The Coincidence Diaries

Ever considered why certain events disturb you?

Why do coincidences occur? What do they mean?

Should we care?

Here's a diary of odd things which have happened to me....

1. As seen on a T-shirt worn by one of my students less than a week after seeing it on a card at the Arnolfini exhibition....."El dia de los muertos"not exactly the sort of phrase you see everyday is it?Even more remarkable is that I used to bounce that same expression at my friends when I was a university student moons ago....from a Ray Bradbury story.....now there's a man who liked a coincidence! That's THREE in one!

2. Klee - paintingWhen researching things to study for this course (before enrolling) I found that Klee, coincidentally, was interested in similar philosophical ideas. So what? Nothing striking there...but then I found a painting hanging on my bedroom wall (which I'd never paid much attention to) and, yes, it was a Klee!

3. The Zics e-mail exchangeHaving met the good Doctor Zics, I was pondering whether to enrol on the Design programme or the Music course. Making a snap decision one evening at about 6.30 I decided to e-mail Dr. Z to confirm......At 6.31 p.m.(almost instantly) I receive an e-mail from Brigitta wondering if I'd decided to accept her offer of a place. Spooky!

4. 126 & 121

to get away from coincidences, philosophy & arduino, we went to Chester one weekend. We had tickets for the footie at Anfield and we were allocated seats in Block 126. So what?Upon arrival at our hotel in Chester, the boys went up to reception and were given the keys to our room, yes, Room 126! Starting to get weird.....

5. The Sapphyre moments

When I built my recording-studio, I had far too many choices when it came to mixing-desks, new, second-hand, feature-driven or solid and safe, etc... Inevitably, just when I'd settled on one, an unusual old Soundcraft turned up. Tim, the supplier, knew I'd like that make, so I get a Sapphyre, a really nice thing. Not long after my eldest is ill and goes to hospital where he has to stay. I arrive and he's in...Saffire ward! The same year, at Xmas, we're looking in a jeweller's but not looking for jewelry, when my youngest spots an odd item. We go in and enquire about it - it's a saffire ring, so, of course, we get it! After, that, we call coincidences "saffire" moments!

6. Effing the effs!

Not long after starting this course, during the early days of studying philosophy and having been encouraged to maintain this part of the site, an old friend sent me an e-mail with a conundrum in it. It was one of those "spot the number of fs in it." No big deal...but...earlier that day we'd been studying perception in detail and exactly that kind of issue! (Not long after I was reading an article "Effing the Ineffable.") The same thing happened to me at the train station when I didn't see what was actually there! see No. 7 below....

7. Ticket machine, Newport stationI tried to buy a parking ticket for Newport car park. I was failing miserably, as was another man. The ticket attendant spotted our trauma and took pity. He showed us what to do in micro-seconds(!) and said, "We only see what we want to see!" Alva Noe would love him...

8. Priya Mishra - will this transpire to be the one and the same? or just a similar name? Apparently a common name, but after Zennis ze Menace name-checked her in his Patchwork project I was reminded of the similar name of someone whose article I had read the week before. I thought it was the same person, but it's unlikely....only here to show that it doesn't always hold true!

9. SAM - the Cybernetic Head!

My eldest's name and the name of the mind-blowing cybernetic creation which made such an impact on us when Nick Lambert addressed us.

10. True Wales! - the odd re-appearance of BannerI hadn't seen Rachel for years, since she'd been a student of mine studying Latin in the 80s. Suddenly she's everywhere, on TV, in the papers, etc. arguing for the True Wales vote in the referendum. She was always left-of-centre and courageous. One day in work I turned a corner and there she was..she'd been invited in by the Politics Society. Hugs all round. Later that night she was being attacked in the media for being the Welsh Sarah Palin. That annoyed me: Sarah Palin doesn't know where Africa is; Banner's got brains.

11. Keanu Reeves & his Bandso what's the connection between this film star and my Kenneth Anger/Crowley-inspired password for the website of one of my favourite original Anger/Crowley-inspired artists?I'd never heard of his band and the password's virtually identical, as are our reasons for their creation. Not only that, but he's the star of the film with an extraordinary philosophical base, as far as phenomenology, ontology & metaphysics is concerned! You must know the film!

12. Muse is a film, directed by my Italian chum, Massimo Salvato, for whom I've been requested to write some PR reviews.....one day we have a Guest Lecture on our programme by a representative of the very company who did the posters for............yes, Muse! Very spooky. But the speaker turned out to be unaMUSing....

13. Toy (the lost album) & the Toy dismantling project:Both happened on the same day...the album turned up on the Net one Sunday after a decade of silence, while I dismantled my 1st electronic sound-toy at the same time. We'd been playing with sound-toys on the Friday in university. A lovely coincidence, particularly, since the opening salvo of the album relates so much to childhood.Ought we leave this at 13? Why not? It was my house number years ago, but .....we didn't have a number coz it would have been 13!

