Doppelganger Double Down

I have had a plague of doppelgangers. For years, going back to when I lived in New York and everyone thought I was someone named Zoe. Then there are the phone doppelgangers. There are alumni doppelgangers. I have my army of dingbat doppelgangers, who never seem to learn. And they still don't. I get orders for work from a clothing company. I have been thanked for helping out on Staten Island with post-Sandy clean up. I get notices for my season tickets for the Vancouver Canucks. All of my South African friends send me articles about my new Johannesburg neighborhood. The spa in Austin keeps wanting to confirm my facial on Tuesday. A farm in Alabama sent me a notice that my check was ready for pick up.

Yeah.

But all of these have been related to my name. Which is pretty common. Today, I got a new doppelganger. Instead of going to my name-related email address, these came into my other email address. It's a Cambodian word. I set up the email account when I was in grad school, working on Cambodian art history. I've had it for more than a decade. This morning, my Cambodian word email address joined facebook. And sent friend requests to every. single. person. in. Cambodia. And they are ALL confirming. My inbox is completely full of messages from facebook telling me that Samnang and Bun and Srey Na and Chandra and a million other people have confirmed our friendship. So far I haven't seen anyone *I* know. But at the current rate of friending it's only a matter of time.

Comments

[Kevin Shea]

I am mildly wistful that I do not have any friends named Bun. And Bun makes me think of Vietnamese street food, like a good bowl of bún thịt nướng. Which reminds me that I don't have any bún, either. This makes me a little sad, and hungry. Hmm. Perhaps I shall repair to my favorite Vietnamese restaurant, order some bún thịt nướng and inquire if anyone is named Bun. Oh, and contemplate my good fortune (perhaps) that I am not plagued by dingbat doppelgangers.

[Missives from the Birdcage]

Excellent! I'm a fan of bun cha gio chay, myself.

[Mitch Eaton]

that's pretty awesome to have that many friends. Even facebook friends...

[Juleekim]

Ha ha ha.