The eOK .network

I don’t normally blog about my personal life, and especially not my Saturdays, but yesterday was amazingly serendipitous that I had to share. Almost like living the above movie (just without the romance).

Yesterday I made an old friend. I did it by…

• showing up at her boyfriend’s house warming party;
• accidentally making life difficult for her the previous day (without knowing who she was);
• attending her cousin’s event (without knowing they were related);
• dating her cousin’s sister while back in university (also without knowing they were related);
• attending the same church as her sister while I was a teenager (obviously without knowing who she was).

Her name is Tammy Yee and this is the serendipitous tale.

Yesterday evening I turned up at Aaron’s (an industry friend) house warming party early because I had another appointment later that night. Tammy wasn’t there yet so I took the grand tour and greeted the other early birds. In the midst of the multitude of guests streaming in, a girl that I didn’t recognise walked pass me, took a look at me and exclaimed, “you missed the bus yesterday!”

Shocked and embarrassed I realised she was part of the event organiser for the launch of International Museum Day 2007 where my friends and I spent a bit too long down at the reception till we missed the charted bus tours throwing Tammy’s well laid out plans out the window. But she was nice enough to get us another bus and we did enjoy the tour.

Back at the house warming, we began to chat thinking that yesterday’s bad behaviour was our only common ground till I mentioned that I just came from the IMD 2007 Eastern Surprise Food Trail organised by HungryGoWhere. In a name-dropping reflex she said that HungryGoWhere was built by her cousin while I said I know the guy who built it.

She said, “but we’re distant cousins”. I said, “I went to uni with his sister”.

Her eyes lit up as the neurons in her brain began putting two and two together.

Then she decided to ask a deeper question to probe, “did you go out with his sister back then?” remembering that her cousin’s sister was dating some guy called Ben. I said yes.

At this point I was still thinking, “we haven’t met before yesterday’s incident, right? How come you know so much?”

Then she asked the question that made it click for me. “Did you attend a presbyterian church?”.

“Yes…”, I said with a curious frown.

“Then do you know Sam?”

While I was going “Sam.. Sam.. who? Which Sam…”, Tammy went “I’m her sister!”

It was like finding that last missing piece in a 3,000 piece jigsaw.

Her sister was an old friend, Samantha Yee. In fact, I remember Samantha had two sisters, one named Tammy, and I’ve actually been to their family home twice when we were all in the same youth group back then.

Amazing isn’t it? I’m yet to have such a serendipitous encounter online in the social media. I wonder what the chances are… or is it as Tammy said “these things can only happen in Singapore”.