Thursday, May 25, 2006

On that note...

OK, so I have skipped lunch, one talk I sorted of wanted to see, and one talk I really wanted to see (that I briefly forgot about it during my emergency numerics and which I only remembered about 15-20 minutes after it started).

About 20 minutes ago, I decided to take a break and go to the Red Door. Partly, I wanted a crepe because they're pretty good and I hadn't had any food all day. More than that, I wanted a break (needed a break, really) and the numerics could run a bit while I was eating anyway. It also occurred to me that there was the chance (however minor, which it admittedly was) that the girl I mentioned (see entry below) would be there, although I didn't think seriously that that would happen. But, just in case, I figured I should have something to say and be prepared to apologize for the apparent mood I seemed to be in and not coming across my best as a result. (Not that that is something that would be good to mention---I'm just indicating what was going through my mind.)

I enter the Red Door and the girl is actually in line in front of me (surprisingly!). (Simultaneous thought: This is my chance and I'm scared shitless.) I start steeling myself to try to say something -- still unsure whether I actually will but at least in the hope that maybe I will put something on the table (however small) -- and then while I'm trying to muster courage, somebody she knows comes and starts talking to her (though I was impressed that she specifically complimented his Roscoe's shirt) and I immediately chicken out. Failure! (Again.)

(And my emergency numerics still aren't working, although I am now rerunning the old code to make sure the current version of Matlab isn't changing anything. I have an idea here, but my previous ones haven't quite worked yet, so we'll see.)

No comments: