Playing Halo with the Germans...

Things I've heard tonight:

"He just scratched the paint on my ride. HE JUST NICKED MY RIDE." AT

"Did you just die? I just killed someone." AT

"I HAVE A HAMMA. LET THERE BE BLOOD. HELLOOOOOOO?" AT

"I assume you're hot on their trail?" DD

"Did you just crash the quad? You hoser. Hey, HEY. You crashed the quad; I'm driving this time." AT

"Can we use normal weapons yet? Please? Please? PLEASE?" AT

"Guys, I don't want to get killed anymore." FW

"Come back here. You're in my way, also." AT

"Someone shoot them. Keep shooting them. ...okay, you're going to die." DP

"After this, we get to verse our nemesises again." AT
"Nemesises?" LG
"Yeah, I said it." AT

"How can I get up? Guys, guys, how can I fly? How can I fly?" FW
"Dude, you can't fly." DP
"But how do I fly?!" FW

"Avenge me! Avenge my death!" AT

"Run him over with the quad. RUN HIM OVER WITH THE QUAD. WHAT?! HOW DID WE MISS HIM?!" AT

"Stop thrashing at him. B, B, B, B, B!!" AT

"You just killed my joy." AT

"Oh hey. Oh hey little dude. Come play with me!" AT

"And I'm dead, by the way." JN

"Come back. Come back here. I demand you return." AT

"How does that feel? Okay, stop being a pest and DIE wherever you are." AT

"Coordinates stolen? RUDE." AT

"Die, you sonofa... look what he did!" AT

*Daign just sings everything he's thinking*

"OH MY, THAT'S AN INCINERATION CANNON. We're boned." AT

"Oh I fell." AT
"I just died." DD

"You became so angry, and it just made me want more to kill you." JN

"Pleasedon'tshootmePleasedon'tshootmePleasedon'tshootme." JN

"Oh WOW OW. You're the worst driver ever." AT

"I have the worst gun ever. Oh hey, I just killed you!" AT

"Is this what I think it is?" CS
"Halo 4? Yeah." AT, JN, DD

"I just got murdered and you were far away from me you jerk." AT

"I'M LOST IN THE WOODS!!" AT
"We're lost together, Alana." DD

"Don't shoot my butt! RUDE." AT

"I DIED. AVENGE ME." AT

"Explore. Find vehicles. Go joyriding." AT
"Why would I go joyriding?" CS
"Because JOYRIDING." AT

"ARGH! I fell out! Come back!" AT

"I blame you for instigating the violence!" AT
"But you killed me!" JN
"But I was responding to Christoph's violence!" AT

"WOOOOOOO joyriding!" AT

"WE ARE ROTTING IN GREEN FILTH BECAUSE OF YOU." AT

"I'm alone. Come find me. GET OVER HERE, INCOMPETENCE." AT

"Maybe I shouldn't call people wenches... it's mean. Arhhh! You just killed me, wench!" At

"Is there a battle that I'm not aware of? Oh, I'M in a battle that I'm not aware of. Okay, can we desist the good aim for just a second here?!" AT

"I toasted him, don't worry." AT

"Dude, did you just kill me?!" DP
"BAHAHAHA. Maybe." AT
"Dude. I'm going to mavham you in the face." DP

"DON'T DENT MY ARMOUR." AT

"OH BABY, HE JUST HARMED ME.Can you take care of that, please?" AT

"Oh good. New life has granted me an incineration cannon to avenge myself." AT

"I just got wrecked in four different directions and now you're driving all over my body. That's just disrespectful." AT

"Pause while I pick up some groceries, please. Thank you." AT

"Get out of the vehicle." DD "Yeah, I can see it's on fire." AT

"Well that was weird. I jumped a rock and there was nothing but cold, cold ocean." DP

"Damage boost? YES I WILL." AT

"DUDE. I totally thought you were an enemy, and I almost destroyed you." AT

Things I've learned tonight:

-playing Halo with AT is quite talkative.
-documenting everything that's said during a night of Halo with AT is glorious blackmail! (And really, really funny.)
 -Brown House Never Sleeps was worth it... but probably not to everyone who had to go chase horses the next morning.

Invicus

Another very strong form of inspiration for me is music, and so this jumped out at me:

Mandela: "Everybody in the stadium greeted me with a song. At the time, the future, our future, seemed very bleak. But to hear that song in the voices of people from all over our planet made me proud to be a South African. It inspired me to come home and do better. It allowed me to expect more of myself. Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika-- a very inspiring song."

Even though I'm not a South African I still love this quote, because music very often inspires me.

I've been thinking a lot on different leadership styles this summer (well, for the past 5 years, to be honest), and in that time, I've come to know a plethora of different leaders, each with their own leadership style. I'm not one to say which is right and which is wrong, but I've learned that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and that Challenge by Choice isn't just a camp thing.

I was watching Invictus a little while ago, and this bit jumped out at me:

Mandela: "Tell me, what is your philosophy on leadership? How do you inspire your team to do their best?"

Pienaar: "By example. I was taught to lead by example, sir."

Mandela: "That is right. That is exactly right. But how to get them to be better than they think they can be; that is very difficult, I find. Inspiration, perhaps. How do we inspire ourselves to greatness when nothing less will do? How do we inspire everyone around us? I sometimes think it is by using the work of others. On Robin Island, when things got very bad, I found inspiration in a poem."

Pienaar: "A poem?"

Mandela: "A Victorian poem. Just words, but they helped me to stand when all I wanted to do was to lie down."

I'm still trying to muscle through what kind of leader I am and hope to be.

Mandela: "In order to build a strong South Africa, we need to exceed our own expectations."

God is good. All the time. God is good.