young thing at a bar, when she mentioned that she was visiting from Nantucket.  I said, "really?  I have an old high school friend of mine that lives there."

We come to find out that this was his ex-girlfriend!  Jim broke up with her just a month earlier.

 

<Did not get laid>

 

Which jogs my memory of the time me and friends were enjoying apres libations at Vail Colorado when my friend recognized that we had graduated from the same high school as the singer/guitarist. 

 

 

 

[Just Jack]

Way back, I think it was late 1990's, I was heading home from a Bills game, on Rt 104 somewhere between Rochester and Oswego, going a "little" faster than the speed limit, when I see a state Trooper pull out ahead of me.  Sure enough, as I pass him, he turns around, comes after me.  I pull over and do what shall now be known as a Reverse Tyreek.  I turn off the car, roll down my window, and be polite.  He asks me if I knew why he pulled me over, I admit I was going a little fast, asks me where I was coming from, I answer Buffalo, was there to see the game and my sister.  He asks me where she lived.  I tell him Elma.  He starts laughing.  Turns out he grew up in Elma.  Tells me to go slower and have a nice day.  

 

 

[SinceThe70s]

4 minutes ago, Just Jack said:

Way back, I think it was late 1990's, I was heading home from a Bills game, on Rt 104 somewhere between Rochester and Oswego, going a "little" faster than the speed limit, when I see a state Trooper pull out ahead of me.  Sure enough, as I pass him, he turns around, comes after me.  I pull over and do what shall now be known as a Reverse Tyreek.  I turn off the car, roll down my window, and be polite.  He asks me if I knew why he pulled me over, I admit I was going a little fast, asks me where I was coming from, I answer Buffalo, was there to see the game and my sister.  He asks me where she lived.  I tell him Elma.  He starts laughing.  Turns out he grew up in Elma.  Tells me to go slower and have a nice day.  

 

 

 

Reverse Tyreek deserves more than an emoji.

[Mr Info]

I do not have a good story to share…yet. But your tale is quite the odd coincidence.
I have a question. Though I have worked and lived for short spells in Singapore, Bali, China, and Japan, I have not had the opportunity to visit Melanasia. 
Though Fiji is easier to access from the US, we were also considering French Polynesia. How would you compare these two areas? My wife comes from a French family so is fluent and that was one of the reasons leaning toward FP though we are still open to suggestions.

[Saxum]

I married my wife who I met as a tourist in Hong Kong in traditional Chinese ceremony on Sunday, April 24 and did not register marriage because she was coming to US on fiancée visa per advice of consulate since getting married first would leave my new bride in Hong Kong for indefinite period of time.

After very brief honeymoon in Maco we flew to Buffalo to be married in Blasdell Church I grew up with on May 1.  Several of coworkers and friends were there including my best friend Steve.   He ended up living with us for a few years before leaving Virginia.  We have a child named Lee-Lin named after our mothers Lee (CC's mother's family name and my mother Leona).  A couple years later we get notice my friend was married to a Korean woman name  Lee-Lin.  We did not get that name out of a book or it is not even a common Chinese name just two Chinese words - Family name Lee and flower Lin.

 

Not a coincidence I think after being teased by friends that I would be caught by some girl in Japan or Taiwan I met a woman I married from Hong Kong.  After this a number of years later many of my single male friends married Asian women.

[Doc]

My mother kept a picture my dad took of an Indian movie star (Amitabh Bachchan, a legend who some of you may have heard of him, and he was featured in "Slumdog Millionaire") who he ran into in an airport in California with his friend in the late 80s.  In the picture is a seated Bachchan, his friend kneeling next to him and some rando seated near Bachchan.  The picture was kept in my brother's childhood room in his closet in a bin on the floor, with the picture on top and clearly visible.  When we visit my mom, we like to stay in his room because it's got the biggest bed and I've seen the picture hundreds of times.  So we'd gone up many times over the years and one time my wife decided to look at the pictures and then exclaims to me "why do you have a picture of my uncle?" holding it up with a confused look.  Turns out that's who the rando was, and he was part of a group that brought Bachchan to California to perform for the Indian community and accompanied him to the airport to see him off.

Edited Sunday at 06:58 PM by Doc

[Fleezoid]

Cool story. But now I'm trying to figure out if the name "Mrs. Bad Things" is really cool or a little scary. 

[Orlando Buffalo]

Not to your level but years ago when visiting Tallin Estonia we ran into our neighbors who happened to be on that days cruise ship. Their son was who I saw first and I thought the family must have Estonian heritage before realizing that it was my neighbor and not just some kid who looked identical 

[Draconator]

That was a really cool story! 

 

My favorite "brush with greatness" is kind of a coincidence. I used to do the website for Alex Lifeson's old bar in Toronto, The Orbit Room, back in 1999/2000. I had been up to the bar, and had met Alex a few times. I would have thought that Alex would recognize my face, but not my name as we never had any deep conversations. However, one evening I got there early (7:30 pm), and Alex is tending bar. He sees me come up the steps, the bar was on a 2nd story, and shouts out, "Hey Hoffman, come here". So like any adoring Rush fan, I go to the bar. He pours two shots of tequila, and simply says, "drink". I didn't just drink it, I looked right at Alex and said, "That ***** will kill me". To which Alex replies, "Then you can tell all your friends you died drinking with the guitarist of Rush, Drink". So, I did. 

