MEMEHUNTER

the unexamined wife

Right. Recovery breads an obligation to post.

The conference was good. Full of academics of all shapes and sizes, famous and less so. I met quite a few I had heard of, many I had not but should have done and made some new friends. I actually handed out my cards to people. Excellent. I have considered going through a day by day account of Memehunter vs the Human Behaviour and Evolution Society, but on the whole, I think there are probably more interesting things to read, and if you're really interested in how academics pass time in and between talks, you can check here .

So I'll try and condense things.

The jetlag took me exactly 3 days to get over, with day 3 being the worst. On my arrival in Philly, I had a wander about, swiftly establishing that Philadelphia is my new favourite place (after Florence, Italy of course). My exploration of my immediate vicinity was a simple matter; I waited until an attractive looking guy walked past and I followed him. No, I was not stalking him, there was not a hint of sexual intent. I simply reasoned that good looking people would go to interesting places. It paid off anyway, I got a good tour. So, thanks random guide. Anyway, after a while of wandering Philly, I realised I'd been awake for around 14 hours and went back to my hotel for a nap to await the arrival of labmates. Dinner with LabmateMike swiftly followed, in a "pub" amusingly titled the Elephant and Castle. Made me feel right at home.

Anyway, the conference reception was the next night (too jetlagged to remember my own research, somewhat embarassing) and the conference proper began on Thursday. Interesting talks. Then some drinks. Earlyish bed, coz my talk (and LmM's and Miriam's) was the next day.

The time between me waking up (around 8.30) and the time of my presentation (3.20) was one of the most scary experiences of my life. I jest not. I was terrified. Part of my mammalian brain just wanted to run and kept whispering to me about how easy it would be to just go to the hotel. I sat it out though, and in the end my talk went quite well. There was a traffic-light style system that was meant to keep everyone on track time-wise; a strip of green on the computer monitor that went orange when you had 5 minutes left (to take questions) and then counted down from a minute before turning red, at which point you had to GET OFF the stage. Podium. Whatever. Anyway. I was CONVINCED I was going to be done in 5 minutes and refused to look at my watch in case I scared meself. Also, I am red-green colourblind, so could not see the shift from green to orange. It was a surprise to me, then, when the counter started counting down when I still had 2 slides to go. Rapid conclusion, apology, sit down. No questions for me. Ha ha! That evening we all got extrememly drunk and ended up, after touring South Street , in a Hip Hop club somewhere downtown, where I was bemused by the dancing style of my transatlantic cousins. Seriously. It'd be sexy, but you have to, like, form a queue to get involved... or something. It was so weird.

More conference after that, which was fun. Then I spent my last night in the US in Westchester... but I think I shall save that for another post.

Also, I am doing fierce battle with the landlords of my last flat.

Watch this space.

posted by Memehunter @ 12:23 AM