Audience Member Knows My Name

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understandinguncertainty.org was produced by the Winton programme for the public understanding of risk based in the Statistical Laboratory in the University of Cambridge. The aim was to help improve the way that uncertainty and risk are discussed in society, and show how probability and statistics can be both useful and entertaining.

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I was performing for Mortified (a show where you read your most embarrassing childhood diary entries out loud to strangers) in Portland, Oregon. My diary entries were about my time as a high schooler when my family lived in Singapore, and how much culture shock I experienced and how much I hated the country. There were lots of angry rants that had the audience laughing. After the show a girl walks up to me and says "are you [my full name]?" Mind you, performers only go by their first names at shows. I was shocked and said yes. She said that she was the girlfriend of a friend of mine from Singapore who I hadn't spoken to in close to 7 years. She had recognized me from my stories and facts lining up with his stories of our time at high school in Singapore. He had moved from Singapore to Seattle, and had a long-distance relationship with this girl, who lived in Portland and happened to have come to the show I was performing in; performing stories about her boyfriend's high school friends in Singapore! It was a bizarre and surreal experience.
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Date submitted:Wed, 18 Aug 2021 22:59:41 +0000Coincidence ID:11606