Good ideas! However, I usually do not feel bored. While waiting, I feel that I cannot do anything more about the task I m waiting for. Then I start enjoying the moment: get lost in my dreams and plan for interesting things.

I think you bring up a good point, many of the apparently "popular" kids are actually quite man, as you describe. However I think that there are many, many kids who are popular because they are kind and likeable. I think your point brings up an important difference in the way we think about popularity though. In some schools the nicest students are the most popular, in other schools it is the most athletic, or the richest. Perhaps it is a reflection on the basic values of the community that the school is situated in, in a higher socio-economic area the value of social status/power may out-weigh the value of kindness to others. Whereas in a rural/religious school district the value of kindness may out-weigh the value of material status. I think it is all very contextual.