The really great achievement of this conference will not be my talk. I have given many, and they are always good. This talk has already been accepted for publication, too, so I’m not worried about it.
The really great achievement is that I managed to drag myself to the conference banquet. I never go to these events and, instead, just sit in my hotel room feeling lonely and excluded. I can’t tell you how many times I almost turned back on the way to the banquet. I was feeling nauseous and light-headed and walked swaying from side to side, like a drunken person.
But I managed to get myself there and even had quite a good time socializing with people. Mission accomplished.
Clarissa's Blog 
When I attended Oxford, I didn’t want to attend the meal at a restaurant in case I forget my thoughts on my thesis. I felt like something was on the tip..not of my tongue, but of my brain…and that if it fell off my brain before it entered it, I would lose everything I ever knew, and lose the direction of my thesis, which was just at that point of gaining form.
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Congratulations! I always have a terrible time at conference banquets too. I find them very weird; the atmosphere is formal, yet people often feel like they shouldn’t be discussing science. So you end up conversing with complete strangers about inane things such as the weather.
To be clear, I have nothing against these people and normally I’d love to chat with them about science. But making polite conversation with them while dining is not really my thing.
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I got an email titled:
We’ll help you turn your stale sexual life around
Big Brother is watching us!
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Nothing will help you, folks, in Texas.
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That sounds like me… though actually, I find I’m better able to “cope” with convincing myself to go to these things if I have a companion with me. I’m always utterly terrified to go into some place alone, especially where I don’t know the social rules. Once I’ve gone with someone a couple of times and had time to observe them and their behavior, I usually do much better. 🙂
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Yes, if I had somebody to go with me, that would make things much easier. So I called my sister on the way there and she accompanied me by phone.
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