I want to take this time to thank balloons.

So, I have spent the last 48 hours looking for topics that I like to refer to as "blog-worthy."  One, because that is what we do at this website, go through our everyday college life looking for interesting or stupid that things that other college kidds want to read about, thus making them blog worthy. Two, because I am aware I have been on a particularly long "vacation" from posting anything with substance.  Either way, I found something.
....Balloons.
The universal toy.  I have seen balloons entertain packs of people ranging from the age of 2 to 82.  Well maybe not 82. I don't really hang out with the practically morbid all to often, but I digress (Ambron 2007).  Balloons entertain everyone.
I have spent the last few days at a "leadership" conference with other students from my University.  Were stranded at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, if you have seen "The Shining," you can fill in the blanks. But anyway, we have been in and out of workshops and key-note speakers and I have watched 200+ individuals do everything in their seats except attempt to actually pay attention.
But today, our advisor passed out balloons.  Within a few hours...were sitting in a dining room, doing nothing, and two of those balloons went into the air.  No helium, no pretty designs, no nothing, but for the first time in three days I saw attentivness, excitment, and a willingness to participate.  And you already know what game we were playing...just keep the balloon off of the floor, when it comes near you, tap it back into the air. That simple.
And as simple if it may sound, if a balloon was to come near me right now, on the verge of kissing the floor, I would probably dive off of this computer chair to keep the game going, and that is just the way things work.
The lesson in all this?
At this conference I was at, the majority of topics had something to do with coming together as a student body and branching out and meeting new people.  All it really took was a damn balloon in the air and for a few minutes everyone was working together.
Then another speaker came in and ruined it all.  And that is also just the way things work.