swagger is everything

aln gave me some advice today re: my presentation - if nothing else, it made me laugh.

"The most important thing (I know this sounds utterly suspect...), but with presentations, swagger is everything."

maybe i'm like a dude...i wonder if i like the pursuit and the sense of accomplishment. i guess it wouldn't be so far-fetched - i generally like goals and derive much satisfaction from having worked hard for something. though i dislike working hard and being fruitless. that actually bothers me more than anything else.

but i wonder...

i'm still on the fence about imports. i think bc of the 2003 daegu fiasco with the dude i had just met who gave me the gift box with a letter, his mug shots, a jersey (ok that was actually pretty awesome) and a medal (ok i know it's supposedly your most prized medal, but bronze? seriously?) ... let me repeat, a dude i HAD JUST MET. the greencard factor just dominates any sort of genuinity i could possibly see...

i just think it's weird when someone pays that much attention to you after meeting you once.

or maybe i keep going back to what ptr said once...it doesn't make sense why you like someone. you just do. or conversely...you just don't.

anyways - i realized with this presentation that it really is all about swagger. there are areas of my life i have natural swagger. (um, evidenced by the multiple times strangers have stopped me on the street to comment that i walk like an athlete or something about my gait...) put me in a dojang and i don't have to think twice - there's some aura of confidence and "listen to me or die trying" that just ... comes out.

but there are other areas where if it's not 100% - there is no swagger. and that is no good. there should be SOME swagger. but there may be none. like put me in a dress and makeup - no swagger. just discomfort. put me with a dude in ambiguity - no swagger. just impatience and second-guessing. put me in a room of senior engineers and tell me to give a presentation with authority - no swagger. just secretly hoping no one asks questions at the end.

perhaps it's just a modern day rendition of agassis original "attitude is everything"