leaderSHAPE

already i'm bored just writing this. when you go to something called leaderSHAPE, you know you already have to expect cheesy get to know you exercises and pep talks, and super extra motivated 19 year olds who figure this is their first step on the road to student body presidency. i was so dreading this. for anyone who knows me, people are the last thing i want to be around on a saturday and i really hate wearing nametags. well, they gave me a nametag, and of course there ended up being people there, so it really started out disappointing. i did know a couple people there, so i wasn't completely awkward, but i would definitely say that i was almost completely awkward. i sat in the back row, and of course the first thing they talk about are the kind of people who sit in the back row, which made everyone get up after the break and move up a couple of rows, which was nice because it left the back row all to me. we had some pep talks and got to get up and practice being leaders and figured out what type of leaders we were and came to know how we could be better leaders, and leaders and leadership and leaderSHAPE, and before you know it 8 hours had flown by as if i was holding my breath for the whole time while someone was pushing thumb tacks into my scalp. the way i see it, if you're a leader, it comes naturally. people follow you because they trust you and you can fix things and make things work. leadership training is for macdonalds managers. i really don't mean to be cynical but cynicism sat with me for that entire 8 hours, and we got to be pretty close. plus i got to be psycho analyzed at lunch by a friend of mine from the 810 bus. so learned all kinds of things about myself. i don't look people in the eyes when i talk to them. i realize that about myself (see line 3 and 4 above). i do need to work on that. i also use my beard as a security blanket to keep people away. it is warm and fluffy, but i probably need to get over that too. i have made a few friends on campus, so i'm slowly getting better. i think lunch was the most informative part about today. the other thing was that while i was shaping my future of leadership, my wife was skiing with my kids, and rowan was hitting black diamonds and jonas skied for the first time at 2. i can't believe i missed it. so fun. i was so jealous. but then again, they didn't get to see who could make the tallest balloon structure by working as a team. their loss.