oh, to be uncool...

Many of you know that I used to work at a record company as a sales rep. It's always fun to see what kind of a reaction I get when I convey this information to people who only know me as Handygraham, or only know me from church or from my East Nasty running group. Generally speaking, these reactions are usually to some tune of "surprise."

Maybe they're really used to me showing up at places with my tape measure on my belt and my pencil in my hat. Maybe they're used to me hanging out in coffee shops when normal people are working. I think, however, they're just used to the idea that I'm completely, unapologetically, unashamedly UNCOOL. Actually, when I consider that, even I find it hard to believe that I once worked in an environment where being hip was a prerequisite.

I know what you're thinking..."No way, Graham - YOU ARE THE COOLEST PERSON I KNOW!" I'm so, so sorry to have to do this, O imaginary blog fans, but the truth is quite contrary, and I think I'll give up lying for lent...or at least for today.

Good Ol' HootenAnnie Parsons recently alluded to guilty pleasures in one of her blogs...I realized that I don't actually feel guilty about some pretty lame pleasures. How am I "uncool?" Let me count (some of) the ways:

• I keep a copy of Lord of the Rings next to my bed and read it cyclically.
• AND I would gladly join Dwight Schrute if he went to New Zealand and journeyed from Hobbiton to Mordor.
  
• I know spells from Harry Potter better than Seamus Finnigan.
• I don't just think Saturday Morning Cartoons suck now, I've got a multifaceted argument to prove it.
• When I get home from work, I put on Nickelodeon. iCarly is my favorite.
• I appreciate Van Halen's "Jump" for it's musical genius & still listen to it even when I'm not at an eighties party.
• If it wouldn't scare the majority of my clientele, I'd always rock my Fu-Graham-Chu.
  

I could go on for days. I guess my point here isn't really to show how uncool I am, but more so remind myself that a lot of the uncool things about me are what make me who I am.

To quote Philip Seymour Hoffman's character in "Almost Famous:"

"The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with somebody when you're uncool."

I had trouble communicating with people at the record company, and often times just people in Nashville, because of this. For quite some time now, I've been pretty okay with my uncool preferences...Okay, okay...perhaps a bit TOO okay with them sometimes. 8) It's often difficult finding somebody who is either okay with their uncool preferences and/or okay with mine. But I'll tell you what - I couldn't even begin to put a value on the friends of mine with whom I share the bond of mutual uncoolness. Nothing compares to the freedom to be one's self - not to mention having friends who encourage this whether intentionally or unintentionally. So, here's to you, my friends who accept me for who I am...the good AND the bad. You've been a source of saving grace for me and will continue to be such.

AND, while I'm bleeding here on the altar of dignity...

I may or may not have watched most of "The Devil Wears Prada" last night.
I may or may not have changed the channel quickly when my buddy Aman arrived to watch 24 with me.
I may or may not have to borrow it from one of you so I can see the end.
I may or may not have a bit of a thing for Anne Hathaway.

On a far more manly note...I started yesterday by watching "Invincible" with Mark Wahlberg and ended it by watching Jack Bauer beat up on bad dudes.

Hey, I'm okay with being uncool...not unmanly.

In the words of Miranda Priestly, "That is all."