Posts Tagged ‘cool points’

Why we are probably destined to live elsewhere

February 4, 2009 |  by cool mum  |  NYCool  |  No Comments

Man, people in New York are cool. Or, I should say, I think the people in New York are cool.

If you want to start out with major cool points with me, introduce yourself and tell me that you live in or have lived in NYC. I think I even give subconscious cool points to those who say they like the place.

This seems so weird now that I’ve become aware of it. Why on earth would an association with this city make one cooler? Really, now. It’s just a city. Yes, it’s a cool city to me. But, a place full of both the best in the world and the worst in the world, residents who can’t be generalized under any certain adjectives considering how high the population is.

But still, even the old people are cool to me. The 90-something-year-old woman who lives across the hall from us has a really cool haircut. Kind of the reverse mullet emo thing. I complimented her on it and she said she did it herself. My kind of girl. On another occasion on the Upper West Side, an older lady heard Cool Baby screaming in his stroller and said “Just give ‘im a bagel!” with a laugh.

There are also the countless people who have jumped to offer a hand in lifting the stroller up flights of stairs, returned thrown-overboard mittens to us, opened doors, offered their seats, entertained the antsy Cool Baby on the bus, or even informed us that he was missing a shoe, falling asleep at an odd posture, or might be cold.

Today I looked around at my Bible study and thought, “Wow, these ladies are cool. I totally don’t fit in here in that sense. But I wish I did.”

So my initial suspicion has proven to be true. This may just be one very expensive…very very expensive example of the Cool Parents trying way too hard to be cool. Who knew being nerds in high school would cost so much money so many years down the road.

Time to mount a cool comeback

January 23, 2009 |  by cool dad  |  NYCool  |  4 Comments

Our cool points have been taking a beating as of late, and we’re barely staying afloat at 34 cp (alright). Well, we’re still up in NYC and having fun, so that’s gotta be good for something. Here’s a rundown of what’s been going on.

- There’s a very fun place for kids to play, but the membership fee was quite steep (for us frugal Floridians). We took the boy there for a free promotional night, and I must confess, I got a little misty-eyed seeing how much fun he was having.

Here’s this amazing 1 and a 1/2-yr old who’s been lugged around the Southeastern US and Europe, and now plucked from his quiet, comfy Florida home and dropped in the middle of loud, hectic Manhattan. I reminisce about what and who we’ve left behind, but at least I understand why we’re not there anymore. Cool Baby does not have that luxury.

Cool Mum and I realized that we moved here for our excitement and fun. We needed to sacrifice a little to give the boy some fun and excitement all his own, so we bought the membership pretty much the next day. [+10 cool points]

- We’ve never seen the Food Network show Throwdown, but my co-worker told me about a bakery on the Upper West Side that won one episode for the best chocolate chip cookie. After that, I couldn’t stop thinking about the place.

Last weekend, after some time at CB’s new stomping grounds, we walked through the falling snow to the renowned Levain Bakery. Again, our cheap selves would normally balk at a $3.75 chocolate chip cookie, BUT this is how it was described to me:

“huge mound”
“crispy on the outside, chewy in the middle”
“warm with melted chocolate chips”
“like eating a hamburger”

I felt destined to patronize the bakery, so patronize we did. Some out-of-focus shots of these little mounds of heaven:

Oh man, those pictures bring me back. Anyway, I feel pretty cool for having what the Food Network thinks is the best chocolate chip cookie in New York, and that we didn’t let $3.75 each stop us. For one moment, I guess I felt like a real Manhattanite, and not a crazy weird miserly neurotic who keeps track of how cool he is using a points system. [+5 cool points]

- Tomorrow, we plan to meet friends for brunch at The Shake Shack, take CB to his play place, and CM might take a dance lesson. And none of those things involve a laptop (unless I get creative). I can’t remember the last time, if ever, we met someone for “brunch.” I feel like we should take a chopper out to The Hamptons on Sunday. Who are we and what have we done with the Cool ‘Rents?? [+10 cool points]

Through the craziness, God shines

November 12, 2008 |  by cool dad  |  NYCool  |  3 Comments

For the last week and a half, life has involved working and moving stuff from one apartment to another little by little. I’ve felt out-of-touch from news, the election, and the blogosphere.

