In considering COOLNESS there are two parts: practice and perception. Of these, perception can be divided into self perception and other perception. Neil was very highly rated in the self perception scale. That is to say, he perceived himself as really cool, if he did say so himself. And no, he didn’t actually say so himself, like OUT LOUD, because what kind of lame fool does that, but he did offer not entirely subtle clues and hints regarding his coolness so that others could enhance or perhaps even correct their perception without too much effort.
Neil had worked at the coffee shop in a past life. Now he was some kind of writer in some kind of company. Everyone was a bit unclear about what kind of work he did and what kind of company it was, but he offered irregular and vague suggestions that the company was doing Important Work and that he was a Key Figure. Were they building houses for homeless puppies in Argentina? Serving hot baked potatoes to frosty fingered fishermen in northern Minnesota? Planting happiness across central Australia in the form of s’more instructional workshops with grateful sponsorship from a chocolate cooperative powered by goats in a small intentional community on the coast of Spain? The list of options went on and on. Still, many of the mental meanderings of the group’s members were unlikely to be accurate, unless he worked from home or some other remote work site kind of place, since he seemed to be managing to get to the coffee shop on a weekly basis, and that, too, before anyone else in the group arrived. In fact, they’d discussed it in occasional side conversations. How did he get here so early? Did he live here? They’d seen him leave, but perhaps it was all an elaborate hoax. Designed to --? Don’t worry about it. You know how writers get. Imagination can be a blessing and a curse, and it’s hard to turn off.
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