I love this video - it speaks to the deepest recesses of my nerd soul! And it also further proves that nerd culture is very popular these days - so be confident in your geekdom!

For those of you reading this blog, which parts of this video can you identify with? I recognize myself in the following parts of the video:

• I’m good at academics.
• I have a few action figures - just bought one today, in fact!
• Wore braces for a few years.
• Used to be the chairman of my ping pong club!
• I’m good at trivia games.
• And of course, I own a website. (Several, in fact).

Which of Weird Al’s geek stereotypes in his video spoke directly to you?

In your quest to become more confident through improving your drawing skills, it may be a good idea to consult videos so that you can actually see how drawings are made. Luckily, in the age of Youtube, there are many drawing tutorials available - for free!

In this entry, I’ll focus on drawing eyes, since eyes are among the most popular things for people to draw - and also, if you draw great eyes, people will sit up and take notice!

Here are three how-to-draw videos that should help you in your quest to draw beautiful eyes.

In this video, Mark Crilley, author of the Miki Falls manga, demonstrates how to draw manga-style eyes 4 different ways. Of these, I think his own style (the very last set of eyes), is the best - still, all the drawings should give you pointers that you can adapt to your own style, so I think this is a very useful video to watch.

Drawing in a more realistic style than Mark Crilley, “sycra” demonstrates how starting with rough lines and shapes, you can come up with some very compelling looking eyes.

Stephanie Valentin does an even more realistic eye in her how-to-draw video, complete with narration text. Bonus points for Django Reinhardt music! (By the way, she’s also an accomplished musician - check out her other videos if you’re interested in the electric violin.)

When I first saw this picture, I laughed out loud, because the “Special Deal” doesn’t offer any additional value! This is what I normally think of when I hear the word “value” - being able to do something that brings an advantage to myself or to other people. In this case, value means saving some money.

People don’t normally think of the word “value” when they think about confidence, but the concept of value has a place in boosting confidence, too!

For example, do you consider yourself to be someone who has high value? That is, if you met someone who was exactly like yourself, would you respect and admire that person for his or her abilities or personality? If you were a product, would you buy yourself?

It’s important, in your quest to achieve self-confidence, to find things about yourself that you would admire or respect. You might even want to take some time to list out the things about yourself that you admire. If you consider yourself to be high-value, people will pick up on that. And people are naturally attracted to people who they consider to be high-value.

Also,  do you give value to others? Being valuable to others is another way of boosting your confidence, because it’s a confirmation that people value your abilities and personality. Be sure to develop traits that will offer value to other people - but never base your confidence solely on what other people think of you! There’s a subtle difference there, but it’s important that your confidence is based on how you feel about yourself first, and how other people feel about you later.

Think about all these things. Just be wary of arrogance - don’t be like that “3 FOR THE PRICE OF 3″ deal, where you overvalue yourself. Be aware of your faults, and be proud of your strengths. That should help you in navigating between confidence and arrogance.

Welcome to 2009, everyone! As we ring in the new year, how are you thinking of improving yourself for the coming year? Are you thinking of becoming a more confident, dynamic person? What resolutions are you thinking of this year?

For me, this year will bring a lot of content to both this site and its sister humor site, phailpail.com. I intend to write about many aspects of self-confidence and provide confidence boosting tips that will help you in your quest to become the person you’ve always wanted to be. Content planned for this year include in-depth guides into learning skills and hobbies as a way of boosting self-esteem, highlighting confident figures in the real world and in imagined worlds - and heck, maybe a little bit of controversy thrown in here and there

Related to that, I should announce right now that the update schedule to this site will be slowed down to about once or twice a week, because school is starting again. However, there is much for me to share here, rest assured that I’m not going anywhere!

Please share your plans for 2009 here!

Have you ever seen anyone walk with their eyes cast downward, their shoulders slumped - as though they’re carrying all the burdens of the world? If you walked like that, how do you think people would look at you?

The way you walk sends a message to the people walking around you. If you walk like a sad, defeated person, that’s precisely how people are going to perceive you. If you walk like a winner, then people are going to perceive you as someone who knows where they’re going - a confident, dynamic person. (And if you walk like John Cleese in that picture, you’re more than likely going to be seen as a silly person. Except if you’re John Cleese, of course!)

Here are some tips for walking like a winner:

• Imagine there’s a wire connecting your chest to the sky, pulling you up like a puppet: In other words, walk erect with your back straight, and your chest out.
• Lead slightly with your hips, not with your shoulders: If you lean too much forward (your shoulders leading more forward than your hips), you’re going to look like you’re slouching. Instead, imagine your hips moving you forward. Don’t do it so much that you look like you’re hip-thrusting your way to your destination, though!
• Be slightly relaxed as you walk.: Note how tense or relaxed you are when you walk. If you’re too tense, people will detect it. Don’t flop around like a jellyfish either.
• Walk purposefully, instead of hurriedly: Note that I didn’t say “walk quickly” - you can walk purposefully even if you’re walking at a normal pace. Walk like you have a sense of purpose and that you’re going somewhere, instead of wandering around aimlessly - but don’t fix your gaze ahead like a search beam. Look around, catch the eyes of people around you, smile or nod slightly. Of course, if you walk quickly, you can still look confident, but walking too fast with a frown on your face just makes you look stressed.

• Swing your arms naturally:This one’s hard to explain in words, but basically, you want your arms to swing as though you’re not really thinking about them. Don’t lock your elbows and keep your arms by your side like a nutcracker. Don’t also swing wildly like you want to knock someone out. Chances are, you’re already doing this correctly, so just be mindful of extremes.
• Don’t look at the floor!: Looking down while walking may create the impression of dejectedness and also cause you to walk into walls. Look up, and around - there’s a wonderful world around you!

• Emulate somebody else’s confident walk: Find someone who you think walks confidently and learn from him or her.

Try walking confidently until it feels natural to you. Have fun!