worlds colliding

There's an episode of Seinfeld where George's worlds collide. We all have them; the professional world, the family nebula, a variety of social spheres and perhaps some secret dwarf planets.

Beyond the reaches of the mysteries of the secret worlds, our collection of friends, family and acquaintances usually know of each of the existences, or don't really care. Most often they have no true desire to interact.

Being an English speaker in Stockholm is a bit like living in a microcosm. And if they say that we are all just seven degrees separated from everyone one else on this planet, I would say the degrees of separation in Stockholm is maximum three.

Tonight's Ampersand event, "What editors want", reminded me of how closely linked so many of us expatriot professionals working with English really are.

I would explain all the connections from the 30 odd people at the event, but I have realized that it would read more like the boring bits of the bible where a long list of who begat whom is listed. Most of the people I knew from one angle I also knew from a second angle. Also many of the people I knew had some sort of connection to a few other people I knew from something relatively unrelated.

I think I need a fourth dimension to accurately depict the inter-locking weave of who was who and how whom knew whom.

Many of my worlds collided this evening. Unlike George, I found it fabulous.