Who am I?

I have to admit, I feel a bit hypocritical asking a class full of 18,19, and 20 year old college students to "describe" themselves in a blog by answering the question "who are you," when personally, that is a question I, well, hate to be asked myself.

Who am I? Well, I'm Tyler Blair. I'm 25. I work at Ohio State. I'm from Boston. I have a mom, a dad, and two brothers. No pets (bitter subject). I went to school at Denison. And then grad school at Kansas. And now work at Ohio. I like to play soccer.

And 90% of the time, THAT is my answer to the "who are you question." But over the years, I've started to realize that if that's "who I am" then I'm missing out a lot. So I've tried to improve my answer to that question. And right now, I'm going to try to take that to even the next level. Not yet sure how this is going to work out for me, but, here goes: I love my job. I always have wanted a dog. My parents hate dogs. I have never had one. I grew up in Boston. I love the Red Sox. I hate the Yankees. I went to Denison. Then I went to Kansas for two years. I have a bachelors degree and a masters degree. I have always valued education. I don't think I'm done with my education, but don't know whats next. Attending the LeaderShape Institute was one of the best things that ever happened to me. So was joining my fraternity. On February 19th, 2005, I took a life long oath to live by the values of Cultivation of the Intellect, Unsullied Friendship, and Unfaltering Fidelity, as objects worthy of the highest aim and associated effort. I try to live by that oath every day. I have days when I do well at it. I have days when I'm okay with it. And I have days when I falter from it. I never thought about values until I joined Beta Theta Pi. Once I joined and made that oath, I started thinking about them. I used to think they were my only values. Since then I have adopted my own core values. My core values are life long learning, creativity, citizenship, and congruence. I like to write. I never used to like to Blog. I think a lot. I also try to listen a lot. But I prefer thinking. My favorite sport is soccer. My favorite TV shows are SVU, House, CSI, Modern Family, Brothers & Sisters and NCIS. I miss LOST. I really have no special talents. Every time I go to a Piano Bar I leave feeling talentless, and realize that I regret not sticking with piano lessons as a kid. I also frequently regret not sticking with Spanish classes throughout high school. But besides that, I try hard to not live my life with regrets. I like to think that every day is a new opportunity. Speaking of opportunity, I don’t have any clue why I joined a fraternity. Other than the fact that I saw it as a new opportunity. Joining one was the last thing anyone would ever think I would do. But I saw it as an opportunity, and said ‘what the heck, why not.” I like food. I like to cook. I think every tooth in my mouth is a sweet tooth. I'm neither Coke nor Pepsi: I don't drink soda. I like making up words. I am pro technology in ever sense of things. Facebook, Twitter, 4Square, YouTube, Flikr, Wikipedia, Google, and every other totally awesome thing there is out there. I'm obsessed with Google. I'm also obsessed with my initials. My first name is not Tyler. It wasn't my choice. I love traveling. Kenya is the coolest place I have ever been to. Ireland, Australia, Turkey, and Italy are on my to-do list. Kenya taught me how lucky and privileged I am. I have a mom, a dad, and two brothers. I love my family, but sometimes wish I was closer to them. DC is my favorite city in the country. I have spent 2 summers working there. I want to live there sometime. I once worked in the U.S. Senate. I suck at spelling, but am awesome at drawing. I grew up on the water. I like to sail. I love to go on boats. Nantucket Island holds a special place in my heart. I miss the water. I have the best job in the world. I love Ohio. I love fraternity. I feel blessed to have the opportunity to work with college students ever day. I love talking about leadership, and think teaching leadership is one of the most rewarding and inspiring thing I could do with my life. Leadership confuses me. I have much more to learn. I wish I had more time to do more things. I want to do more with less. I want to have a bigger impact than what I'm already having. I want to know what my future entails.

And after reading the Blogabus, I feel ready to change the world.

I think our world is a great place. I think we live in a very fortunate time. I also think too many of us take too much for granted. I think there needs to be more love and less hate. I think education is the answer to 99.89% of our worlds problems. I think more Americans need college degrees and more countries need more colleges. I also think our world need more fraternities. I think war should be fought with text books, not guns. But I don't want to be the one to lobby in DC. I don't want to be the one to do the research to find a cure. I don't want to be the one to bring the medical supplies to Haiti. I don't want to be the one to run for office. I don't want to be the one that builds the irrigation system.

All I want to do is get other people to want to do that. I want to help young men and women find their passion. I want to help young men and women figure out how they want to change the world. I want more young men and women to feel a purpose. I want more young men and women to feel like they have the power to change things. I want more young men and women to have a Vision. I want more young men and women to lead with integrity. And I want more young men and women to have the resources, confidence, and skills necessary to do all that.

I want more young men and women to see their potential. I want more young men and women to be happy.

I want a world, where every young man and woman begins their adult lives with a purpose; a vision for how our World can be a better place.

And I want every young man and women to act upon that purpose; that vision.

And I want our World to get better, as a result of that.

Thats all I want.

And thats who I am. And how I feel. In a nutshell. More or less.