Sing A New Song Homeschool - Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

Mar. 29, 2007 - Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

You know that game from the early 90's, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon? The one that was based on a play, Six Degrees of Separation--its concept is that everyone in Hollywood can be traced to Kevin Bacon within 6 people. Well, it's recently been brought to my attention that there should be a game, Six Degrees of Stacie. Well, it's not a real recent discovery that I know a lot of people, but lately, it's been getting out of control.

Some friends of mine, back when we were college age, used to say, "Everywhere you go, you see someone you know." It's true too. I've grown up in this city my whole life. I went to a junior high where we split and half of us went to one high school and the other half to another high school. So my radius spread. I also spent one year at an elementary school on the west side of town, so I have contacts over there. Also, I was class President all 3 years of high school, so I knew a lot of people, at least knew who they were. I was also in choir, drama, Honor Society, Peer Mentors, tennis, basketball, basketball stats...yes, I was an overscheduled girl. Then, in college, I started going to a church where most of the poeple grew up in schools on the west side and I went to the local community college...my net grew wider! Now, I have kids! That explains it all! With all the teams we coach and play on--3 kids in one sport each with 4 seasons each year with 8-12 kids per team--yeah, do the math--I've made lots of new friends since we've had kids! Get this--even in the hospital having my first child, there were 2 other women there having babies that we knew from 2 different birth classes (they didn't know each other), but we all 3 ended up in a play group together. This was the same birth where I ended up going to high school with one of the nurses, and another one of my nurses helped deliver one of my friend's baby the week before and she knew my uncle. Or here's another one--we had this Utilities guy come out to do an energy evaluation and after talking for awhile, it turns out he's one of my uncle's best friends and remembers me from when I was little! This is what I run into ALL THE TIME!

Okay, before I go on any longer and make you think this entry is going to be all about how popular I am (that's not what I'm trying to do here-sorry), let me get to the point. Here's the problem--lately I've been feeling like the fact that I know a lot of people...irritates a lot of people. I'm wondering if I should keep it to myself whenever I find a connection to someone. And I feel bad about myself, like something's wrong with me that I have this problem. Then I get mad that maybe it's just how God made me, to have a lot of friends and know a lot of people...I just like people; I like that I remember most of the people that I grew up with; and I like finding out about people's lives. My best friend said that the problem isn't me, it's that people who didn't grow up here don't understand about being someone who grew up here. Our city has grown so much that most people think it's weird to still have that many connections.

So I don't know. I just know that tonight when I bared my soul about this issue to my husband, sharing with him that I think a friend of mine is irritated with me lately and this is the only thing I can think of that would be the problem--he said he could see how it would be irritating to have a friend with my "connections". So I feel like something is wrong with me and I'm not sure how to NOT be the way I am. I thought knowing a lot of people and having a lot of friends would be considered one of my few good qualities!

Anyway, I just thought it funny that my life is like that Kevin Bacon game. Now I feel like testing it on everyone I know (without telling them of course) to see what their degree of separation is from me! Yeah, because I have so-o-o much time on my hands, right? ;)

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Apr. 1, 2007 - You're so popular...

I want to be as popular as you! Just kidding.

Really, though, I was just noticing in church today that someone wasn't there. Then I thought about how I met that person. And I actually have 4 different connections to her...that she doesn't know about.

Then I talked with her mom after service and realized that she's on a "church is icky" thing (teenager). And I told the mom all the connections that I have to this young lady. And all of them are extremely influential in her life. And she has NO idea that they are all passionate followers of Christ and prayerfully seeking His will and influence in their lives and the lives of those they touch.

So this girl tried to separate herself from the church, but God is watching out for her...through my degrees of separation. Isn't that cool?

I think it'd be fun to compare folks we know and see how many degrees it would take for us to find a link to each other. It's such a small world!

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Apr. 2, 2007 - Untitled Comment

I always find it cool when I find a connection to someone else or someone I know does. Here's a funny one. My husband and I were in the church youth group at the same time but did not know each other (he wasn't as active as I was), his brother tagged after my dad learning electronics from him and his mother had lunch with my mother (and heard all about her children) when they were in choir together. Even with all that we did not meet until we were adults. I think it's a wonderful thing to know a lot of people.

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