Friday, 2 September 2016

I'm So Cool

I was at a friend's birthday meal yesterday and the topic of what it means to "be cool" came up, regarding what we want to be seen doing. One companion said, about his birthday a few months ago,

"the day after my birthday, I told my co-workers that I had gone on a birthday meal. They asked, "where did you go?", and I think they expected me to say somewhere fancy. When I told them that I went to Wagamama's they just looked at me and I don't think they thought I was very cool."

I found this pretty odd. Is being cool: going to a posh restaurant just so that you can say, the next day, that you had been to a posh restaurant in the past? Regardless of the actual enjoyment you got out of the posh restaurant: just so you can be judged on what you chose to spend your time doing? Judged by an equally superficial set of people who also do things - regardless of whether they actually enjoy the things the choose to do or not - so that they can tell other people that they had done them the next day?

If this is what being cool is these days, I want no part of it. You can find me reading a book on a Friday night, or going for a quiet drink, at a venue that's not completely ram packed (just because it happens to be the flavour of the month) with one or two close friends.

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