KNOW WHAT REALLY TURNS ME ON?

COOL!

No, not cool that you know the answer, but COOL IS the answer. I am impressed with a lot of things - superior intelligence, extreme talent, good looks, great sense of humor, natural smile (WAY UP THERE), personality, good carriage, power, concepts beyond my comprehension, and a whale of a lot of other things people possess. But the thing that really turns me on is COOL. Grace under fire.

If you really must fall apart, do so after you have handled the crisis. There are so many things in the course of a day, a week, a life, when you can just LOSE IT. If you aren’t able to handle it with a bit of calm and class, you probably won’t be invited back into the inner circle. There are a few places that are just a set up for those who can’t keep their cool.

Airports are high on the list. The traveler is not usually as challenged as the guy that is supposed to PICK UP the traveler at a designated spot. It is time sensitive because the exact arrival time is inexact. There is no place to park unless you want to go to the parking garage and make the trek to baggage pick-up after you hook up. Or you can get back in the cue to pick them up (standing by their bags on the sidewalk) without much time or space. I have been there on one too many occasions and by the time your ‘picker-upper’ finds you, you are both steamed and thinking the whole idea might have been a misser. What a great way to start or end a vacation. Cell phones have done a lot to ease the problem but it doesn’t really erase it because the cool-free character can usually make a production out of that.

OR, see if this rings a bell with you…..someone is taking a shower and in the adjoining part of the bath the toilet is flushed. The ‘shower-er’ jumps THROUGH the glass door of the shower to escape the hot water. Not cool. It is entirely possible to live past the hot water surge without extreme danger. The same can’t be said for jumping through a glass door, even though they are shatter proof. ‘Cool-ly’ moving out of the way of the water would definitely have been a better choice. (Or choosing a mate who can remember not to flush.)
NOT COOL.

How about this?? You see a little too late that there is a paper bag in the street. You ‘SWERVE’ and barely miss it. The passenger gets a whip lash and the driver gets a lashing, but you miss the bag. Now even if the bag had explosives in it, which is rare, laying right by that dumpster the bag flew out of, it just might have been wiser to take a chance on it just being an old bag full of hamburger wrappings. You could have slightly turned the wheel and missed it completely or taken a wild chance and run over it. Either would have been a much better choice than to risk life and limb for everyone with those wild maneuvers.
NOT COOL.

So, if defensive driving is in your blood and it takes your full concentration, just drive all by yourself. All of those wild antics might add to your enjoyment and make the trip go faster (smoother would be out of the equation). And you might also make your destination on time but totally frazzled and NOT COOL.

Have you ever been HERE??? You make an innocent telephone call to someone and the reason for the call is not earth-shattering anyway but you want to talk about it. Ring - ring - ring - no answer. Fine, just as you start to hang up, someone yells, HELLO! Who is this?? Click. Not cool. If they were too busy or unable to talk right then, how are you supposed to know that? Just don’t answer the freaking phone if you can’t talk. It is a communication device over which we have a bit of control. The call was well intended, poorly received. How could you have been so insensitive to call right then about almost nothing? Didn’t need to push the panic button and I certainly don’t need to talk to you NOW.

So, please, the next time you are tempted to lose your cool, be prepared to lose a lot more than your cool. You might be taken off the Christmas card list. DRAMA IS OVER-RATED. COOL IS SEXY.