Off-Topic -- the Coincidences Discussion - 2016

[Koren]

I had a funny day at work. Living in a small town and both of my paternal grandparents came from large families, I can usually find a way I am related to or connected to someone. Call it 6 degrees of separation. (I can usually do it in 2 or 3 degrees). So today I am signing papers for oxygen delivery and I notice the delivery man's last name is the same as my aunt and uncle. He said his dad and my uncle were cousins. Not even an hour later a hospice nurse was at my office door. Her last name was the same as my sister's married name. She said her husband was probably related to my sisters husband in some way as his ancestors were from my town. About an hour later my coworker was making a call to a nurse practioner in a town about an hour away from us. Once again, the nurse practioner's last name was the same as my sisters and it is not a common name. My sisters last name is Theobald.

[Koren]

Reading The Undertaking: Life Studies From The Dismal Trade by Thomas Lynch. Started on the eve of Easter, finished on Easter night. There were several references to Easter in the book.

[Fishface]

I have a client whose birthday is coming up in the next few weeks. That date has been mentioned 3 times in the last couple of chapters of the book I am reading now, Yorkshire Ripper - The Secret Murders: The True Story of How Peter Sutcliffe's Terrible Reign of Terror Claimed at Least Twenty-Two More Lives.

[J.M.]

This is a great discussion topic! I was doing research on crimes that occurred in the old hotel I used to live in. I came across a death that occurred on the same date that I was researching it, except 119 years prior!!!

[Fishface]

J.M. wrote: "This is a great discussion topic! I was doing research on crimes that occurred in the old hotel I used to live in. I came across a death that occurred on the same date that I was researching it, ex..."

Wow! That sounds like a great starting point for a book!

[Lady ♥ Belleza, Gif Princesa]

Fishface wrote: "Wow! That sounds like a great starting point for a book!"
The History of the Barclay Hotel: A collection of true short stories both epic and tragic

[Fishface]

Lady♥Belleza★✰ wrote: "Fishface wrote: "Wow! That sounds like a great starting point for a book!"
The History of the Barclay Hotel: A collection of true short stories both epic and tragic"

Huh. I tried to go to the sales page for this book and it came up nonexistent!

[Lady ♥ Belleza, Gif Princesa]

Fishface wrote: "Huh. I tried to go to the sales page for this book and it came up nonexistent!"

Found it but it's Kindle only.

The History of the Barclay Hotel

[Koren]

The book I finished yesterday, Good Harbor by Anita Diamont, took place in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Today I started Over The Top by Tom Jones. His grandfather was from Gloucester, Wales

[J.M.]

Fishface wrote: "Lady♥Belleza★✰ wrote: "Fishface wrote: "Wow! That sounds like a great starting point for a book!"
[book:The History of the Barclay Hotel: A collection of true short stories both epic and tragic|296..."

The paperback will be available on April 11, 2016!! It can be purchased on my website: http://www.barclayhotelhistory.com

[J.M.]

Fishface wrote: "I have a client whose birthday is coming up in the next few weeks. That date has been mentioned 3 times in the last couple of chapters of the book I am reading now, [book:Yorkshire Ripper - The Sec..."

Maybe it means you should get him a heck of a great birthday present?!

[Fishface]

J.M. wrote: "Fishface wrote: "I have a client whose birthday is coming up in the next few weeks. That date has been mentioned 3 times in the last couple of chapters of the book I am reading now, [book:Yorkshire..."

I'm not allowed to buy him anything -- professional ethix and all -- but his real present will be scraping me off his shoe for good.

[Fishface]

Here's a chilling one. After I found my ex the other day on that website for missing persons, I was pulling into the grocery store after work, thinking dark thoughts about what might have become of him, and the radio put on a song I associate very strongly with him. I have barely heard it since I last saw him in the early 1980s -- literally one other time in the last 15 years.

[J.M.]

Fishface wrote: "Here's a chilling one. After I found my ex the other day on that website for missing persons..."

Whoa, that is creepy! Do you think that's his way of reaching out to you, telling you that he is not out there alive somewhere...so that you will be at peace...?

[Fishface]

J.M. wrote: "Fishface wrote: "Here's a chilling one. After I found my ex the other day on that website for missing persons..."

Whoa, that is creepy! Do you think that's his way of reaching out to you, telling ..."

Knowing him I can't rule it out. I may never be at peace about him regardless...it was that kind of relationship. The kind that leaves a mark. I'm not sure what to make of the fact that this was, not "our song," but our breakup song.

