To conference or not to conference, that is the question
So the IAFP conference abstract submission deadline is like, freaking TOMORROW, and I'm still debating whether I should really go at all.
On the plus side, I get to present my 6-years-of-torture-in-the-lab research project via poster presentation and feel all accomplished and proud that it's fucking done. I can feel all smart and brilliant among everyone, and sound smart telling them of my amazing results. Yeah, intellectual bragging ftw. And I can finally close the book without regret, knowing that I'm presenting my final, final results. It's an international conference and I'll be mingling among my fellow 20-something FS grad students. And learning FS-related things. And ideally bonding with people within my discipline. That's pretty cool in itself, too.
However, it's Rhode Island. Like, what's there in RI anyway?? And don't get me started on the plane tickets. One-way is around $370 but that doesn't include those damn hidden "fees". So all in all, $800 flight expenses, probably spending 3-4 nights there so that's at least $600 in hotel, and food? I have no freaking clue. Maybe $40 per day so...$160 in munchies? And you can't forget about the registration fee, so that's probably around $100-150. Spending all that cash in Rhode Island, of all places, the middle of nowhere. Also, I think I already spent my get-out-of-jail-free card by using my faculty travel award so they sure as hell won't be reimbursing me for travel expenses. All in all, I'm looking somewhere around $1500...Ah, gah dammit.
And don't get my started with my over-protective parents. Gah. Their answer, before I even asked, was already no. There's "safety" concerns and that I'll get "lost and kidnapped", and get butchered into pieces...not to mention that I should "concentrate" on writing my thesis, even though the conference is 7 months away, and that somehow, they think taking a 4 day break would immensely affect my thesis progress and prevent me from finishing up. Yeah...I'm not buying it you idiots. Nice try. I love their lack of common sense. It doesn't even make sense at all...I expected them to be more creative in giving me a reasonable and realistic excuse but alas, they're crazy people so I can't expect much from them.
To summarize, the positives for going: is showing off my amazing final results in front of an international FS community, leaving the hell-hole (a.k.a. my home) and my crazy mental family for 4 days and closing the book on my graduate school life FOREVER. Presenting my final results is a big deal to me.
The negatives: blowing $1500, going solo and hope that I don't get lost, and having my parents mad at me for leaving the nest.
To conference or not to conference...that is the question.
On the plus side, I get to present my 6-years-of-torture-in-the-lab research project via poster presentation and feel all accomplished and proud that it's fucking done. I can feel all smart and brilliant among everyone, and sound smart telling them of my amazing results. Yeah, intellectual bragging ftw. And I can finally close the book without regret, knowing that I'm presenting my final, final results. It's an international conference and I'll be mingling among my fellow 20-something FS grad students. And learning FS-related things. And ideally bonding with people within my discipline. That's pretty cool in itself, too.
However, it's Rhode Island. Like, what's there in RI anyway?? And don't get me started on the plane tickets. One-way is around $370 but that doesn't include those damn hidden "fees". So all in all, $800 flight expenses, probably spending 3-4 nights there so that's at least $600 in hotel, and food? I have no freaking clue. Maybe $40 per day so...$160 in munchies? And you can't forget about the registration fee, so that's probably around $100-150. Spending all that cash in Rhode Island, of all places, the middle of nowhere. Also, I think I already spent my get-out-of-jail-free card by using my faculty travel award so they sure as hell won't be reimbursing me for travel expenses. All in all, I'm looking somewhere around $1500...Ah, gah dammit.
And don't get my started with my over-protective parents. Gah. Their answer, before I even asked, was already no. There's "safety" concerns and that I'll get "lost and kidnapped", and get butchered into pieces...not to mention that I should "concentrate" on writing my thesis, even though the conference is 7 months away, and that somehow, they think taking a 4 day break would immensely affect my thesis progress and prevent me from finishing up. Yeah...I'm not buying it you idiots. Nice try. I love their lack of common sense. It doesn't even make sense at all...I expected them to be more creative in giving me a reasonable and realistic excuse but alas, they're crazy people so I can't expect much from them.
To summarize, the positives for going: is showing off my amazing final results in front of an international FS community, leaving the hell-hole (a.k.a. my home) and my crazy mental family for 4 days and closing the book on my graduate school life FOREVER. Presenting my final results is a big deal to me.
The negatives: blowing $1500, going solo and hope that I don't get lost, and having my parents mad at me for leaving the nest.
To conference or not to conference...that is the question.