The Conference Hook Up [MF][LONG]

I enjoy the energy here and wanted to add a personal story from two years ago. At that time, things were not going well for me. My on-again, off-again girlfriend and I were very much off, I was dealing with the fall out of my depression (excessive weight gain and resultant feelings of low self-worth), and generally just wanted to seclude myself from the world. Unfortunately, my career choice does not afford me the opportunity to be down in the dumps for very long. I had a four-day conference to attend in Pennsylvania and could not get out of going unless I wanted to add unemployed to my list of worries.