I think I must be one of the cool kids.

Last summer, I randomly met a former child actor who starred in a popular TV show during my own childhood. We had a pretty interseting conversation and I thought about writing him a fan letter afterward. Tonight, while deeply immersed in preparing for my upcoming qualifying exams, I discovered that this former child actor is in fact part of my Friendster network.

Specifically, six of his friends are friends with four of my friends. One of these four is more fabulous and better-connected in the jet-setting gay 20something set than most of my friends are, and he personally accounts for three of the connections. But there are these three other people I know, who also know a friend of this child actor's, meaning that there are overlapping connections rather than one random link.

I think I must be one of the cool kids. The mystery becomes, how come nobody else realized this in my sixth grade class? And yet, on the other hand, it becomes less myserious when you realize that Friendster and its curious argot - "Is Jack really your friend?" "Jane has accepted your Friend Request" - are most likely the invention of former uncool sixth graders. Who else would be so interested in counting how many friends they have?