Cool-ophobia

The recent post on the amazing Style Bubble, about streetstyle websites and their popularity nowadays, totally opened my eyes to a lot of other sites I hadn't known about like The MisShapes and Dirty Dirty Dancing. But when I started checking out photograph after photograph of the fashionable passers-by and young hip party goers, I realized that to me, they're like strange creatures that I can't even relate to. I feel dumbfounded even looking at large numbers of photographs of cool people.

I concluded I have a tragic case of ... prepare for an even lamer word than treggings... cool-ophobia - the fear of cool people and all things associated.

For example... I love art, and yet I feel weird in art supply stores and don't like going to galleries, because I know that all the hip art kids will be there. I haven't even gone to many exhibitions. Around January, I went to check out an exhibition of the work of a boy my mother teaches. He draws these cool comic book inspired stuff and he's really good. Anyway... I get there and the gallery is jam-packed with people. I could hardly stop and look at each drawing. I saw the teacher that taught me Art History at the college I used to go to. I went up to her, said hello, but she gave me a quick glance, totally didn't care to even look at me and acknowledge my greeting. It looked like she was only there for the free refreshments, I hate to say something so rude, but it totally looked that way. It was so terrible because I absolutely LOVED her classes. I had been dying to go to an Art History class, so it was a dream come true. At one point this guy starts staring at me, for a looong time, and then I pass a group of people, who definitely looked like art students, and they're talking and laughing about something artsy. So I felt totally weird and out of place. Talk about a "pleasant" gallery experience. So I couldn't wait to get out of there.

However... I like to go to second-hand bookstores. It seems to me that cool people, you know the party kids and the art students and the fashionable people, wouldn't go to a tiny bookstore to hang out, at least not in a big crowd. Visiting a second-hand bookstore looks like something to do on your own - a solitary experience. I'm not a bookworm, so I feel kind of silly and occasionally stupid, but I like it there. I don't feel uncool.

If you're reading this and you're a cool person: If you ever see me entering a bookstore, please, don't run in too. It's my sanctuary from your intimidating coolness.