I really think the 6 Degrees theory is very valid. I have found that my life crosses paths in such a random way that it really can't be random. Especially in a place like NYC. If I lived in small town, of course I'm going to run into people who know my cousin, or my old roommate, etc, but in a city of 8 million people, it seems less likely. 

Example over the years in reverse chronological order:

• Visited cousins Sally & Doug a few blog entries ago. We were talking about soaps (well, doug & alex were doing most of the talking - those men and their stories ).  sally said that the sister-in-law of a co-worker is on a CBS soap. We couldn't figure out who it was, so sally asked her colleague. turns out her brother is jerry and his wife is kathleen -- who was my mom's roommate in  nyc in the 1950s.  so, my mom's friend from the '50s is married to jerry, whose sister works w/ my cousin in maryland. They live in nyc and are like my godparents.
  
• Robin, former colleague of mine, is from Rhode Island, but moved to NYC a few years ago. Turns out her niece is going to be attending High Point University -- i was born and raised in HP and my dad was a professor of business there for decades.
• Went to see the band Camera Osbcura at South St. Seaport a few weeks back. Free concert so it was ridiculously packed.  In the middle of a loud show, i hear, "kate. Kate! KATE" I turn around and see my very tall (and loud) friend, Marla (how she saw me is baffling), who I lost touch with a few years ago. She  just happened to be having dinner in that area. had no idea who the band was or that a band was even playing.
• So, they seem to happen in waves. When I first moved to NYC, back in '94, I was friends w/ Vanessa who was in the same grad program at NYU and we lived in the same dorm. When we moved out, she apartment sat for a couple who were makeup/hair artists for a traveling broadway show. they had 2 obese cats that were so fat, they couldn't bathe themselves and a pure, pure evil cocker spaniel. bit my ankles every time i walked into the apt. but i digress. she needed me to look after the place its inhabitants one week while she went out of town. one day i was in the elevator with her neighbors. started talking. turns out my mom taught them in the 1960s in Mount Airy, NC
• And the first time this happened, was when i moved into my 1st apartment (by myself and not in a dorm) at 408 W. 34th St. Great studio. Loved that place. Couple next door -- she's a dancer, he's an actor.  Started talking w/ them about where we're from, etc. They both went to the NC School of the Arts and worked at a restaurant in High Point where I waited tables
  

Small World.