on writing talks (thoughts over a few days)

i can't remember exactly when i gave my first talk. it was probably about 8-9 years ago. i do remember that it was awful. so was the second one.

in the few years that i've been a mathematician, i've already lost track of the number of talks i've given. at some point in graduate school, i averaged at least 2 per semester, probably 3, and that doesn't count conferences.

i don't regret the experience. then again, planning a talk is like planning a trip:

the first few times you fly on an airplane, it's exciting and worrisome at the same time; you plan for everything. you're nervous at the airport. you wonder if you'll miss the connecting flight, even though it's a 1.5 hour layover.

then you get used to it, then you procrastinate a bit on a few trips, and one day you nearly miss a flight.

after a panic, eventually you settle down.

there's a necessary amount of planning to do, but now you know how much. the only time you worry is when you're traveling to a completely new destination and subsequently, having no idea how to get there or what to pack.

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yesterday i started LaTeχing my talk;
i managed one slide, which sounds bad.

what is good, however, is that it completely determines at least 2/3's of what i want to discuss.

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not having been trained in PDE, i am now paranoid about background. tonight i may do some reading.

supposedly it's good to work in several areas of research, but so far it's brought me nothing but trouble.

maybe it really boils down to # of papers, with a minimum # of them in good journals.