MetaChat - What’s the coolest thing you’ve done recently,

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25 January 2007

What’s the coolest thing you’ve done recently, or ever, in your life?? →[More:]It can be anything from helping an old lady across the street, to having a heart-to-heart talk with a cousin of yours, to whatever it is that you think is the coolest thing you’ve done.

(A nephew of mine was in town a few months ago, and we bonded in a couple of days, which was kind of special).

post by: hadjiboy at: 04:45 | 39 comments

The coolest thing I did recently was give the best speech of my life in November to a packed room!

posted by By the Grace of God 25 January | 04:52

Gave birth to my son at home, in my own bedroom, no drugs, no screaming, it was the most peaceful, powerful,....cool?... thing I ever did and I enjoyed it immensely

posted by Wilder 25 January | 06:11

Believed in love, and kept believing in it.

posted by Lipstick Thespian 25 January | 07:38

Two chicks at the same time.

posted by Eideteker 25 January | 07:56

A number of things come to mind, but one of the things that I remember most fondly was a trip I took with my parents when I was quite young. We went Seattle-Vancouver-Portland-Yokohama via a cargo ship - I don't know if you can still do this, but at that time some ships took in a small number of passengers along with the cargo. The ship went through the Aleutians so I got to see a lot of really cool, off-the-beaten-path scenery. I also drank the ship's entire supply of chocolate milk before we reached Japan.

posted by deadcowdan 25 January | 08:04

I think my Big Vegas Story is probably the coolest things that ever happened to me.

In the real non-casino world, I am the antithesis of cool.

posted by essexjan 25 January | 08:13

Written a song that got on a cd.

That, and my trip to Thailand.

posted by bunnyfire 25 January | 08:37

In the seventh grade, I was a state finalist for the National Spelling Bee; I came in second. The prize was a coool Zenith hi-fi turntable/stereo combo. The girl who came in first got a trip to Washington DC, where she flamed out in the early rounds.

I still have the hi-fi. Can't bear to get rid of it.

posted by initapplette 25 January | 09:48

Ran for a hundred miles down Route 66, with my Dad competing in the same race, on my last birthday.

posted by omiewise 25 January | 09:59

Coolest. Hmmm. In high school, my afterschool job was working for Max Mathews at Bell Labs making electronic violins. One of them found its way to Laurie Anderson. Met her a decade later at a book signing and brought pictures. She autographed a CD for me and drew a cartoon picture of the violin on it.

posted by plinth 25 January | 10:14

Eideteker: If only I had a million dollars to do it..

posted by darkripper 25 January | 10:21

In 1999, I was flown to Washington DC (expenses paid) to present at conference on terrorism and WMD. Going out to dinner and talking with some of the people there was extremely cool.

The most recent cool thing is doing the special effects for a one-man play on Nicola Tesla to be performed in Bellingham on February 2. I have until next Tuesday to get all the gear built and working.

Taking 2nd place at a science fair when I was in High School was cool.

posted by warbaby 25 January | 10:31

I can't think of anything cool I've done recently. I *have* learnt to stand up for myself more in the past few years though. I'm pretty happy about that.

posted by gaspode 25 January | 10:35

on my last birthday

When I read this I immediately thought, 'That's nice that omiewise could do this before he/she died.' And then I realized that omiewise posting from beyond the grave was highly unlikely.

posted by youngergirl44 25 January | 11:20

The first time I ever went out of the country, I purposely went by myself to the French West Indies for 5 days.

posted by chewatadistance 25 January | 11:22

And for the record, posting from the afterlife may be one of the coolest things any bunny could do, IMO.

posted by youngergirl44 25 January | 11:23

I've started skiing and kayaking regularly. I'm pretty happy about that.

posted by small_ruminant 25 January | 12:25

Well, a recent cool thing I did was perform with (and help direct, yay) a 25-person rock opera chorale group for a show consisting entirely of Queen songs.

I'd never before had the chance to hear a 2,000-person crowd start screaming at the top of their lungs when, halfway through the show, we started singing Bohemian Raphsody.

I felt really, really cool.

posted by Specklet 25 January | 13:05

Well, a recent cool thing I did was perform with (and help direct, yay) a 25-person rock opera chorale group for a show consisting entirely of Queen songs.