EDIT: I asked at Façade, just a general reading on what is going on with him now and this is what I got:

"him a prisoner somewhere in there; and they're coming back to - to torture him into telling them where I am, and - and afterwards to do away with him. That's why I'm here, Marty - to get him away, if I can, before they come back."

Let me add that Marty (to me) is someone else I was looking for online, from the same era of my life. He turned up dead, a suicide.

[J.M.]

Fishface wrote: "J.M. wrote: "Fishface wrote: "Here's a chilling one. After I found my ex the other day on that website for missing persons..."

Whoa, that is creepy! Do you think that's his way of reaching out to ..."

Wow, this is definitely a scary story to be told around a campfire!
That is why I try not to go digging into my past. I like to remember the people as they were when we parted ways...alive and happy. Instead of finding out what became of them and now having to picture them dead and buried....

[Fishface]

I am picturing him mummified out in the desert. He disappeared in Arizona...

[Lady ♥ Belleza, Gif Princesa]

The coincidence is: I tweeted a video of fire engines in front of my apt bldg. A friend responded, the top tweet is her response to me and the next tweet is about the fire across the street from my building.

[Fishface]

I'm reading Urge To Kill and it mentions that the founder of the college in the town where the story happens has my last name. There's only one family with our name so he must be a cousin. I Googled him and immediately found his obit. Well, he died on March 17th -- the last day my ex was in contact with anyone before he disappeared, according to the database where I found him listed as missing earlier this week.

[J.M.]

Fishface wrote: "I'm reading Urge To Kill and it mentions that the founder of the college in..."

Have you went on familysearch.org to see if you are related to the founder?

[Fishface]

J.M. wrote: "Fishface wrote: "I'm reading Urge To Kill and it mentions that the founder of the college in..."

Have you went on familysearch.org to see if you are related to the founder?"

We're related. There's only one McHenry family.

[J.M.]

"Fishface wrote: "We're related. There's only one McHenry family."

That's a pretty cool coincidence. Have you thought of tracking down any other long lost relatives?

[Fishface]

I'd like to but never seem to get around to it. My dad's dad's family -- including this guy -- is almost a complete mystery to me. My dad didn't seem to know, either. This is spite of going to a few family reunions in Canada with people from all over North America filling a high-school gym.

[J.M.]

We make time for the things we care about, right?
Weird coincidence....I got an email last month saying that my first book sold just 1 day after the release! The customer had the same (uncommon) first name as my mother who I haven't spoken to in ages! She doesn't even know that I am a writer or that my novel has been published!

[Fishface]

Wow, that's a huge coincidence, J.M.!

Here's another: I learned yesterday on the Internet that John Linley Frazier committed suicide on the anniversary of Mungo Ireland's suicide.

[J.M.]

Huh? Where did you hear that?!? Frazier died in August 2009 alone in his jail cell and Ireland died in March 1965 by inhaling exhaust fumes....

[Koren]

For some reason, a girl at work noticed that my bottle of coffee creamer expired on my birthday.

[Fishface]

This one gave me a funny feeling. Remember my long-lost ex-boyfriend who I found on a website for missing persons? Well, that last conversation we had was about where he was being sent to Army boot camp -- Fort Sill. So this week I was talking to one of my clients who is about to enter the military. He mentioned that he is going to Army boot at Fort Sill. That is the first time I have heard about that place in all these years, and he mentioned it the same week I found you know who...

[Lady ♥ Belleza, Gif Princesa]

Here's a coincidence on the Author of the month thread:

message 19: by Shelley
Finished Evil Beside Her by Kathryn Casey. 4+ Stars

Really good! Very different. This was more or less from the wife's point of view.

message 20: by Terri
I have been reading The Rapist's Wife. It is unbelievable how the police ignored her for so long

Same book, different titles.

[Koren]

Lady♥Belleza★✰ wrote: "Here's a coincidence on the Author of the month thread:

message 19: by Shelley
Finished Evil Beside Her by Kathryn Casey. 4+ Stars

Really good! Very different. This was more or less from the wif..."

I know this was mentioned in the Shelfari group "Same Book, Different Titles' some time ago.

[Fishface]

So it should have been added to the discussion here -- I transferred as much as I could find from Shelfari.

[J.M.]

OMG!!!!!! I was on Twitter earlier this evening searching for people who like the subject of true crime. I came across a Michelle McNamera whose handle is @truecrimediary. I tried to message her multiple times but it wouldn't let me...Finally I gave up. Then a couple of minutes ago I was on Facebook reading a friends post and saw that a Michelle McNamera (wife of actor Patton Oswalt) died in her sleep in Los Angeles!!! It said it was posted 4 hours ago which was around the same time that I was trying to message Michelle McNamera on Twitter!!! I am scared to do further research to see if they are the same person....

