My first talk ...

It has, yet again, been a while since I posted, and this time I really don't have much of a good excuse like the last time. Basically, I spent all of March stressed about a meeting I was going to in April, so I did tons of experiments and only a few worked (typical in science but it always feels worse when you are trying to get things done by a certain point). Still, a lot worked and now that I am at the meeting and talking to people about my research, the 16th Society for Neuroimmune Pharmacology (SNIP), I feel really good about my most recent work and that I am definitely heading in the right direction.

Best of all, today I out here in California at the Society for Neuroimmune Pharmacology and this afternoon I presented my data in my first scientific talk and it went pretty well. Everyone else told me it went great, but you know, people are nice, so I will settle on pretty well. Maybe even pretty dang well :) I think I was a bit wooden presenting my data, I got all the points across but perhaps I over prepared or more likely I just need to become more comfortable presenting my data ... however, I generated a lot of great questions and felt like the best part of my presentation was answering the questions. It felt so cool to be asked such good, probing questions, questions that I have spent lots of time pondering, and to be able to share my opinion on them with such a knowledgeable crowd. Overall, fantastic ...

And once I was done, the weight which lifted off me, which I didn't even know was there, was quite large and the relief was palpable .... and glorious.