"It's Cool to Be a Clown"

Ok, maybe not "cool" but unusual... I get called cool a lot.

I'm at an event and a teenager says, oh a clown, you're so cool. Or, "is this your job?" "Oh, you're so cool".

I'm a big ol nerd. I have no illusion of my cool factor, I have none. Cool people dated in high school, not me. Cool people played sports not me, I was singing in My Fair Lady for the Pacific High School Players. Cool people rode motorcycles in high school. I had a bright yellow 1972 VW bug.

And now, unless modern science improves immensely, I'm on the other side of middle age. Cool people my age are dating 22 year olds and driving Porches. I've been married almost 20 years and have a mini van and a bright red Toyota Yaris with Ralph Wigam on the antennae. Cool people are tan from trips to Tahiti or South America. I'm pasty hairy and my last trip was Fresno. Cool people wear cool clothes, sports coats, designer sunglasses and snazzy footwear. I have a rotating jean collection and a lot of vacation style shirts. In fact, I generally walk around looking like I'm a tourist.

My sons get rabid when someone finds out what I do and they say I'm cool. They actually yell, "he's not cool. He's a clown!" Their friends look at them blankly. "That's why he's cool."

So at best I march to the beat of an offbeat drum. Not cool. Just different.

I tend to be a bit lost in life. I can notice incredible detail and completely miss the obvious. I've been really shocked to learn there were girls in high school and college that thought I was cute. Completely oblivious.

I think people think I'm cool because I have an unusual profession. I would say artist but I don't feel like one, I just do what I do, it happens to be with a red nose and big shoes.

I guess being an individual is cool.

But to me...the Porche and 22 year old are cool!