As cool as it gets

Sorry, I know my posts are out of order, but at least they're here.

This is the beginning of the 'Cool' unit, for this assignment I have to write a few paragraphs exploring the concept of 'cool'. So, heregoes.

A lot of people have mentioned that they find it cool when someone marches to their own tune, and doesn't care what anybody else thinks. I don't think that's quite the whole story, though; they only like someone if they don't conform in the same way that everyone else doesn't conform. If I came in wearing florescent colored goggles and a frog suit, nobody would think I was cool. In order to be cool on that scale you have to be "too cool to care" or something to the effect; you have to like the same stuff as everyone else, just not because you're worried about fitting in. When people say they don't like people who conform, I think what they're really thinking of is people who are desperate for attention.

I personally don't care about conformity in the slightest. I don't think conforming or not conforming makes a person any more or less cool, it's just an unrelated part of who they are. One of the main aspects of my personality is that I am a writer, so I tend to look at life from that standpoint. As such my definition of a cool person is a good character; someone who will capture my interest and my imagination, who interesting things might happen to. I find someone cool if I want to hear more from them, someone with interesting quirks and philosophies that fit nicely into an engaging story.

More often than not, that means that the person either has something wrong with them or is extremely badass. I like characters with handicaps to overcome, be it a physical disability to out-and-out ignore (in fiction, usually blindness) or an inner demon of some sort. I like a character who is willing to sacrifice their subordinates, who has deluded themself into thinking they're doing the right thing. The crazier the better, as long as it doesn't get grotesque. Essentially, the more likely they are to die the cooler they are to me, and if I'd actually miss them once they die even better.

Of course, all of these people sound pretty dangerous in real life, and as such I'd probably only like a very small amount of them if I actually met them. Still, I've never actually met them, so I can't be sure. But in fiction, these guys are as cool as it gets.