Freak Week

Saturday night I went to this party where the conversation somehow turned to the subject of The Apprentice. One of the guys I was talking to happened to work with Tammy, the cute brunette on this season's Synergy team. Fast forward to an hour later and my second party of the night, and who was there but Tammy and co-cast member/munchkin Allie. Weird, right?

Come Monday, I'm relaying this sighting to one of my co-workers, and the subject turns to how we both know people that have auditioned for various game shows. She tells me that in college, two of her friends were contestants on Supermarket Sweep - that so-awful-it's-hilarious food shopping show that ran on Lifetime and Pax TV in the 1990's. I hadn't thought of that show in years, but I had an odd fascination with it in high school and would watch it nearly every day. Fast forward to tonight at the gym when I recognize one of the regulars as Sweep host Dave Ruprecht. Okay, now THAT'S weird! But it get's weirder...

I came home and checked IMDB because I'm only about 85% sure this guy is him - he looks like him and according to his bio he lives in the area, but I can't find any recent pictures on the web that might better reflect the person I've been looking at for the last six months. What I do find, however, are two more coincidences that go beyond anything having to do with Mercury in retrograde, but are more like something out of my own personal Twilight Zone:

1.) He had a recurring role on the last season of Three's Company, and in fact married Janet, the girl sitting pretty on the upper right hand corner of this page

2.) He also had a role on Doogie Howser MD, the only other celebrity I've ever seen at the gym. Just last weekend.

Who's next? According to one of my favorite books, The Celestine Prophecy, there are no coincidences - seemingly random run-ins are really nature's way of delivering important messages. But what is the message here? Do I need to go food shopping? Audition for a game show? Date a 16 year old surgeon? What?!?