six degrees of separation...

It's crazy how small the world actually is. I remember when we used to fly home through Tokyo, we would ALWAYS see someone we knew. Well, Mom and Dad would, and they would know us by association - being young you never really remember your parents friends, or friends you knew when you were an infant. But I remember Dad saying, "oh look, Laura, there's the so-and-sos!" just about every time we had a layover in Tokyo.

Anyway, last night I had dinner with two friends. Dewi I hadn't seen since I left Surabaya in 1998. Karen I hadn't seen since then either, but we managed to meet up for about 30 minutes last summer when I was in London for a quick visit. Then, Adrienne and I bumped into her our first day in London this year, crossing Waterloo bridge - totally random. Karen said she was moseying along thinking to herself, "shall I go in the tunnel under the road, or stay above ground...under or over?" and if she had gone under we would have missed her! Fate, that's what that is.

Karen, Dewi and I met at Victoria station and walked to Giraffe for dinner. It was so wonderful catching up with the two of them and it only makes me hope that next year we can meet up sooner during my month here, and more than once!

Back to the 6 degrees of separation thing:

Liz (friend from Surabaya days) got married in Bali in April Karen was in her wedding. Karen and Dewi were also in Angie's wedding, another friend from those days, in Indonesia last year as well. I couldn't go to Liz's wedding because I had duties at the Abbey. But mom and dad went and had a blast, and saw all my old friends - including Karen. Liz's husband Leo is in the silver industry - he designs and sells jewelry. Karen's dad brought some over to the UK a few weeks ago when her parents visited. She was telling me about how she sold some of it to a friend when they were having dinner one evening and the waitress walked over interested so Karen has her contact information to be in touch about the jewelry. As she told the story she showed Dewi and I some of the pieces. I saw a pair of flower studs I had to have, and bought them! Our waitress came over and admired everything simultaneously - ha! So...I now own a pair of earrings that one of my oldest friend's husband designed, I've never met him, and haven't seen her since the early 2000s.

It's just awesome how the world works.


Meanwhile...the BSP student drama continues. Without going into the whiny details - suddenly it's our fault a student overslept 2 hours, missed her flight, and had to pay $150 to fly standby all the way home. "No one took role that morning, no one came and knocked on my door". I think she's really upset with her friends because they phoned her but she didn't wake - nor did they come to us to go knock on her door - and now she's looking for somewhere else to point the blame, because she can't blame them (and she shouldn't!). I knocked on plenty of doors that morning, after students came running to me asking to let them check on so-and-so; but in the end it is NOT my responsibility to wake your ass up to get on the courtesy bus. Sorry. It's time for you to accept responsibility for yourself. Besides, I'd have rather flown standby for $150 because I accidentally overslept than buy a whole new ticket!

If I miss my flight tomorrow, due to oversleeping, it will NOT be my fault....I will find someone else to blame.

What?

That's just ridiculous.