I don’t think I’ve spent so little time on the Internet in a while. I wish I could say that it was some planned fast from the Web, but no – it’s just been crazy busyness.

However with all of the craziness of life, God is shining through. In amazing ways, He is ordaining our time here. It’s obvious to us that He’s moving and designing everything here in NYC for our family.

Right now, I’m working on a post that will hopefully look back on how everything has unfolded and God’s hand on it all. That is, if I can get some more good time online. Not a guarantee anytime soon.

You all are so cool for sticking around! +10 cool points all around!

Trying WAY too hard to be cool, but finding out you’re a prideful dork

October 23, 2008 |  by cool mum  |  the Life  |  4 Comments

I think I’m a darn cool mum these days. Peek into my head for a moment.

I live in the greatest city in the world. I walk down the street and see my neighbors Bono and Michael J. Fox. I stroll a happy baby around and laugh at the thought of all the people (actually, probably just lots of movie scripts) that said, “You can’t raise a baby in New York City!”

I’m surrounded by well-educated people, world-famous museums, and streets that have rich cultural significance. I left the city for a week to visit my family and all I thought about was, “Well, in NYC, we have…” and I tried really hard not to speak these comparisons where NYC is always “superior” because I became annoying even to myself.

Then I realized the hard truth. (If anyone is still reading this self-aggrandizing post.) I am becoming a prideful dork-slash-jerk. Here I am being protected, cared for, and blessed by my God and I respond by getting full of self-coolness. This, my friends, is why I think I haven’t posted in a while. The latest post ideas haven’t come to life because it would be a challenge to hide the yucky reality of Cool Mum. [-20 cool points]

A few years ago I was hit hard by the pride chapter in CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity. He talks about how pride is a root of so many sins. And it’s just not something that people naturally have mercy on when they sense it in other people, Lewis says. Think about how rare it would be to encounter someone who seems to be completely full of himself and say, “Poor guy, he is really struggling with pride right now.” Pride is just that gross.

In my analysis of pride of few years ago, I remember thinking that Jesus Christ is the only answer. Without Jesus, there is no logical reason to not be prideful. For instance, if I thought I could work my way to God or to being a good person, then there would be no reason for humility. But, because I know that Christ’s death is the only way I can be saved, then pride is seen for what it truly is, and it makes sense that prideful attitudes would be universally bothersome.

Are you struggling with pride right now?

As you pursue the crazy things that you feel God wants you to do, do you ever find it sneaking into your heart? Or in the past, how have you dealt with it?

A casual run-in with Bono in Central Park

September 21, 2008 |  by cool mum  |  NYCool, culture  |  9 Comments

It’s a good thing we walked 2 miles to church this morning. Our effort to save $8 in bus fares was richly rewarded. Here comes another dorky fan moment for the Cool Family!

As the previous post mentioned, we decided to walk to church. East Side to West Side, across Central Park around 10am. As usual, Cool Dad and I argued about which path to take while standing in front of the Great Lawn. We took the path I had originally planned for us (you’re welcome, CD).

A few moments later, CD was pushing the stroller and I was walking by his side. We noticed some men in black suits with radio earpieces. I casually looked up and noticed a very familiar man walking with two women. He was walking RIGHT past us and his face was shining in the sun. The sunglasses and height triggered my memory–BONO!

Here comes the dorky part. I stopped dead in my tracks after he passed, grabbed CD’s arm, and said “That’s Bono!” We both looked back and saw police golf carts following the group. And “casually” we turned the stroller to follow them. Yeah…we were really playing it cool. There’s no way we looked suspicious at all. [-10 cool points]

As we followed, the group seemed to be gaining speed and leaving us behind. We strained our eyes to see the back of his glorious head and noticed three people were trailing behind and then veered to a separate path to the right. The men in black continued around the Great Lawn.

“Surely the security guys wouldn’t leave Bono and his two ladies (we think one was his wife Ali) to fend for themselves,” we thought. This clever security tactic led us away from the man himself, as two of the security guys made an interesting loop ahead of us. They ended up coming right toward us. One guy on each side of us, while they headed back to where we last saw Bono.

“Say hi to Bono for us,” we said politely as we continued on to church. (Okay, we just wished we had said that.)

The moral of the story: Always listen to your wife when it comes to directions. You might end up running into the biggest and coolest rock star in the world.