I am in awe.

posted by BoringPostcards 25 January | 13:41

Wow, yeah, Specklet, that's truly awesome.

posted by essexjan 25 January | 13:58

Driving across Canada and back by myself

unfortunately it seems I hit my peak in 1996.

posted by loiseau 25 January | 14:01

Hee! Thanks! I wish I had a good recording of that show... I can objectively say that we were frickin great! (As well we should have been; the amount of rehearsal time was staggering.)

posted by Specklet 25 January | 14:02

I fell in love.

posted by ramix 25 January | 14:27

Coolest things ever:
- moving out on my own
- trip to the UK
- meeting and falling in love with the mister
- buying a house

posted by deborah 25 January | 14:34

I was involved in saving several innocent men from being executed in Illinois in the 1990s, including Anthony Porter, who came within 48 hours of lethal injection.

posted by scody 25 January | 14:38

I've mentioned it here before, but the coolest thing I may have ever done was this summer, when I went to Hawaii for my 40th birthday.

posted by mrmoonpie 25 January | 14:40

I *heart* scody.

posted by carmina 25 January | 14:45

the coolest thing I have done?

Well, if I take that long to think about one, it isn't probably cool. So, pheh!

posted by carmina 25 January | 14:47

I was involved in saving several innocent men from being executed in Illinois in the 1990s

Wow. I think that goes on beyond "cool" and starts verging on "heroic".

posted by Specklet 25 January | 16:38

On Labor Day in 1995 (I believe), my wife's uncle was in town (we lived in Detroit at the time) and since he is a sports fan we decided to go to the Tigers-Indians game in the old Tiger Stadium. We got Family Value Pack tickets for $6 each including a hot dog and a drink. The weather was perfect. We were the only Tigers fans in our section, in the middle of a large group from Cleveland that drove out to support their Indians. And after losing the first three games of the holiday weekend series, we watched the Tigers win the fourth. Afterward, it was "Run the Bases" night, where kids could run the bases on the field when the game was done. We took our boys down and while they were running, I just soaked in the feel of such a historic stadium.

I can remember realizing at the time that it was one of the most perfect days I could experience.

posted by Doohickie 25 January | 16:46

I love baseball park hot dogs. It doesn't get better than that.

posted by youngergirl44 25 January | 17:08

Wow. I think that goes on beyond "cool" and starts verging on "heroic".

*blushes* Naw. I was a pretty passionate rabble-rouser for many years (get me drunk and ask me to sing "The Internationale" at a meetup sometime!), and this was a cause I just believed in. It involved work from so many people -- lawyers, activists, journalists, students, and (above all) the wrongly convicted men and their families -- there's no way any one of us could have ever done it alone.

The real heroes are the men who survived the experience with their humanity intact.

posted by scody 25 January | 17:16

People think this is cool, but I'm not sure why, exactly. But anyway.

Last November I drove from Florida to Los Angeles in a car, by myself. It was awesome and beautiful and fun and, yes, cool, but not for the reason people seem to think. I'm 23, and people kept saying, "You're too young to be doing that!" Boggled my mind.

posted by Fuzzbean 25 January | 20:55

That is pretty cool Fuzzbean, and exactly for the reason you mentioned:)

Yay for Specklet and everyone else too, and a special shout out to scody for doing what he did!

posted by hadjiboy 25 January | 22:40

I figured out how to operate my Cuddle Wrap. I got it for Christmas from Grandma. It's like a magic cocoon of grandma-love.

posted by youngergirl44 25 January | 23:23

It's like a magic cocoon of grandma-love.

I want this, really bad now.

posted by hadjiboy 25 January | 23:45

Made a batch of Chocolate Fudge yesterday, they came out great--yum.

posted by hadjiboy 25 January | 23:46

A few years ago, I was talking to my friend Cinnamon who was the personal assistant to the CEO of Loudeye.
"We're going to have our IPO party," she said.
"I need a DJ."
"Hm...how about DJ Riz?" I said.
"Nah. Not big enough."
"Donald Glaude?"
"Nope. Bigger."
"How about Basement Jaxx?"
"Awesome! How would I get hold of Basement Jaxx?"
I gave her the name of a local production company.

Loudeye paid Basement Jaxx $30K for one night's work. Pink Martini also played. There were Butoh dancers and other performers. Total sensory overload.
They spend something like $250,000. on the party...I wandered around awestruck, the sleepy little burg I'd grown up had all this cash floating around...it was so decadent.

posted by black8 26 January | 19:17

In sixth grade I played Gerald Ford in a debate against a kid playing Jimmy Carter, and I won the mock election.

posted by kirkaracha 27 January | 02:32

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