Twins?

The first time I met my current supervisor I was wondering why I thought he looked so familiar, and why I thought I already recognized his mimic and his facial expressions etc. I wondered why I found it so easy to handle him even when he was a bit stressed and near-abrupt yet polite, and I felt as if I had done it all before and figured him out. Obviously that was not the case; it was my first year here and the first time ever that I met him.

Today I had a similar experience. I was watching the West Wing on DVD (norsk: Presidenten), and I realised that I thought I have worked with Toby at some point. I read his body language correctly before he has uttered a word, I understand what he means with very few words said, I realise I would probably like working for/with him, even if he were to seem grumpy and I kind of find him charming, in a funny but distinct way. I was thinking 'this is a weird deja-vu kind of thing'. As if I had had the same experience before.

And then it hit me: they look the same! See:

They are not exactly the same, but they have enough in common -more than enough, in fact- to absolutely stand a comparison. What strikes me the most about them both is their incredible knowledge. Their brains are literally swelling with knowledge, and the amount of knowledge they have somehow forgotten (however unlikely that might seem, that they have forgotten anything anytime at all, I mean) probably surpasses all the knowledge I will ever put into my brain during my whole lifetime. And I say that being a PhD student. I find them both to be intriguing personalities, to be fascinating in their appearance and to be completely lovely however deep you get below the surface. Even if one of them is fictional and the other one real that does not really change my thinking. I like them both:-)

UPDATE: I only just found out that "Toby's" real life name is Richard. Now this is just scary.