Kevin Bacon, fame, and growing older

I grew up as a middle class kid. My Dad worked and my Mom stayed home. My Dad's job oscillated between upper middle class and lower middle class (he's in a construction related industry that has always seen some big ups and downs). So I didn't really know any "famous" people. About the most "famous" person I "knew" was an ancestor of mine who invented a gun that was wildly popular for a couple years before being completely replaced by breach loading rifles. I've noticed as I've gotten older that I've become closer and closer to famous people as my connections have grown and matured. Some of them are "niche" famous. The CEO of a big mid-regional Bank. The inventor of a board game. Some of them are only briefly famous like Vile Rat whom I did not know but several of my friends online knew very well. And then today, I found out that one of our oldest family friends is dating Zooey Deschanel (which immediately made me realize that my Kevin Bacon number is now 3 thanks to the movie Sundance Skippy). Through most of elementary school, I was best friends with his older brother (who was quite a jerk to him, even by normal 'older brother' standards). Kind of a weird thing. I'm also reminded at least monthly that just because you think someone is unreachable doesn't mean they really are. There's a fairly large number of interesting people I've "met" on the internet that you would think wouldn't have time to even respond to email. Game creators. Sports writers. Economists. You won't always get a response but there's zero harm in sending interesting people email. If they're so busy that they can't / don't respond then so be it. They probably didn't even read it and even if they did, that probably means the number is so large they can't remember any particular email. If they do respond, sometimes the conversations you strike up can be very meaningful.

So keep making those connections and maybe you'll get your Bacon Number down to below mine ;)