[DrW]

When I was a postdoc in Rochester in the 1990s, we went to visit NYC (by Amtrak, which was a very enjoyable experience compared to flying). Overall, I did not like NYC very much; due to the excessive number of panhandlers, I was constantly afraid of getting mugged. For me, the saving grace was the MoMA. I love modern art, and I spent a whole day at the MoMA (still not enough, by far. As a side note to Buffalo residents, if you are interested in arts or specifically modern arts, you are lucky to have the Albright Knox, which is superior to other arts museums even in much bigger cities.)

Back to the topic. On our last day in NYC, we visited Central Park. A group of rollerskaters passed me, and suddenly I heard my name called out. One of the skaters had been a fellow grad student back in Luebeck (Germany) where we got our PhDs. Considering the fact that the total number of grad students in the lab during that time was 5-6 per year, the probability to meet one of them by chance 5000 miles away from Germany was virtually nil. We had a drink and then we went our separate ways. He is now retiring from Columbia University in NYC; I am still doing research and teaching at Texas Tech.

[Bad Things]

7 hours ago, Mr Info said:

I do not have a good story to share…yet. But your tale is quite the odd coincidence.
I have a question. Though I have worked and lived for short spells in Singapore, Bali, China, and Japan, I have not had the opportunity to visit Melanasia. 
Though Fiji is easier to access from the US, we were also considering French Polynesia. How would you compare these two areas? My wife comes from a French family so is fluent and that was one of the reasons leaning toward FP though we are still open to suggestions.

 

Kia ora.  We visited Tahiti and Moorea about 14 years ago and had a great time.  That was our first true taste of real Polynesian kindness, which was an eye-opener for me and something I still try to carry.  Our kids were still little back then and went with us, which of course makes everything a bit more challenging.  The main island of Tahiti is nice, but the city of Papeete can be avoided, as it's really just another small city.  (The market was really cool though.) As is just about always true in the Pacific islands, try go to the outer islands for a better experience.  We stayed on Moorea, which is an easy ferry ride from Papeete, and really liked it.  The only negatives I would have with French Polynesia is the language barrier, which won't be a concern for you, but also the cost of things.  Simply put, everything costs a fortune there, as it's tied to the French economy and not the Pacific.  Way more expensive than any of the other Pacific nations we've visited.  That said, if you have money burning a hole in your pocket, go for it!  If you're looking for something cheaper, and a bit more laid back, check out the Cook Islands.  We've visited Aitutaki and Rarotonga 6-8 times now and love it.  That said, our experience in Fiji (Vanua Levu) was even nicer this time around.  Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions.  Cheers

[Bad Things]

6 hours ago, Fleezoid said:

Cool story. But now I'm trying to figure out if the name "Mrs. Bad Things" is really cool or a little scary. 

Apologies... it's actually just Mrs. Things.  (Bad is my first name.)

 

You all can use your imaginations to come up with what you think her first name may be.  😃

[CowgirlsFan]

Not mine but a friend of mine.

She has 2 season tickets to Jerry's World.  She's had some medical expenses so she sold one of her tickets to the game yesterday on SeatGeek. She gets to her seat meets the person that bought the ticket. UNREAL just UNREAL the person that bought the ticket was in Arlington on vacation from Germany. It turns out that they grew up in Germany  together at the same time in towns that were less than 25 miles apart!!!

[Augie]

I was walking thru Costco with my wife on Father’s Day of this year. My phone rang and I looked at the caller ID. I froze and didn’t know what to do so I just held it out for my wife to see. She froze. It was from our son Michael. He passed away in 2018. Stunned, I eventually answered. It was some lady who has his old number looking for a guy named Leo. 

 

I like to think of it as a little hello. 

 

Michael is due to have a new little niece in about 3 weeks. Her name is Michaela. 

 

 

.

Edited Monday at 09:39 PM by Augie

[muppy]

I have 2 such stories. 

 

I was at Denali State Park in Alaska on vacation with the family. They had gone to an activity and I chose to watch a nature film being shown in the visitors center. There were only 2 other people there watching the movie. We struck up a conversation. It ends up we live within 1 square mile of each other here in San Diego. And she teaches at my kids elementary school. WOW

 

The 2nd one was equally miraculous. It was my first time at Disneyland and we went on Momorial Day weekend. I was walking when I heard ***** *******

 

which was my first and last name. I turned to see 2 guys I know from Batavia NY. At Disneyland on Memorial Day weekend. And they found and recognized me. That was so cool. Bob Brown and Mike Holenbeck

[Steve O]

Girl I banged knew in college at Potsdam waited on me at a sub shop in Austin, Texas 10 years later. Does that count?