I celebrated my 29th birthday on Monday in a typical Czech fashion...with two Czech guys on their hands and knees facing away from one another, me being held by my hands a feet being swung between the two of them with my hips crashing into their butts 29 times...I'm too old for that...
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This is my last year to be cool. It's a shame, but this is it...360 days left. Not that I can't be cool once I'm 30 but it will be a different kind of cool. It will be a conditional cool.
(this make-believe conversation has been translated for your reading enjoyment)
czech high school boy: Hey, who is that dude over there?
czech high school girl: Oh, that's the dude who organized this english camp.
boy: He looks cool.
girl: Yeah, he is.
boy (yelling to me): Hey! Come here.
Nate: Yo! What's up?
boy: How long have you had your dreads?
Nate: About a year and a half.
girl: They are really cool.
Nate: Thanks. (to the boy) What's your name?
boy: Honza. What's your name?
Nate: Nate. Nice to meet you.
boy: You too. Your Czech is really good! How long have you lived in Czech?
Nate: A little over three years.
girl: Really? Three years? How old are you?
Nate: How old do you think I am?
boy: Uh, 26.
girl: Maybe 24.
Nate: (laughing) Nope. 30!
boy and girl: Really! You are really cool for 30.
And there we have it. The conditional statement that I will live with forever starting in 360 days.
"You are really cool...for 30"
I will no longer only be cool. I will forever be conditionalized (is that really a word?!) as "for 30...31...32...33..."
So, here's to being just plain cool for the next year!
