Thursday, February 19, 2009

Me < Cool

So one of the kids comes up to me and asks if that's an earring in my ear, and then he laughs a little. Like he thought, look at the old dude with the earring.

But I got my ear pierced over 30 years ago, I thought, before that kid was even born. 30 years ago. Damn.

That was the first time I did anything cool. We went to Carlos' house and mixed booze and whatever we could find in the blender: fruit cocktail, frozen yogurt bars, whatever. And Carlos brought out the dissecting needle that he took from school and all the guys pierced their ears. We borrowed earrings from the girls until the holes healed and we could get our own.

Everything I've done since, the Loverboy headband, the Sex Pistols safety pins, the Bon Jovi hair cut, the David Bowie leg wax, the David Lee Roth chest wax, the Ani DiFranco nose ring, the Michael Jackson nose job, the Tori Amos hair color, the Axl Rose cornrows, have all been an attempt to recapture that tiny, fleeting moment of coolness.

That year I first got my ear pierced, I was cool. It's been downhill ever since.