Very Cool

I have had a ridiculously productive weekend! But, rather than brag by listing all the books I read and essays I wrote, I will instead complain:

I need a new phrase. Not that I would ever claim "very cool" as my phrase, because, certainly many people use it, and I have no desire to claim it. I don't know why I use it. But it has, gradually, sneakily, become my default conversational filler. It really didn't bother me that much until I met Dr. SuperCoolFancyPants and after anything she said, all I could say was "very cool." So, a challenge: what else can I say?

I suspect that all of my problems with "very cool" would be solved if only I had interesting comments to make in general and weren't ridiculously shy (well, I wouldn't really consider myself "shy" except with, like, authority figures, or people who are massively smarter than me). I'm always afraid that if I do say something un-bland (instead of "very cool" or something similar) I will come off sounding stupid, like I don't know what I'm talking about. I have this paranoia during class, alot of the time as well, though not so much in the past year.

Either way, I need a new phrase, or some new confidence, or something. Preferably both.

Anyway, off to try to be more productive.