Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, it’s Robby Venturino once more, coming to you from Alpha II this time.

I mentioned a lot of my dear brother last week, at Alpha I, however this week I’m flying solo, so it’ll be interesting to see how I fare being the only Venturino around.

Today was the first full day of camp, and excitement was in the air. More than anything though, I found myself needing other people to recharge me as I’m pretty tired from working or camping the weeks before this one. It’s no less fun though. Today marked several personal highs for me which I’ll be remembering for a while to come, and a low from which I learned a great deal about myself and the people here that I call friends.

I’m initially a very shy person, depending on the time of the year, and the mood I’m in. I’m much more outgoing in the months after camp, than I am in the months before. It all began in grow groups, which led into Leisure Education Opportunities (LEO’s), which led into free time. With a friend, someone I look up to and admire a great deal, whom I will always have a high opinion of, I had the opportunity to confide in him a few of my insecurities, although poorly articulated and possibly misunderstood… just having someone I admired, as a friend to whom I could confide in, opened me up to reflecting upon myself and growing as a person. It’s exactly what grow groups are for.

Once the reflecting was done, I looked up, and realized that in my mental downtime, I’d wound up in a conversation about one of my favorite 4-H topics… Council Circle funny stunts. Around me, were the people that I looked to, for examples of excellent comedians, and skit writers. Tad Light, and Mel Johnson, two other bloggers, who I have the privelege of being chief alongside at OMC, along with Timmy Jopling, and a new friend I’ve made, Chelsey Hughes, were the people I was discussing humor, and the art of getting a laugh.

All four tribes were represented in that conversation and it laid the roots for what I hope to be a very close knit group of 4-H friends.

The competition between tribes is great, but to me, what I was looking at, was absolutely the all-star cast that can make anyone smile, and enjoy it themselves the entire time.

That, my friends, is one thing I truly admire.