I Am So (Un)cool

By / May 11, 2009 /

By Copywriter Josh Herrington

I feel like I’m the loner of the creative playground sometimes. All the pretty kids, in their faux-tattered cargo pants and hip tees with Warhol-esque pictures of Obama stenciled on their chests playing with one another in the eco-friendly recycled rubber pit of imagination and creativity. I, on the other hand, sit envying them from afar on that hypothetically cramped school bench with the other kids that have invisible friends and pet lizards. I, too, want to wear white shirts with ruffles on them, green pants, and yellow Adidas soccer shoes. I want to own a corduroy jacket with patches on the elbows. I don’t even own a bow-tie.

As a reemerging newbie to the field of advertising and marketing, I have concretely come to the realization that life, both professional and personal, is about knowledge and networking. I have happily returned to a creative career and have suddenly, and remorsefully, realized that I have been networking with the wrong people. Really.

Spending seven years as a paramedic in a cramped ambulance sitting behind a dumpster in a 7-11 parking lot off of Federal Boulevard made me realize that someone changed the tracks on me in the middle of the night. I don’t regret the varied path, but I miss my creative friends. I miss coming up with ideas and phrases and taglines. I miss being funny and immature and being “one of those guys.” I want to share my ideas with people, especially the one idea I had involving a homeless person, a sign, and a mortgage company. Plus, I’m getting really tired of talking to my invisible friend.

So what does this have to do with you? Well, you are the answer to my calling. You, Denver, are going to teach me to be cool – once again. In order for this transformation to occur, I need a creative outlet that allows me to keep up with those kids on that creative playground. I need to understand Twitter users instead of tweekers, Facebook goers instead of intoxicated face planters, and viral videoers instead of, well, those slimy zombies roaming up and down Colfax oozing all kinds of viruses. Cool kids, you are my outlet and Denver, you are my playground.

Tweet break.

This is my first piece for The Denver Egotist. They told me to pen something up worthy for their online paper so I took my iPhone from my 9 month old son, downloaded the Facebook app and finished my first “Josh is…” sentence. Josh is…tired of not knowing Doogie Howser has a sing-along blog, that Oprah is giving away coupons for chicken, and that you can “poke” someone on Facebook.

So, Denver, join me on this quest of becoming a middle-aged tween, of becoming cool once again. I need your suggestions and ideas. How do I get back into the mix? Leave me a message below telling me where to go, who to meet, or what to do in order to break these binding chains of my social media anxiety – the only rule is that it needs to be something going on in the next couple weeks, before June 1st. Be it an art opening, concert, networking event or brisk walk down Colfax at two in the morning, I will tackle the feat with a stubborn determination, much like Joan Rivers on the Apprentice. It’s 14 miles to Denver, I’ve got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark and I’m wearing sunglasses. Let’s do this.

Once my blind date with destiny has been accomplished, I will return to The Denver Egotist and pen my story from that road not yet traveled. I, too, want to suck less, daily. And together, I think we can make this happen.

Josh Herrington is now an MBA student at Regis University hoping to rekindle his dreams of becoming a professional freelance writer. He lives in Denver with his beautiful, redheaded wife, a nine-month-old son who enjoys life way too much to be bothered by sleep, and a retired seeing-eye dog with cataracts. Contact him at 303.881.7872.