14. Sue Blackmore

The famous paranormal-expert-turned-academic (on consciousness, that is) is at the centre (focus) of this. I'd been reading an interview in her book (with Varela) about neuro-science and decided to pop down to Tesco Express for some provos for dinner. While ambling down the newspaper isle I was amused and surprised to spot Sue Blackmore peering up from a BBC magazine, entitled Focus. The mag had an article on the Brain, featuring Sue Blackmore as the expert. I'd been down there thousands of times and never would have thought she'd be there! I hadn't touched her book for about a year!They just keep coming.....

15. Xenophilia

Never seen the word, though it's made of Greek bits, easy, too.

xeno = stranger, foreigner, (alien?)philia = love of....fond of....etc. (its negative connotations as a suffix are a shame)

'Philoxenia' is more common & used widely in Greece for "hospitality."

Anyway, time to join twitter (not interested in twitting, tweeting or twatting...) but need a password. So I choose something very similar to the above (I'm not divulging).The next day (erm....) the boys come to me at teatime & start spouting the word "xenphilius." Should be spelled "xenophilous" but it's very close to my password and too odd for it to be coincidental, but it is!!So, my boys come with a random word which is almost exactly my twitter password! And I thought it was pretty strong.

16. Transdisciplinary

Talking of words, this is pretty odd and it's topical. This whole site is the result of these kind of studies. One day in work I decided to throw it into a report, though I had not used it or seen it for some months. The same evening I browsed Facebook & the first thing I see is a photo of the word largely-inscribed on a book cover, put there by the very promoter of this blog! It's not surprising that Brigitta or I should use the word. It's the timing, again, as if we were thinking about it simultaneously. She hadn't explained why she was putting the photo there, either!

17. 'heroes'

Too many Strongbows

Everyone’s aware of the album cover for the Bowie recording, where he mimics a painting. In 2004 he stopped touring & recording. Nothing. Empty spaces instead. Most of the media gave up on his ever-returning, etc. About a year ago, in or around 2011, on one of my family's birthday, we were drinking & messing about when my youngest wanted to take some snaps of me drinking. I started playing about & doing silly gestures, unknowingly. Results are below...Some of them look like the above cover. It's the same cover db chose for his surprise return in 2013 for "The Next Day" but with a white square over it. Those of us who never gave up deserve these silly coincidences.Who'd have thought all that messing about would be replicated again (ironically) by the man himself?

the original cover??!!

18. Trevor & Liz (or the Rob Lear diaries....or Echo & the Bunnymen, perhaps...)

Cue....my mate, Trevor, who lives at the end of my street. He always books concerts for us to go to, usually punk bands from aeons ago....like Stiff Little Fingers or the Damned.This time I did the booking &, surprisingly, he knew very little about Ian McCulloch (the world-renowned lead-singer with the Bunnymen!!). The show was in Roath, Cardiff, of all places. Mac the mouth had decided to promote his Latin-titled album by touring tiny clubs around the UK. Couldn't fault it. He'd been slammed on the Pledgemusic website by his (so-called) fans for the delay in the release of the album.

1st coincidence = I'd slammed them in return, pointing out that he was an artist & had little control over manufacturing, etc., mentioning Bowie in my rant. His album comes out just after with some changes on it , including a nod to Bowie - Me & David Bowie. Nice. Good song, too!

Coincidence 2 = At the show in Cardiff, Rob Lear, whom I'd not seen in years, nor been aware of is.....the No.1 support act. Nothing startling, there. But when we arrive at the club I ask if Rob is there & I'm advised he's upstairs. Off I go....up the stairs.....another set of stairs....back down. No sign of Rob. Lost Trev, now, too. Back down all the way into the hall, where the show was to take place. And there's Trev......talking to ........a woman......who is with Rob! At last, I find Rob and introduce myself. He's guessed it's me. But I'm more concerned with Trev, who's chatting to this woman. There's only 4 of us in there, after all. Turns out......Trev knows her well. Here name is Liz & she's playing with Rob on stage. Liz is Trevor's daughter's piano-teacher!! He doesn't know she plays with Rob & he doesn't know any of Ian's songs either. You couldn't make it up! Hilarious. Later Ian sings a version of Sorrow, which I've also done as a joke in the past!

19. Ekliptikon (The strange case of the secretary's voice)

Eskallonia Kwiksilva had been messing with some samples. The DJs (Batshit Fruitcake) were making the track ‘Ekliptikon’ and found one of his samples, some spoken word. The track was dedicated to the current eclipse. They reversed it for a mangled effect. While mixing we played it on its own and, surprisingly, the voice clearly gave the date of the Total Eclipse in England 1927! Spooky.

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