Disappointing Day

I spoke at a conference today. I was very nervous. This is the first time I've presented a conference paper, and I really only signed up for the conference because it was local. I never thought they would accept my abstract, but of course, they did, and I had to write a paper about an era I would not consider my specialty.

You know I'm in trouble when I spent more time matching my outfit to my nametag than I spent writing the conference paper.















If I had to grade myself, I would give myself a C. I spent a significant amount of time speaking my ideas rather than reading my prose. And, after I was done vamping, I couldn't find my place in my paper. I did this several times resulting in either slight jumps in logic or re-readings of the same idea.

The audience seemed to enjoy my presentation, but that just means they weren't listening.

One audience member asked me a ridiculous, look-how-smart-I-am question, so I had to slap him with my vicious rhetoric. That made me feel slightly better, but by that time, I was so damp with nervous sweat that I didn't really care.

I'm glad today is over—it was a tough day. The conference paper made me nervous, and life didn't seem to work out the way I wanted. At least the conference paper gave me some life experience.