Oh my god, I'm so frickin' excited!

Oh my goodness, I just had the extreme pleasure of going and listening to Dr. Steven Novella speak at The Rugby Tavern for London Skeptics in the Pub. For those of you who have no idea who this is, please let me stress how big a deal this is for me.

Dr. Novella is the host of the weekly podcast "The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe," which has been hugely influential in my life. I started listening to the Skeptic's Guide at a time when I was beginning to question a lot of my beliefs and understanding of the world, and it has played a very large part in shaping how I think and who I am today. I even wrote my college admission essay, in part, about the Skeptic's Guide, which means that it is indirectly and partially responsible for my getting into and attending Pomona College, which I love dearly. I started listening to it in high school, a little while after I started reading popular scientific literature for fun (Stephen J. Gould's "Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes is actually where my google username comes from). I was immediately hooked. Listening to the Skeptic's Guide helped me refine the critical thinking skills that I had been starting to develop, and gave me a look at an entire community of likeminded people around the world. I now self-identify as a skeptic, and consider this to be one of the most important things about myself. My identity as a skeptic is certainly one of the things that I am the most proud of. The Skeptic's Guide also helped me realize that I am, in fact, an atheist, and it eventually helped give me the courage to openly admit to being one.

This is the second Skeptics in the Pub event that I've been to here, and it's really cool to see the skeptical community get together and chill. This event was a particularly big deal for me not only because one of my all-time personal heroes was going to be the main guest, but also because I went to this completely by myself. Now, I think it's silly to constantly need a posse of people around all the damn time, but I generally try to avoid going to social events where I don't know anyone. You may remember from a few posts ago, but I am so awkward. It's so easy to let myself slip into being the silent, awkward, creepy person around groups of people that I don't know, but this time I wound up actually talking to people. Not as much as I could or should have, but I feel like I made a friend tonight! We started chatting when we were waiting to get into the room to see Dr. Novella, and then when her friends left to go do something else we chilled for the rest of the event. Apparently there is also a Westminster Skeptics in the Pub and they are having an event on Monday! Which is awesome because being in Westminster means that the venue is pretty close to where I live rather than an hour walk.

The pub was super crowded by the time I got there, which was only ten minutes after the event had been set to start. The Skeptics in the Pub folks rented out the private room in the top floor of the pub and the room was a bit small for all the people who showed up. I wound up standing out in the little hallway outside the room until Dr. Novella started up a Q&A session at which point I squeezed myself into the room and stood while getting to listen to him talk!!! He answered a bunch of really interesting questions and a few not so interesting ones, but it was all exciting. I had to leave once to get a glass of tap water because this damn cough won't go away and started acting up rather violently, but other than that I just stood there and listened with rapt attention. Then there was a little break where people mingled a bit more. I got soooooo close to getting to talk to him, but when I and the woman that I had been talking to got near him, the organizers decided to start up the Q&A session again. :( It was definitely cool just to listen to him speak though. The questions covered a wide range of topics and his answers frequently veered off into tangents that covered an even broader range. Overall, I very much enjoyed it. I mean, it was Steven Novella so there wasn't much chance of me not enjoying it. He finished answering questions at 10:00 and then started getting ready to go. My goal for the night had been to at least say "hi" and maybe get a picture with him, but he looked tired and ready to go. Oh well. Hopefully I'll get another chance. Since I did not manage to get a picture with him, these are the only pictures I have from the evening. Taking them made me feel like a total creeper because at this point I'm pretty sure I was the only person in the room with a camera out. And the pictures make him look like a ghost. This, of course, is all overshadowed by the fact that I FREAKING MET DR. STEVEN NOVELLA. I even said "Thanks for coming" as he left the room and got a "yep" and a nod, or something like that.

One of the questions asked of him tonight was whether or not he ever wavered in his skepticism when things such as his friend, Perry, dying happened. Perry DeAngelis was an incredible skeptic and an excellent part of the podcast, and his loss must have been really difficult for Steve, who apparently was actually there when Perry died. Dr. Novella's response was basically that, as hard as it was, his skepticism and views on the afterlife did not change in the slightest. I admire that. Sometimes we need to just confront our sadness and realize that, although losing something makes the world suck a little bit more, life goes on. Writing this I'm tearing up a little bit, because losing Zoe still hurts. My throat still catches when I see miniature schnauzers on the street and going to bed sometimes can be rather difficult as I think about how much I just want her to snuggle up to me. She was a really important part of my life and the lives of other people. Yet as much as I'd love to see her again, I think there is a certain amount of freedom in believing that the world was a better place for having had her a part of it and I'm a better person for having had her in my life and that is that. She doesn't have to suffer anymore and I don't have to watch her suffer. There is comfort enough in that.

Wow, sorry, I had a long walk back from the pub where I got to doing a lot of thinking. This definitely wasn't meant to be a downer at the end. In all honesty, I don't really see that last paragraph as a downer (although thinking about Zoe has admittedly gotten me crying a little bit). I think it was meant to be uplifting in a certain way. Anyways, I'm sorry.

I had an amazing night. This was so so SO cool. Man, being in London is the BEST.

Much love and cheers!