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the uncertainty is often two-sided
Aug. 30th, 2016 08:26 pmInspired by my success at Logic Colloquium last month, I decided today that not only was I going to not go back to my hotel to hide instead of having dinner, I was going to make sure I had dinner with someone. (Two important facts: One, the conference ran from 9am to 7pm with too few coffee breaks in the afternoon. Two, there's a restaurant in my hotel that I could've eaten at, so I had a legitimate alternative to going back to my hotel and hiding that didn't involve other people.)
One of the short talks this afternoon was really interesting, and I chatted with the speaker, and one of his friends, during the coffee break. So when they were hanging around looking up something on her ipad after things broke in the evening, I walked over and asked if they'd ever been to Budapest before, and if they knew of any good places to eat. Turns out, Diana was getting recommendations from tripadvisor and had just found something highly recommended not far from us. So I boldly invited myself along, and we set out. Tripadvisor did not lie: Bors Gasztrobar was delicious, and worth the wait. They're a take-away gastro-pub selling baguettes and soup, and their tiny space was squashed full with people ordering. When we finally got our sandwiches, we sat down on the back of a truck parked right in front to eat. I was feeling proud of myself for having initiated contact, AND having gotten excellent food and some friendly conversation out of it, when Joan said abruptly, "I read a bunch of your papers for my master's thesis. I really enjoyed them, and wanted to tell you, but didn't really know how, so I'm just telling you." Turns out he'd wanted to talk to me at Logic Colloquium last month, but apparently was unsure of how to initiate a conversation!
Sometimes, it's good to remember that the uncertainty can be two-sided -- and this is likely to happen more and more often as I get older and become more senior. Someone asked in another conversation if I was at the last AiML, and I said "I've been at every AiML since Manchester, except for Australia". Manchester AiML was 2004, TWELVE years ago. People who are PhD students now were still in high school, or even grade school, in 2004. It's weird how simply being around a long time is enough to transition you.
One of the short talks this afternoon was really interesting, and I chatted with the speaker, and one of his friends, during the coffee break. So when they were hanging around looking up something on her ipad after things broke in the evening, I walked over and asked if they'd ever been to Budapest before, and if they knew of any good places to eat. Turns out, Diana was getting recommendations from tripadvisor and had just found something highly recommended not far from us. So I boldly invited myself along, and we set out. Tripadvisor did not lie: Bors Gasztrobar was delicious, and worth the wait. They're a take-away gastro-pub selling baguettes and soup, and their tiny space was squashed full with people ordering. When we finally got our sandwiches, we sat down on the back of a truck parked right in front to eat. I was feeling proud of myself for having initiated contact, AND having gotten excellent food and some friendly conversation out of it, when Joan said abruptly, "I read a bunch of your papers for my master's thesis. I really enjoyed them, and wanted to tell you, but didn't really know how, so I'm just telling you." Turns out he'd wanted to talk to me at Logic Colloquium last month, but apparently was unsure of how to initiate a conversation!
Sometimes, it's good to remember that the uncertainty can be two-sided -- and this is likely to happen more and more often as I get older and become more senior. Someone asked in another conversation if I was at the last AiML, and I said "I've been at every AiML since Manchester, except for Australia". Manchester AiML was 2004, TWELVE years ago. People who are PhD students now were still in high school, or even grade school, in 2004. It's weird how simply being around a long time is enough to transition you.
