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7G,{BBB And as I made my way through the talk, disaster never struck. I made it through to the end without any major problems. b*C\0D VICTORY. w[`2t{^j When I was done, I sat in a seat they had reserved for me, blacked out, and watched the next series of talks. Immense relief. #<_gY The week then turned from what I had openly declared to be the worst week of my life into the best possible shit ever. I never knew much about the TED conference before, but it’s very, very fun. It’s like a little luxury playland where super fancy people come to relax and watch 70 intensely stressed-out, less fancy people get on stage, one by one, and say something interesting. And you know when you’re in a store and there’s some incredibly expensive package of high-end beef jerky or some $9 peanut butter cups by some weeping Brooklyn brand or some pixie bottle of juice that amounts to $6/sip and you don’t buy those things cause who has the nerve to actually live like that? Well all that shit is everywhere on these racks as you walk around TED, and it’s all free. I was chewing for 93% of my waking time the rest of the week. i%~^3/K I’d head into the theater in the morning, some ultra-organic, hyper-cleansing coconut chips in one hand, some wheatgrass extract thing in the other, a thermos full of coffee that took nine minutes for some guy to make using a bunch of test tubes resting in the pocket of the hoodie I wore all week because once your talk is done, literally nothing in the world matters anymore—and I’d plant myself in a seat in the theater and think, “I’m ready, speakers, for you to entertain and educate me. Let’s begin!” "9mVBa|Q ;%-f>'KhI7 There’s only one stage and only one talk going on at a time, and that talk, in addition to happening live in the theater, is beamed through the entire conference center, which is full of screens and speakers. So sometimes, instead of watching talks in the theater, I’d watch in one of the many cozy simulcast viewing areas—maybe while lying on one of the hundreds of beanbags. Maybe while stretched out on grass under a tree. :{#%_^}k ii0{$}eoh 05$;7xnf( & |