OH, this is not my brush with greatness, but my bestie and her former partner were room mates with Eugene Roddenberry in college for a while (he went by Rod then).
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Okay, so I keep forgetting about this friend of my dadâs. Heâs not world-famous except in his very specific field. There, heâs the kind of guy where if you mention his name, other practitioners will stare at you as though you just said (and could credibly prove) that you are longtime friends with Mick Jagger (no, we are not. I said within his specific and limited field).
How is this relevant? Because itâs a small sense of how it must feel to be a non-famous friend of a famous person. People have this awe and admiration, and you canât help but think â⌠but thatâs Bob. Heâs just this guy, you know?â
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âTodd, get off my couch!â
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I just now remember thatâs the situation with my younger brother.
Heâs presented research papers and been recognized(?) at Oxford. In the last year or so, I met a resident doctor studying for neurology, and somehow the topic of names cropped up between him, his girlfriend and I. I mentioned my brotherâs name, and the med student started fanboy-ing.
I told my brother, and he was surprised as well.
I was just like, âDude, I used to fight over dibs for the front seat of the car with him.â
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In science (and academia in general) itâs common to be friends with some world famous (in his or her specific and limited field) person, who is otherwise not known.
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Which is why so many of them can be such assholes
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When the Deepwater Horizon disaster happened, one of the professors on my thesis committee was one of the first to call BP on their bullshit. He was all over the news at that time, and I recognized his voice the first time I heard it on the radio. I told anyone who would listen* that that guy advised my thesis, making me an academic descendant of a temporarily famous person.
*Nobody would.
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Reminds me of the saying:
Academic polics are so vicious precisely because the stakes are so small.
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Sounds like the new Avengers movie is being filmed at my parents neighbour.
I will have to see that one.
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Whoâs playing Steed? Whoâs playing Mrs. Peel?
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New avengers so purdey and gambit then.
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Ah. Being filmed in Toronto, then? 
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I was almost fired by this guy because I wasnât cheerful enough.
A very good orator, but he was a toxic human being, even for the other lawyers around him.
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Years ago at a club on Ling Island Tommy James was playing. I was standing with a friend in the back and he jumps off the stage mid song, runs over & starts talking to me saying how great it is to see me. Chats for what seemed like an eternity while the band jams - realized that I wasnât whoever he thought I was - runs back to the stage - jumps up - continues with the show.
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I once floored British Heavyweight boxing champion Chris Eubank in a Brighton supermarket one night.
I say âflooredâ, but I wasnât looking where I was going and he was crouched down at a shelf and I walked into him, spilling French bread everywhere, but it still counts as a takedown, right?
He was very nice about it too.
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Welcome to our two newest members, by the way
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heh thatâs actually better than just meeting him in the normal way.
our friend Reed moved away to CA years ago and then Stranger Things was filmed here and in the 2nd season the acting community started finding our bars and clubs. the teen boy in ST looks a lot like Reed and my friend Nev saw him out. âHey, man! Didnât know you were back!â etc for a minute and thenâyou kinda have to know Nev but the idea is he doesnât really believe in social gracesâhe realizes his mistake and just goes âWait, youâre not Reedâ and abruptly turns and walks off, leaving the actor in perplexed silence.
Reed was pretty well-known around here as an ace battle rapper, so I wonder if that mistake keeps happening.
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New members Ahoy! 
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Tamsin!
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And Kathy!!
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