Brooke A. Braun is cool.

Everyone has a person or people in their lives that they think are cool.  That older sibling, older sibling’s friend, older cousin, young uncle/aunt; someone they look at and think, “They are cool.”  I’ve had a few over time.  I’ve been spending a lot of time recently thinking about different things and people that have shaped me into who I am now, especially as I try to find employment.

As an aside:  Know of anyone hiring?  I have skills.  Many skills.

I have been thinking about writing this blog for a while, but my brain space has been pretty preoccupied by the job hunt and wanting to do right by my family.  I’ve been using the neurons usually reserved for blogging to create resumes, cover letters, and think up Internet searches to find jobs to apply to.  I have applied for nearly 70 jobs.  I have had no response from most of them, negative responses from a few of them, and one phone interview.

Anyway, I think my cousin, Brooke, is cool.  She’s five years older than I am which seemed like a lot when I was 10 through 20, but nowadays, not so much.  I still think she’s cool though; certainly cooler than I am.  There are some key memories I have that stand out and cement her place in the part of my brain reserved for people I think are cool.

I don’t remember how old I was, but I remember Brooke driving my brother and I back to our Grandma’s house after a dinner out with the family.  We were in her Dodge Neon, and she played us some songs by Red Hot Chili Peppers and, I think, R.E.M. I remember one of the songs dropped the f-bomb, and I wasn’t really allowed to say or hear that in music at the time, so it was cool that my big cousin was letting me in on big-kid stuff.  Needless to say, I did everything I could from that point forward to get my hands on CDs with bad words, most of which I regret, but some of which I still love, including Blood Sugar Sex Magik and Rage Against the Machine’s eponymous debut.

This little music revelation may not sound like that big a deal to people who don’t know me well, but this happened very near the beginning of my music-listening.  It was one of a very few, key moments that showed me the benefit of listening to music to understand it and be enshrouded by it.  Brooke may have been the first person I ever met who listened to music, rather than just hearing it as the general population does.

Later, Brooke went on a vacation and left her Honda at my parents’ house and left the keys in my 17-year-old hands.  I remember driving to school for one of the few times I was able to and thinking I was the man.  Turns out, I was not then, nor ever been the man.  At the time, I was not really even a man, much more of a boy, but I felt like the man, and that is all that matters.

Nowadays, I’m older, and Brooke and I are closer to peers.  We have discussions about fun things like insurance, paid holidays and cooking shows, particularly those found on the Bravo network.  Yet, she’s still cool, and I still find myself wanting to be as cool as she is.  She’s into food and art, good beers and wines and when she talks about it, she doesn’t sound like an idiot.

I mean, I love art.  I love food.  I love books and poems and all kinds of mature things.  I keep my eye on what is going on in the world and I have well-informed opinions.  But, when I hear myself talking about these things, I don’t think I come off as cool.  I feel like I come off as boring or jerky.  I don’t want a boring life.  I want a rock-and-roll, gourmet, make the world a better place life.  I want to make people happy, as a hobby and a vocation.  I want to have adventures.

I’m glad Brooke and me are friends because she gives me advice on how to be cooler.  She also has been hooking me up pretty regularly with encouragement (which is like drugs to me) and job openings to apply to.  Brooke, thanks.  People who don’t know Brooke, believe me, she’s cool.

Tags: Brooke Braun, cool, R.E.M., Rage Against the Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Top Chef