I AM TWO DEGREES FROM KEVIN BACON.

A few years back I was out with a couple of my gals, having dinner -- and lots of drinks. After dinner in one of our favorite hip towns, we went to this cool theatre we sometimes go to - it shows indie films. When we first got there, my friends went to the bathroom and I went in to get seats. I think it was a weeknight cause I remember there only being two other people in the theatre.

So I am sitting there - slightly inebriated - and the movie starts while they're both still in the bathroom. And something about the opening scene strikes me as eerily familiar: the town - the setting - the buildings... as if I'd been there before. And then I realize - much too slowly - IT'S MY TOWN! And I say aloud (to the other two people in the theatre) "Holy shit! That's MY town!!" It was all very surreal - especially with the drunk factor. When my friends finally came in, they shared my awe. And we spent most of the movie watching the background, seeing if perhaps I would go running by.

Not long after, I was at the movies again - this time I had gone to see "Mystic River" (I'm not sure if I was drunk or not - movies following dinners out usually come with a 50% chance of drunkenness. Alright - maybe more like 80%.) All of a sudden, it strikes me that one of Sean Penn's 'kids' looks remarkably like one of my students. Sure enough, there's her name in the closing credits! Naturally when I saw her in school the next day and said, "Guess what movie I saw this weekend?", she blushed and replied, "Mystic River?" Jeez! It turns out she'd been in quite a few movies. This one with Kevin Bacon - hence the title of the post.

That's twice with the weirdness. But wait --

Tonight I'm sitting there watching this odd indie film I borrowed from the public library (did you know you can get free DVDs at the library now?) Lo and behold, ANOTHER one of my students appears! WTF?!

I just hope that movie I starred in never falls into the wrong hands...