6 posts tagged “spsp”
are up at flickr.
Day 5.
We got a rent-a-car early in the morning and went shopping for Dr. K's son. So off to Borders to buy books (and I picked up some chocolate covered espresso beans at the coffee store).I started a concerted search for Tab because my favourite author (Bret Easton Ellis) makes most of his characters drink it and I got curious.
We headed off to Santamonica Beach (it doesn't look like that, I'll post some photos). Being winter, there was practically no one there and while there were some echos of Baywatch, it wasn't that good. We were starving and Dr. K was hankering for Mexican so we passed up every decent looking food joint until we reached the restaurant on the end of Santamonica Pier (trust me, it's a soul destroying walk from where we parked). Amazing food though. I had soft tortilla pork tacos and we got complimentary chips and homemade salsa (well, everybody does).
Drove in the vague direction of hollywood, and I spotted Mulholland drive on the map and we had to make a detour, it's a pity we didn't go at night because it just looks really completely Martian and I could have had a bottle of spirits in my hand while leaning out of the window while Dr. K broke the speed limit.
We stopped by a Best Buy so Dr. K could look for some speakers (great use of holiday time I know) and we were told that it would be in another store, about 20 minutes away.
On the way, we detoured through UCLA, but it was Sunday and nothing was happening. We eventually got there and got bounced to yet another Best Buy and this time, with light fading, we got to the Hollywood sign and took some grainy photos. We eventually got to a Best buy with the speakers Dr. K wanted, but it was a returned item and Dr. K didn't end up buying it. So the whole thing turned out to be a great use of time.
We crashed back at the hotel after driving though Little Armenia and Koreatown and crashed for about an hour. We headed out to a supermarket for some supplies and finally found some Tab. I did notice that the manager saw fit to try to sell Micheal Chrichton novels in the middle of the freezer section. Why?
The next morning we went to the airport and headed for Seoul. Dr. K and I didn't speak much for most of the flight.
Wheels down at Incheon International Airport 7:17 pm.
Added 7000 miles to my newly created frequent fliers account.
Day 3.
Attended symposias non-stop from 8:15 am to 6 pm.
Well, there's a 15 minute break between each session (one hour and fifteen minutes), which is good for one bathroom break and maybe a trip to the vending machine.
I have to mention that the toilets are just physically big. I sat with the kinda uncomfortable feeling that I might fall in. Of course, it's a different ballgame from the bidet, more like a deep disturbance than a feeling of unease.
So after the energy sapping symposias, I came back to the hotel and just crashed until morning.
Day 4.
Had a rather nasty hotel breakfast (way too salty, catty service) and went to the conference again. Non-stop symposias from 9:45 till 2:30.
During one of the talks, I noticed someone had left their camera below their seat. Now, I knew he sat next to James Pennebaker, a giant in social psychology. I had a vague look for Dr. Pennebaker and hoped to locate the person who left their camera behind (I turned the camera on, and it had a picture of a grad student next to his poster, and happened to be from the University of Texas, Pennebaker's university).
I handed it in to the organisers and ended up dealing with this very young girl (honestly, she didn't look older than 14) and told her that it was probably a colleague of James Pennebaker. She just stared at me doe-eyed, and it looked like she barely understood what I was saying. The camera's going to get back to the right person, maybe.
To the airport, headed for LA.
The cabbie was rather talkative, who talked about losing his job at Amtrak, and subsequently having to drive a cab, which is half the pay and longer hours. He talked for a long time, and he said he had to let it out. Must have been quite devastating because it was at least 14 months (if not 2-3 years) since he lost his job at Amtrak and he still had to talk about it.
Wheels up Memphis, 7:07 pm.
Wheels down LA at 10:41 pm. Memphis time.
We just got to the hotel and had dinner at a nearby fast food place (Denny's again) because everything was closed and there was nowhere else that was close.
Day 2, Memphis.
For breakfast, we go to a Denny's. I order a Mega French Toast Slam, which arrives with what looks like hash browns, a big-ass slice of ham, three sausages, and two eggs as well as three slices of gigantic french toast. And maple syrup.
I eat this and not too long afterwards, my digestive system borks from having eaten so many calories.
We take a stroll around the downtown area, and find it to be rather disappointing. Almost no one is on the street (thrusday morning). More than a third of ground level retail space is vacant or abandoned. There is a serious lack of business, and apart from some giant chains holding on, most independent businesses look to be doing badly or shutting down.
The fanciest shopping mall was almost deserted. Back on the streets and I realised that I hadn't seen a single businessman/woman.
We went to Graceland, Elvis' home. I won't say much because the photos are going to be more informative, I'll post those soon. It's a bit smaller than you think.
Conference registration at 5pm, and the opening keynote addresses were a little mind-blowing. The talk by John Dovidio about the "darker side of 'we'", desdeserves its own post, so I'll leave that till later.
