A heavy dose of neurotic laughter

Last night and this morning, I kept working on the paper I talked about in my previous post. I was working and working, and as the final obstacles sprung in front of me on the way to the finish line, I leapt over them with grace and elegance, watching the crystalline beauty of mathematics unfold itself as simplicity delivered the last few devastating blows to complexity...

And then, this morning, another obstacle came up. A conquerable one, of course, but tall... almost tall enough to make the finish line disappear. I started to panic, as the idea of skiing on Lake Tahoe in december began to fade and blow away in the winds of uncertainty... I kept chugging along, determined not to give up, despite the doubts, despite the lack of food, and despite the lingering headache that's been threatening to stop lingering and start pounding.

And then, an idea occured to me! A brilliant idea, a sure-fire way of getting the paper done on time. It is an old idea, and one that almost always works for me. I started checking, filled with suspense.... and yes!!!! The idea was going to work!!! There it was, on the conference website - "Extended Submission Deadline: June 30, 2005"!

Alright, I'm taking a break and getting some food.