if all goes according to plan, this year will be one of conferences and networking. i just spoke about my research at a professional meeting, i've submitted a paper for a conference in san francisco later in the year and i'm working on (white lie, but the deadline is still way off) another proposal. cool. i feel more professional already. at the same time, i have that nasty feeling that if i go to the conference and give a paper, i will be found out. in my bipolar approach i move between feeling like a total fraud and a total genius. from what i hear this is not that unusual.