For me, the biggest jump in time definitely happened during medical school.[…]
After just such a year, I headed to Sweden to work at a hospital in
Upsala, about 45 minutes north of Stockholm. On the way there I stopped
in London to see a good friend from college (UC Berkeley). He suggested
that we go see the new Star Trek movie. I had heard that one
was being made, but I had no idea that it was finished, much less out in
theaters. I definitely didn’t know who was in it.Which is why,
about 10 minutes into the film, I leaned over to Aaron and said, “Hey –
you know that guy we both went to school with, Chris Pine? The guy
playing Kirk looks exactly like Chris.”Chris Pine had been a
student of mine in a senior English seminar at Berkeley. I have to
admit, he was one of my favorite students. In part, this was because he
wrote well. In part, it was because he was a complete nut. The last time
I had seen Chris, he had run up to me in Aroma cafe in LA, a few days
after the end of the semester in May 2002, begging to know his final
grade. At the time, I was cupping a latte in one hand and trying to hold
a poker face. It lasted about 0.68 seconds.“Hi Chris,” I took a sip. “It’s nice to see you, too.” I looked
around to see if anyone was there to witness me revealing a grade before
the official end of the term. The coast looked reasonably clear, and
Chris seemed SO eager to hear his grade. I lost the battle and broke out
in a grin. “Oh, and I’m pretty sure you got an A.” In an instant, the
man who would later be James Tiberius Kirk was jumping up and down,
doing a frenetic fist pump and shouting, “Yes! Yes! WHOO HOOO!” at the
top of his lungs.So much for keeping a low profile. It’s not Chris’ bag, I guess; and, in truth, it’s not really mine, either.
Flash-forward
to 2009. I’m sitting in that London theatre whispering, “That guy on
the screen looks at lot like Chris Pine.” Aaron giggled, checked to see
if anyone had heard him, and whispered, “Shey – that IS Chris Pine.”I
looked at the screen. It was an IMAX, so this look took a good long
moment. Then, I looked at Aaron. Back to the screen. Then, back to
Aaron.“What?” I said. Had I been on another planet? How could I have missed this?
“Shey – that’s him. That’s Chris.”
Then it was my turn to stand up and scream, "NO WAAAAAYYYY!!!!“ while pointing to the screen.
The whole article is good but I thought this part about Chris was adorable.
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