The Village of Cool

Cool duds for cool dudes - Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
VACATION WEEK

I took all of Halloween week as a vacation week. I was bummed about the overcast, rainy skies but still managed to work in three birthday dinners, giving out candy to trick-or-treaters and overseeing two carpentry repairs to my house. In hindsight, it was actually a good, productive week. I could use some more of those.

COMEDY OF ERRORS

The Comedy of Errors is Shakespeare's comedy involving the mistaken identities of twins. It’s considered one of Shakespeare’s less inspired works. I think the Obamacare debacle is a comedy of errors, and it couldn’t be any less inspired as it turns out.

Kathleen Sebelius was skewered on Saturday Night Live, as well she should have been. SNL joked that healthcare.gov could only handle 6 users at a time. In an incredible instance of life imitating art it turns out that only 6 Americans were able to sign up through healthcare.gov on October 1st.

The entire top tier of the health and human services department should be fired for such astounding incompetence. Insiders note that Sebelius can’t be fired -- she has a sort of political immunity. A replacement would call for contentious, drawn-out Congressional hearings that would do more damage than good. She has zero credibility at this point, and should probably quit being the public face of her department. The administration has brought in a big honcho from Verizon to fix the system. It’s probably not a good omen that the site still went down for a day one week after he was brought in.

Everyone, keep your fingers crossed. Affordable health care shouldn’t have been entrusted to Larry, Darryl and Darryl. Let’s hope that someone finally gets it figured out.

COOL DUDES

I’m in Starbucks looking at all the cool dudes around me. They variously have cool buzz cuts, tattoos, designer jeans and Samsung Galaxy smart phones. These guys glom together in each other’s reflective coolness. I was never really cool a day in my life.. having just turned 56 it’s looking less likely. Gray hair and jowls are not good from a modeling standpoint. I go for comfort as a primary focus -- thus to explain my loose fit Levis, Sketcher loafers and XL sized tee from Target.

There was a time in my 20’s where I would’ve sold my soul to be cool -- nobody was in the market for my soul. I was crushed if my roommate was invited to an A-List party and I was not. I was mortified if my socks didn’t match or my shirt had the wrong emblem. In spite of my best, albeit clumsy efforts I never made it to the A List. In fact, my social ineptitude got me somewhere on the E List (not even on par with Kathy Griffin).

At 56, I don’t get looks anymore -- in fact I may be the Invisible Man. I’m relieved if I don’t have to make an appearance at a stiff social function, and I shop for comfort way more than fashion. A few years back, my brother said (tongue slightly in cheek) that we’d adapt well to old age. Even then, we both liked:

o Elevator music
o American cars with velour seating
o Dining at Luby’s cafeteria

I’ve entered an arena where I can embrace all of those things if I so desire -- to heck with what anyone thinks. Cool dudes -- would it make a difference if I listened to Enya, drove a Mercedes and ate at Parigi? Would it fit the picture any better? It’s a ridiculous "if” because I would never choose things which to me seem stuffy and kind of phony. You’ll have to invite this guy who wears a Fossil watch, drives a Ford and eats at Taco Cabana. That guy also has a receded hairline and a few wrinkles.

One wrinkle I don’t have is unrealistic expectations about myself. I’m a bit like my Sketcher loafers -- well-travelled, comfortable and practical. I do allow some luxuries here and there but nothing Donald Trump would ever envy. I’ve been accused of having a lot of Apple toys, but that actually puts me way further from the Village of Cool.

That village is in my rearview mirror and it’s skyline is becoming an impressionistic gray blur. I’m OK with the growing distance between us.

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