The other day a friend told me about how he found it spooky that a woman whom he had an (obviously mutual) interest in had googled him and could start asking him questions about his hobbies etc. I said that it's not that unusual - its happened to me before. Not long after, in a bout of curiosity, I started googling myself to see what I (or anyone else) could find out about me with a simple and universally available search engine.
I found nothing terribly embarrassing but did find out that I have two namesakes whose lives have almost touched upon mine in ways which that are, well, spooky- given how uncommon my family name is. I was vaguely aware of the existence of them both but have never (yet) met either. Perhaps I should do a Dave Gorman and try to meet them one day and find out how many other NPs there are in the world.
One NP lived in Aberystwyth at the same time as me, where his father was a professor (of music?). I kept on getting asked if I was related to the family. But - get this - we both worked for the same newspaper at the same time. I use the word "worked" loosely (in my case at least) as I used to write movie and concert reviews for free tickets. It wasn't the best of deals but as a postdoc student you take all the freebies you can get. My namesake also worked for the paper - providing reports of local football matches. I don't know if he worked on a similar basis of self-exploitation as me or not but he was clearly more successful in developing his journalistic career as he now works as a reporter for the BBC. I think the most I got from my movie critic career was getting to rub shoulders with Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty (and drink excessive quantities of the crate of black label vodka that they bought with them) when they premiered their movie about burning a million pounds. At least I can honestly say that copious ammounts of free booze and being slightly star struck by meeting two of my favourite rock stars did not in any way influence my opinion of the film. A few of my movie reviews can still be found in the archives of the Internet Movie Database - the first things probably that I ever posted on the web.
The second NP whose life has almost crossed mine happens is a Labour Party activist who stood for parliament in the town where my father lives and where I grew up. (That should be useful if I ever need to pull a few strings back there- "Do you know who I am?" No, on second thoughts Labour have got as much chance of winning Kingston and Surbiton as David Cameron has of being next Prime Minister - I hope I never get to eat those words). Apparently he even went to the same school as me. Not only does he operate in the same town as where my roots lie but his political career resembles an earlier incarnation of me when I was politically active with the Green Party.
I am just wondering if there is some process of transsubstantion (or androidisation) going on here - with different variants of NP- all built around a similar set of values and skills being replicated somewhere for some as yet unrevealed purpose.
World you have been warned.
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7 comments:
These search engines sometimes gives me paranoia.
I have never met or known anyone who has the same name as me. I think I am the only one with this rather very unique name.
When I first joined Facebook a month ago, there were 94 people listed with my name. Now there are 113.
Dutched - I am sure you are unique - buut no-one else in the whole world has the same name as you???
Anon- Not suprising half the people who leave comments share your name! Seriously though, when Dave Gorman did his search for 54 people with the same name it took him months to find (and mee them), Now you can find them at the click of a button. Question is would you want to meet them all. You could organise a convention at a hotel and totally confuse the staff by having 113 people with the same name staying in the same hotel!
I have a very common name, there was even another person at my school with the exact same name as me.
Apart from her, I've only met one other - I saw a shop with my name emblazoned over the door so I walked in and introduced myself. The proprietor was a little surprised but kindly gave me a carrier bag with our name on it.
Oooh I've discovered a new twist on this. I tried to plan a route using www.transportdirect.info - and found out that there are seven other towns in England with the same name as my hometown. I am NOT tempted to visit all of them.
It also told me that my journey to Bodiam Castle would generate 14.9 kg of CO2. Now I'm wondering whether I can justify it for a day out with the kids.
Sara - Do you still have the bag? What did they sell? If they become an international chain you might still make a fortune selling them your domain name.
And what's a few kg of CO2 in the grand scheme of things? If you did 20 transcontinental flights a year as a global warming consultant maybe you should rethink your role in the scheme of things. But whats an extra 15Kg in light of your -and the average western citizen's- CO2 consumption? If you are under the threshold of average consumption (and I bet you are well under) you should relax a bit about it. I think I am doing quite well being an average(ish) wage earner but a well below average CO2 user.
Connortje - you have given me something to google on next time I have spare time on my hands ;-).
No I don't, it's a jewellery shop in Brighton and didn't look like the kind of enterprise that would go global.
Noone has ever approached me about buying my domain name. My fellow SFs must be a bunch of slackers.
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