Being Cool

Many of the financial blogs I read will have posts about the lives bankers, traders, and others who are over payed lead. I won't go into details, but it mostly has to do with how they spend their ca$h money, look down on other people, and can't get enough of themselves. And about how cool all that is. It's kind of an idea that is perpetuated to make everybody feel better about themselves. A lot of people throw up these facades in all walks of life; this just happens to be the one I'm in. I'm sure lawyers have something they tell themselves about the good they do in the world. There's nothing wrong with it because we all know it's a smokescreen but I've been thinking about that a lot. When you apply to grad schools they want you to come in sure and focused of what you want to do next. There are certain career paths that are "cooler" than others. Many don't appeal to me so I've been thinking about what'll really make me happy long term. That may not be cool now, but someday it will be.

I feel many of the things I've done weren't cool at one point but ended up being cool; others were never and never will be cool. Many of these things make us the unique individuals we are. So I wanted to talk about a few things that aren't or weren't generally cool and invite others to add what they think are cool.

Running-In high school, wearing short shorts and running wasn't that cool. We had a great team so that made it a bit cooler, but we still weren't that cool. While wearing short shorts has never become cool, running has become cooler as I get older and people try to find ways to stay in shape. Running is the quickest way to get a workout so many people turn to that. I was way ahead of the game on this one.

Bon Jovi- Tricked you on this one because I don't think he's cool, but Tamara does. It was cool back in the day, but not any more. Tamara lost her voice screaming at his concert. She really wanted to go to his concert this last year and four out of five days I come home from work he's playing in the background.

Halo-Joe Hallmark was embarrassed when his wife invited everyone over for his birthday a year ago to play Halo. He thought we would think he was juvenile and immature. Little did he know everyone had been pining for a chance to play but was too embarrassed to say anything. We not get together semi-regularly and it has been one of the best things to happen to the group of guys that plays.

Clippers-You may find this hard to believe, but there aren't many Clippers' fans out there. When I tell people who I root for, they find it tough to believe. It's most likely due to the futile and embarrassing nature of how the team was run for so many years. They were bandwagon favorite a couple years ago when they made the playoffs but that was quickly abandoned. Whatever, I'm still in.

Sleeping-Nobody really opposes sleeping, but not everybody takes it as seriously as I do. I think it's been an essential part in my life and I don't function well without enough of it. As I pointed out before, I make significant sacrifices to sleep enough.

Dancing to 80's music-Once again, not one of mine but Tamara's. Any 80's song with a beat that comes on and you'll here "When I was in high school, I did a dance to this song. Wanna see it?" It's pretty impressive the amazing number of songs she danced to and how many she remembers.

I was going to list a bunch of things that are generally considered cool but I'm opposed to, but one of the coolest things I ever did prohibits me from doing that. You see, I exist in a hate free zone. There are a few things that we (Dix, my roommates from L46, and I) agreed could be hated on like the 2004 Sacramento Kings, swearing, and Capri pants, but generally speaking we really try not to hate. I don't always do a good job, but we have a special reminder of that now. Anybody who knows me will know what else I oppose.

These are a few of the things I or others think are cool. Feel free to add your own list so we can discuss.