1. Sushi (I didn't try it till I was 30, now I'm addicted)
2. Salsa Music
3. Piercing
4. Boxer Shorts (didn't try them till my early 20's)
5. Goat Cheese (see sushi)

1. Mango
2. Classical music
3. Ditto on the boxers - satin or silk though
4. Tempeh
5. Mead

I honestly can't think of anything. I guess this means either I'm super cool... or I never try anything I think is un-cool.

1. Wagner. I was dreading the 5-hour Parsifal, and we had made plans to leave after the first act. But no! I was transfixed.

2. Gardening/Landscaping. I bought a townhouse because I didn't want to maintain a yard. Then later I bought a house, and now I'm really into landscaping.

3. Thai food. It smelled awful, but I was hooked after my first bite of red curry.

I'm hoping you didn't mean the word "cool" in the sense of "stylish" or "hip", because I've never done anything stylish or hip in my life.

Oh, 5 things?... uh...

The symphonies of Bruckner
The string quartets of Haydn

ditto Specklet. I like to think it's because I have an open mind and don't judge stuff I haven't tried.

but who am I kidding, really?

1. NPR (started listening about 4 years ago)
2. torshi
3. an MP3 player
4. snorkeling
5. "Down With Love"

Falafel
Squash
Punk Rock
Tea

I grew up such a picky eater, that now I'm constantly trying to push my boundries, so I find cool new food I love all the time. Still haven't gotten over my dislike of peanut butter, though...

agro: I meant "cool" as in stuff you really dig and think is awesome, not "stylish" or "hip". I mean, I put MMORPGs in my list and those can't be considered either of those things by a long shot. When's the last time you ever heard of a mainstream celebrity doing an interview about how they spend their downtime farming for ingredients for a spell?

TPS: I'm also a huge picky eater. In fact, I'd never had a hamburger with lettuce and tomato willingly until I moved out of the house at 25.

1. hot borscht
2. the Beach Boys and the Ramones (thank you jon)
3. teaching (I avoided it for years and was quite terrified of public speaking)
4. beer/more recently Guinness (had my first beer at 29)
5. living in NYC! (always thought it was the last place I wanted to live, now, after three years, I don't think I can live anywhere else)

1. Calamari
2. Pilates
3. MP3 format for music
4. Limited, judicious use of herbicides in the garden
5. Buffy

3. Ditto on the boxers - satin or silk though

Mine have to be 100% cotton. . .if it's a blend, or anything else, I sweat too much down there.

1. going to live rock shows on a regular basis.
2. acting.
3. hanging out here.
4. camping.
5. being a total freak.

1. Any number of pastimes or social activities I once thought were nerdy or old-school, such as: swing dancing, bowling, card playing nights, etc. People in the pre-avalanche-of electronic media days were onto something about being social. They key is participation - of course, it may look nerdy from the outside. You have to do it to understand the special charge each activity creates.
2. Petanque
3. Seafood (didn't touch it until I was introduced to really good seafood...at age 33)
4. Murder mystery party -- two of them; seemed such a corny idea at first, turned into an amazing fun time of shifting indentity and unpredictability! (You need fun people for this).
5. History. People with odd archaic skill sets. Sea chanteys. Stuff like that.

Oh, and agro -- agreed. Long ago I decided to completely disregard what is cool and hip and pursue all sorts of experiences. If there happens to be an overlap, so be it; but I wouldn't dream of restricting or re-organzing my interests around what's considered cool. It's all one world. So the things I listed are just surprises - things I once thought weren't my cup of tea, but found out they were.

4. Murder mystery party -- two of them; seemed such a corny idea at first, turned into an amazing fun time of shifting indentity and unpredictability! (You need fun people for this).

GODS, yes. I did one of those once and it was amazingly fun. I may try and do one for my birthday in September, but it's got to be the right group.

1. White-water rafting.
2. Having a child.
3. Singing out loud while doing things I'd rather not be doing.
4. Finding my G-Spot.
5. Finding this
NSFW

TPS: I'm also a huge picky eater. In fact, I'd never had a hamburger with lettuce and tomato willingly until I moved out of the house at 25.

Finally! Someone who understands! I just added lettuce to my sandwiches a year or two ago, still working on tomatoes.

This would be a good time to have a mysterious sock puppet. Cause my sock puppet would say something really funny and shocking and true. It strikes me so funny that I can't think of anything else (recent) except:

Bellydancing Class
Coke Zero

Yoga
Boxing
Being a sports fanatic
NPR (esp. This American Life)
<censored>

Funny how most of mine have to do with food...talk about being picky!

1. Cauliflower (first taste ever this year and now i love it!)
2. Raw tomatoes (hated the stuff as a kid. But just this year developed a liking for it)
3. Brocolli (ditto)
4. Grey's Anatomy (one of the best shows out there)
5. Books by James Rollins (think Clive Cussler meets Indiana Jones)

Skirts - I used to hate wearing them, but this year I've accepted them as a nice cool alternative to shorts on a hot day.

Metafilter - heh. At one point I just couldn't understand what people saw in it. Then I got hooked.

Playing pool - I'm bad at it, but I still enjoy a good game from time to time.

Olives - I find it hard to believe that they were once on my "most hated" list. Now, I would drink the brine out of the olive jar (and have, in a dirty martini).

Karaoke - I used to refuse to sing, unless there were fifteen people on stage I could pass the mic off to, and I'd have to be falling down drunk. I still need to have a few drinks in me, but it's so much fun and really freeing to just not care if you sound bad or not.

1. Sushi (especially eel rolls)
2. Scallops (for years I avoided them although I love seafood)
3. Curve conscious clothes (I used to wear baggy clothes as I am not thin
but now I look better showing off my curves (read: bosom))
4. Latin dancing
5. Metachat!

Nothing - everything is cool if done in the right way/with the right company.

Some vittles spring to mind:
Octopus (done right)
Brussels sprouts (ditto)
Unagi
Mochi ice cream