My poster session was from 7 to 8:30, and it went off without a hitch. No nasty questions and no long bouts of boredome either. It works like this. You bring in a poster (A0 size, 841x 1189 mm) with your findings and you post it up on a noticeboard. Your noticeboard is one of about 150 or so, arranged like supermarket aisles, and there's a constant flow of people walking up and down, some of whom read or talk to you about your poster. I have a panorama, I'll post that too. The guy in fron of me, a good looking, Dutch guy who looked into relationships, got much more attention than I did, and mostly from the female graduate students.
Screw that.
A guy came to my poster and stuck a pink square on my noticeboard. He said it was to mark the fact that I was a part of the graduate poster award (I get a hundred bucks if I win and some other stuff). I had Dr. K look out for other posters with the pink squares to see how I was doing compared to the competition.
(I should mention that there are about 20 poster sessions so there's no was to keep track of them all).
Tha author of the poster to the left of me looked into the female reactions to cat calling and other comments hurled by men at women with good bodies. She looked angry. Like a feminist. Like an angry feminist.
We had dinner at Hard Rock Cafe (it would have been deserted without us and the one other table). The food was horrible.
Not a horrible day.
The SPSP conference is the largest conference of social and personality psychologists.
About 2000 people attend every year and this is my first trip.
Day 1.
Woke up at 5:20 and went to the airport. Met Dr. K (my professor) at the airport about 8 am.
Using his credit cards, we went to about 3 airport lounges, and there's nothing really special about them except for the comfy chairs and the free flowing supply of wine and spirits.
We talked about the warlord clan like behaviour of academics.
Wheels up Incheon Airport 11:30 am.
The in-flight duty free catalogue had a description of a gold leaf soap. I thought it was rather weird.
Wheels down Tokyo, Narita, 1:21 pm.
Wheels down Tokyo, Narita, 3:24 pm.
Expected flight time to LA 9 hours and 5 minutes.
5:30 pm, Seoul time.
12 hours without any sleep of any kind (unusual for me), kinda letting my mind wander, and studying for the GMAT. Not a good combination (when you throw in all those cocktails I had back in the lounges and the alcohol I had on the planes).
9:00 pm, Seoul time.
15.5 hours without sleep.
Still Kinda ok. Sitting next to a Japanese guy with his family. Looked like yakuza. Definately. Full set of tats as well as a Rolex on his wrist.
Wheels down LA, 12:29 AM, Seoul time. Exactly 9 hours and 5 minutes from takeoff.
9:23 am LA time.
Definately feeling sideways. Airport workers at LAX are nasty to Germans who only have very basic English. Security a hassle and not friendly.
At the Northwest Airlines lounge, sipping down gin and tonics and bloody marys to kill the 5 hours until the flight Memphis. Can't actually stand or speak coherently but should be ok as long as I can crawl on to the flight. Either my internal clock is busted or it doesn't feel like it there should be daylight outside (I know I'm not the first person to experience jet lag, but I'm not sure whether it's me or the alcohol).
Spotted muffin crumbs on top of the urinal at the lounge bathroom. I wonder how it got there.
Wheels up LA 1:20 pm. LA time.
The flight to Memphis was kinda weird. Lots of people (including a friend of Dr. K) on the flight were psychologists. I wonder what would happen if the plane were to crash.
"SO, HOW DO YOU FEEL RIGHT NOW?"
"I LOVE MUMMY, I LOVE DADDYYYYYYYY...."
"I'M GONNA DIE A NERD!"
Reached 24 hours without sleep. Bloody marys worn off, unfortunately.
I can detect my own b.o. Gotta be a bad sign.
I've gone 24 hours with the only food in my system being airline food. Also gotta be a bad sign.
Wheels down Memphis International Airport, 4:45 pm, LA time.
The flights to Memphis:
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Leg 1
Seoul ICN -> Los Angeles LAX (Flight No. KE1) 24/JAN/07
Los Angeles LAX -> Memphis MEM (Flight No. NW180) 24/JAN/07
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*At this point, because I can't fall asleep on anything that moves, my brain is going to have the consistency of dhal and will start to lose track of sentences, thoughts and the like. I'll probably look more undead than usual because I'll probably forget to shave and be incredibly be jacked up on the free alcohol in a vain attempt to pass time.
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Leg 2
Memphis MEM -> Los Angeles LAX (Flight No. NW179) 27/JAN/07
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*After presenting at SPSP, my professor and I will be spending time at LA, to have fun and perhaps I'll be hitting a certain frozen banana stand at Newport Beach. I don't think I'll do anything OC related because I never watched the show and felt like throwing up everytime one of those 'teenagers' tried to look emo and deliver 'emotions' about the fact that their current triple -ex boyfriend who might be gay didn't go down on them. Yes, pun intended.
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Leg 3
Los Angeles LAX -> Seoul ICN (Flight No. KE2) 29/JAN/07
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*Refer to leg 1, but add in the fact that I'll be incredibly broke and weeping at the fact that I've done nothing but spend 6 days straight with my supervisor.
