(Metro station, Washington DC) Seems like I’m always chasing after missed trains…
In retrospect, it was unrealistic to think that I could do much reading or homework while attending a conference, much less running one, but things turned out fine on Monday despite having to skip lectures to catch up on sleep. I had a great time, even if it was a weekend with an average of four hours sleep a night.
The ‘prestige’ highlight of the weekend was meeting the president of my favorite think tank at its top floor conference room. I didn’t get to say very much, but it was still pretty cool. I also got to listen to great speakers in the movement, and chat with a few of them afterwards.
The ‘fun’ highlight of the weekend was meeting my favorite blogger economist again, who came to pick up his daughter who was a second-time conference attendee. At the social event, most people wanted to talk economics with him, except me – I figured that there was nothing economic I could talk about with any added value to him. Instead, we talked about his other passions, travel and cuisine, and I mentioned the best restaurants and places I went to over the summer. I also asked about DC restaurant week. He advised me never to go anywhere then, and to try out restaurants that refused to participate.
I also got to meet some really interesting kids from all over, some of which were very inspiring with their life stories and achievements. There were also more pretty girls than I expected would come to a conference like this, though of course that isn’t so important: Somehow the topic of Valentine’s day came up (something about taking the missus to Puerto Rico for a weekend), and with that, talk about relationships as transactions. I shouldn’t be taking relationship advice from an economist, but his reminder about competition for mates as a status game was both discouraging and comforting. Discouraging, because I can never be a high status male here. Comforting, because then I can stop trying.
The more I think about it, the more appealing a near-future in DC looks, even if it’s an entry level, pre-grad-school type RA job that pays a bare subsistence wage (including grants!) and necessitates living in sketchy conditions, though some of my friends who are doing that told me that they found it slightly suffocating to live and breathe politics and policy every day and night. I guess it’s hard to tell whether I would feel the same way if I was there full-time, given that we all spent a whole summer interning there and loved it. I’d love to try it out, even if it means being poor for a while.
