The Essence of Cool

What makes something cool? Have you ever noticed that something that looks so cool on someone else can look totally stupid on you? Maybe I'm alone here, but I see some great fashion or trend and think it looks hot... but the second I try to replicate it in my own wardrobe, it just looks hokey or stupid. Sometimes I am able to attribute this to the fact that I had to buy the "cheap" versions of the style because there was no way I was paying $400 for a pair of plaid pants or whatever. But I think the inevitable truth of it is that it comes down to how cool the person is that is trying to pull it off. #1 Ingredient needed for coolness? Confidence. Without a doubt. If you believe in something and have complete confidence in what you are doing or wearing, you can make anything work. For example, Shakira. Look at the way she dances. If I tried to dance like that I would constantly be thinking "oh my god, I look like an idiot". And the result would probably be that I, in fact, looked like an idiot. Shakira, however, looks totally hot no matter what she does. Even when she's doing that weird twitchy sort of dancing, she looks amazing. She's totally confident and that's why it works.

Of course, when I think about it, confidence can't be all there is to it. If you watched the American Idol auditions, you saw that there are lots of people out there who are confident and sure that they are good at what they are doing, but who look completely ridiculous to everyone else. So what's the second ingredient? To be honest, I am not sure. If I knew, I would probably have been a lot more popular growing up. From what I saw in High School, being cool was so much about who was willing to have sex and get drunk or have fun. I don't think that's really the key now that I'm older. I think it has more to do with looking good sometimes than anything else. Shakira looks good doing whatever because she just looks good period. So Ingredient #2 is good looks?? No, because there are cool ugly people right? Like Weird Al or even Steven Tyler. Maybe the key is just to know yourself and what really works for you. For the whore in my high school that lost her virginity at 13... sex and drugs worked for her and made her super popular for that time in her life.

I don't really have anyone that I want to be "cool" for right now, but i definitely need to work on my confidence and knowing myself better. I grew up in the middle of a family where my sister was always the coolest, even at my own birthday parties, she was the one people wanted to hang out with... and where my brother was the good looking personable one that everyone loved. As for me? I guess I was the nerdy one that had great potential. Can someone be 31 and still have potential? I hope so. It's about time I found that confidence I have always come up short of. Who knows? Maybe I'll publish a very cool book and be the coolest 32 year old writer to ever live. :)