It would be funny if I were awake

Went to a work related "workshop" today. I had hoped that it would be informative or interesting or thought-provoking in some way and it was. For half an hour. The first speaker was impressive and engaging, which set a promising tone for the event. At the Q&A after, my co-worker Kaseri was tempted to ask "Boxers or Briefs?" which would have been ace.

The next 4 hours were so boring, uninteresting and useless that it seemed almost surreal, as though I fell through a portal into an alternate universe where saying nothing in the most annoying way is a sign of genius. At points, I would drift in and out of a light sleep and then awake to a pretentious twit stating something so basic and obvious in a guru-like tone that I thought I had gone back in time to an era when his insights were relevant. Circa 1956.

Other times, I would tune back in to witness a far too eager and career-defined personification of boredom fail at his cheesy attempts at humour, all the while thinking that he was a total superstar... even though nobody even smiled or looked at him. His "wacky" gesticulations and interaction with the audience made him seem ridiculous and made me dizzy.

There was at least one other entertaining presentation, albeit it had little content but lent some partially unintended humour. Two guys made a presentation on a vaguely intriguing project they had worked on, but they seemed like total stoners and their quasi-Valley Girl phrasing and compulsive use of "like, you know" and random giggles was totally diverting in a good way.

Also, the organizers fed us crap snacks. After this little gem of a workshop, we had to face the blizzard raging outside and a two hour commute home (thanks for the lift, Kaseri and Yiaourti!). Even as I write this, my brain is filing a huge majority of today's memories in a dusty drawer labelled: Of no foreseeable use, recall only when unable to sleep or during bouts of self-doubt. Thankfully, this drawer is rarely used.