Wanted to put something out there to note explicitly that I’m home and I’m okay, and things went pretty well. Kassiane’s sense of humor and Kathleen’s general existence might have saved me from the parts that did not go so well. And I will note that I have now for the first time ever experienced the phenomenon of hiding in the women’s bathroom and having a bunch of other women follow me in and start gabbing. (A phenomenon that up until then had remained a complete mystery to me — it appears to have to do with the women’s bathroom being the closest place a person can find relative privacy sometimes. The only non-stereotypical aspect was that my frustration was political rather than having to do with a failed relationship or something. I’d say I pulled a Larry Arnold at one point (which I mean with high respect for Larry’s ability to stand up for his principles in difficult situations), but as has been pointed out to me by many people who were there, I did not say “bollox” often enough.) (EDIT: In US slang, “pulling a Larry” means doing something Larry is notorious for doing, it does not have any of the sexual connotations someone in the comments section described.)

I especially enjoyed the movement differences presentation, and finding out that there are in fact a wider number of people with roughly my pattern of development out there than I had even suspected (and I had already known it was more than most people realize). And talking to Martha Leary afterwards meant I’ve now gotten a lot more information than I had before. Hopefully it’ll eventually make its way out of my brain again (which is always the problem).

I also liked Estee Klar-Wolfond’s presentation about changing the way people look at being autistic.

However, I’m exhausted and also dealing with personal problems offline (unrelated to the subjects of this blog), so my online work might be sporadic for a little while. Also, the kind of shutdown I’ve experienced after this conference is qualitatively different enough from my usual post-conference shutdown for me to be still puzzled about what the boundaries of what I should and should not be doing are. Because of this, I’d like to ask anyone who has my email address not to contact me about anything that’d be stressful to me at the moment unless absolutely necessary. (Exceptions to the “anyone” are friends contacting me about their own personal problems (which I’m glad to listen to but may be sporadic in responding to), and family.)