Lost contact

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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.

Many of the animations were produced using Flash and will no longer work.

A few weeks ago I had a lot of excess energy from a work call, decided to schedule some catch-up calls with friends I haven’t spoken with in 5-10 years. Thought if I had the number of an ex from (almost exactly) 2 years ago, would reach out to him as well; it was nice catching up with old friends, maybe it’d be nice to catch up with him as well, but I didn’t have it, so oh well. I had deleted his number and text chain/photos a while ago - no contact. Later that day, with so much excess energy, decided to finally go through a year’s worth of credit card statements and health ins benefits to declutter/file them away - came across a bookstore receipt from 2015 for two books on marriage, one of which we talked about on our last date. Phone number written on the receipt, no name but ex’s area code, and his name came up when I googled the number - decided not to text since he previously said he was not interested in being friends and thought it best to respect that boundary. Shredded the receipt by hand since it had my name on it and tossed it in the trash. Talked to a friend who said I was overthinking it and since it’s a pandemic, should reach out. Thought “it’s lockdown!” so why not take one of the endless hours to try and piece the shredded bits back together (like a fun puzzle?!) for the number even though many of the pieces had fallen way down into the trash can and wasn’t going to go digging for them. Bad case of insomnia, decide maybe it’s not so crazy and go to the trash can to grab whatever pieces are on top. Open the lid and the number is on top of the pile on a small circle of paper, totally intact! Totally crazy?! Did not reach out since it was a series of coincidences created by my self and not some sign from the universe, but. Didn’t remember writing his number down and storing it, definitely thought I ripped the number into several pieces when I tossed it. Silly subconscious obviously wanted to reach out!
Total votes: 298
Date submitted:Sat, 04 Jul 2020 01:31:43 +0000Coincidence ID:10487