Dopplegangeresque
I’m sure we’ve all had that moment when a complete and utter stranger walks up to you and says “You look so familiar. Do I know you?” When I was young and arrogant, I would say “In your dreams.” Then when I became older and even more arrogant, I would say “In your dreams,” but with a Frank Sinatra smoothness to it. Now that I’m older yet and lost some of my arrogance, I say “I don’t think so.”
In college, this whole “don’t I know you?” would happen a lot. This is because I have a brother and two sisters and we all bear a striking family resemblance. The saying amongst my friends was “You seen one Taylor, you seen ’em all.”
However, since moving to Redmond, cases of mistaken identity have become a weekly event. One woman swore she knew me from the skate park. Anyone who’s spent five minutes in my presence knows I couldn’t balance on a skateboard to save my soul from Satan. The barista at my regular Starbucks consistently gets my order wrong no matter how many times a week I place my order specifically with her. It’s become an experiment of sorts. Another guy was pretty sure I’d gone to school at Western Washington University. I have too much melanin to have gone to Western. A Safeway checker I’d never spoken to before greeted me like an old friend and asked how my dog was. I don’t have a dog.
So here are the options. Either I have a very common face or I have a doppleganger on the loose. The latter is a very disturbing option because I thought I had caught them all, Pokemon-style.
Thus, I set out to verify the existence of this evil twin who apparently enjoys deviant sports like skateboarding and perhaps dog-walking. I’ll keep you posted, loyal readers.
PS. New Coming Distractions with new voting incentive.