I'm famous!

In case it's escaped anyone's attention, I have a fairly distinctive look. It's also been remarked upon that I'm not entirely shy of a crowd and have been known to exhibit certain exuberant eccentricities - especially when I've been drinking. Another side effect of drinking is memory blur and loss, which can then lead to certain awkward social moments when folks remember me, but I have no idea who they are.

Most of these occurrences are fairly average, such as people saying hi to me in shops or people I meet through work saying "You gave me a presentation a couple of months back...", but there have been a few of interest recently - I'll share some:

1. T.V.
Quite some time ago, I appeared on a daytime T.V. quiz show by the name of Brainteaser (now closed down due to legal scandal).

Plenty of people at home and University recognised me and came up to me afterwards (proof, if ever it was needed, that students just sit around watching rubbish on TV all day) - but a particularly disturbing moment was experienced a fair few weeks after the programme aired, in a pitch-black nightclub in Manchester, at 3am, when two chaps came up to say they recognised me.

If that's not strange enough, I should point out that I dressed casually and fairly 'normally' for the show. In Manchester, I was wearing a dress and make-up (don't ask):


_{Ducky says hi}

2. U.S.A.
Under the guise of work, I slipped off to Seattle earlier this year for a Microsoft internal conference. There was lots of drinking along the way, but one particularly memorable night was the main party. I was on stage twice at this party - once jamming with the house band (fairly sober) and once dancing with a tambourine (less sober).

Videos of this (fairly extended) moment exist, and I'm sure the image has stuck in many a Microsoftie's mind and will be firmly rooted there, as the one lasting memory they have of the conference. It was still quite a shock last night though when someone with lots of neon on grabbed me just as I was finishing some tequila and shouted "You were awesome in Seattle".

It took me quite a while to discern what on earth he was on about, and how he knew (of) me.

3. W.O.G.s (Weird Oracle Girls)
I get a free bus from the office back to my house on the rare days I'm actually working in Reading, and this gets quite crowded around 5.30. Twice though, earlier on, when the bus was empty, a girl has gotten on from our neighbours Oracle, and sat right next to me.

Sure, you think, it's just my sexual magnetism - not so. Possibly. The first chatted away to me for quite a while, which was lovely, and seemed to know quite a bit about me. I couldn't place her though until she walked halfway to my house, and then turned off a side-street saying "See you Tuesday". At this point I still thought she was some crazy stalker, until Julie suggested she might be a girl I dance Salsa with on Tuesdays.

However, the second W.O.G. still remains a mystery to me. Likewise, she sits and talks to me, and it's gotten to the point now where I can simply reference other bus conversations and look like I know who she is. I just wish she'd wear a name badge on the bus one of these times - I really would like to know how she knows me.