[K.A.]

You'll find out when the detectives come knocking...

[SouthWestZippy]

J.M. wrote: "OMG!!!!!! I was on Twitter earlier this evening searching for people who like the subject of true crime. I came across a Michelle McNamera whose handle is @truecrimediary. I tried to message her mu..."
Looks like the same person.
How sad.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainmen...

[Fishface]

Wow, that one was HUGE.

Here's a much smaller one: The other day I watched THE HOWLING, which includes a subplot about a maniac killer who leaves a trail of smiley-face stickers wherever he goes. Well, almost the first thing I read in my newest paperback, Mr. Mercedes, is that the maniac killer in this story leaves smiley-face stickers as a signature.

[Koren]

Koren wrote: "Lady♥Belleza★✰ wrote: "Here's a coincidence on the Author of the month thread:

message 19: by Shelley
Finished Evil Beside Her by Kathryn Casey. 4+ Stars

Really good! Very different. This was mo..."

Are we able to search discussions here on Goodreads like we could on Shelfari?

[Koren]

SouthWestZippy wrote: "J.M. wrote: "OMG!!!!!! I was on Twitter earlier this evening searching for people who like the subject of true crime. I came across a Michelle McNamera whose handle is @truecrimediary. I tried to m..."

Doesnt look like she is going to be answering you.

[Koren]

Reading our local newspaper today, I read that the average age a woman becomes a widow is 59. Wow! I'm 59. Told my husband it didnt look like he had much time left.

[J.M.]

Koren wrote: <"Doesnt look like she is going to be answering you" /i>

Smh. Now that's messed up!

[J.M.]

Koren wrote: "Reading our local newspaper today, I read that the average age a woman becomes a widow...."


That's funny!..... But also kinda messed up!

[K.A.]

Koren, I'm sure you wouldn't have married an average guy, now, though, would you?

[Koren]

K.A. wrote: "Koren, I'm sure you wouldn't have married an average guy, now, though, would you?"

Time will tell!!

[Fishface]

I was driving to a home visit this morning and once I pulled into Pinckney, they put a Beatles song on the radio. I changed stations and there was another Beatles song. Not unusual at all in this Beatles-drenched world, but when I was leaving to go back to the office, I turned on the radio and they were playing the Clash. When that song ended, I changed stations and that station was also playing the Clash. That is definitely bucking the odds around here.

[K.A.]

Very minor coincidence: I was reading some posts about how vicious turkeys can be, when I looked up and saw a headline on SkyNews that said 'Turkey visas'. I was confused for a sec...

[Koren]

Reading Doctor Dealer by Mark Bowdin, there was a few lines from a song that was in the movie Easy Rider. I just watched Easy Rider last weekend. It was on the classic movie channel. First time I watched it all the way through.

[Fishface]

I watched a movie this week, and the surprise twist was that one of the major characters turned out to be a clone. I'm watching another movie now, and a major character in that one just turned out to be a clone.

[Fishface]

Based on a phone conversation with a client's mom yesterday -- a man I thought would never leave her was amazingly gone -- I got on the Offender Tracking Information System, just to see if his druggy ways had landed him in the hoosegow. Sure enough, there he was, but his charges were all about assaulting police officers.

What surprised me was that there was another guy by his name in the name prison under a different Dept of Corrections number, and he got himself there by assaulting a police officer.

[Fishface]

This one gave me a smile. I'm right in the middle of The Two Assassins, about Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby, and as I was driving to work this morning it dawned on me that the leadsinger on the Melvins disc playing in my car (Jello Biafra) used to be the leadsinger for a band called the Dead Kennedys.

[Fishface]

I was just searching for true crime gifs to add to that collection, and went to someone's Tumblr page to find a smiling school photo of Jeff Dahmer saying "Happy Birthday, Jeff!" And, yeah, it says his birthday is today. May 21st.

[Fishface]

I was reading Leonski: The Brownout Murders yesterday, and it suggests that the killer had a dual personality, including the usual Eddie Leonski and a murderer named Buddy. That's a theory I never heard before and I read it with interest, since he was just the type to have more than one personality and because the book was supposedly based on interviews with people who knew him.

Well, when I got home from work today, eager to keep reading, I had a message on my answering machine informing me that someone named Buddy had come through his surgery excellently and was "sleeping it off." I called the number they left and it was a vet's office. I informed them they'd left the message at the wrong number, then scratched my head as I went back to reading about another Buddy who may or may not have really existed...