Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

tags: SciBlings, Romeo and Juliet

Romeo.
And I'll still stay, to have thee still forget,
Forgetting any other home but this.

Juliet.
'Tis almost morning; I would have thee gone:
And yet no farther than a wanton's bird;
That lets it hop a little from her hand,
Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves,
And with a silk thread plucks it back again,
So loving-jealous of his liberty.

Romeo.
I would I were thy bird.

Juliet.
Sweet, so would I:
Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing.
Good night, good night! parting is such sweet sorrow
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.

My fellow SciBlings are now migrating out of the Big Apple, leaving sweet lil' me all by myself in the wilds of the concrete jungle. However, that said, I am so pleased to have met so many of them and to have shared (a tremendous number of) beers and shots with them, along with food and funny stories, plenty of good science talk and political opinionating, and terrible karaoke (or is that the purpose of karaoke?).

So .. a few things that some of you might be interested in ...

I had two guests in my apartment; Chris and Mo. Chris stayed with me from Thursday (and I did my best to keep him inebriated) and left this morning, while Mo spent half the time at my place, and the other half crashing in a hotel with fellow SciBlings, Rob Knop and Mike Dunsford. These two apparently are louder snorers than he is.

After Mo had arrived, I dragged Mo and Chris with me to crash PZ's room at 2 in the morning, and we then dragged PZ out to a seedy bar where we regaled him with our ideas for YouTube videos that would drive our traffic up. One of these video ideas that we proposed was to have PZ undergo a conversion experience where he became a born-again christian after singing "All Things Bright and Beautiful" in the karaoke bar.

Carl Zimmer spoke with me for quite awhile over dinner about writing books. I told him what I was proposing, but mentioned that I wasn't sure that I could actually write a book that anyone might purchase (and, well, read!). Carl kindly provided advice and insight and basically told me that I was capable of writing a book, that I just didn't know it yet. So I need to learn about this aspect of myself. (How is it that other people know me better than I know myself??).

I met Bora, who has been my "nemesis SciBling" for quite some time now, perhaps more than a year, in fact. After "bagging" Bora, I can safely say that I have been cleansed of having a nemesis SciBling. (I borrowed the name, "nemesis blogger", from my birdwatching, where we often have a "nemesis bird" -- one that we should have seen, and could easily have seen given our other birding circumstances, but somehow had the bad luck to constantly miss it anyway). Anyway, it seems I might very well be an invited speaker to the NC Science Blogging conference, which he is organizing. Bora even suggested a topic area that he thought I had a particular insight into and experience with that was not covered otherwise. So I am going to add my application to the deluge, to be sure!

I also spent quite a bit of time talking with my friend and colleague, Mike, who was kind enough to call me fairly often while I was in the hospital, offering to help out in any way that he or his family could. Anyway, Mike volunteered several of his bird images for Birds in the News, so I am pleased. You will see them in the near future.

I have updated my "Drinking Pals" blog roll to reflect my new drinking pals. More blog updates about this past few days shall probably follow soon.