Where to sit in meetings

For some reason I always sit in the same place at meetings - I probably have 7-8 semi-regular meetings, and regardless of the venue, I always sit in the same spot.  I don't think there is any similarities between the different venues, just that where I sit the first time I attend that specific meeting seems to set the pace for... well, forever.  This was recently pointed out to me by a colleague who attends two of the same meetings as me.  It made me think (and SHE sits in the same seat too, by the way), it made me think back to a traumatic event in my past...

When I was at university there was a regular morning meeting which my student group attended for a semester.  There seemed to be an unwritten rule about where everyone sat, and it basically depended on where you fitted into the hiearchy, which was: Head of Department and Professor, Professor, Associate Professor, Senior Physicians, Fellows, Registrars, Residents, Interns ...and students (yes, it was a fairly small, crowded meeting room, and we were crammed in like sardines at the back of the room).  It was impossible to contemplate sleep as there was always the possibility of being asked a random question, so you needed to stay alert.

One morning I arrived early, on purpose, to sit where no student had ever sat before - where the Head of Department sat.  My fellow students came in next and sat in their regular lame seats, laughing and knowing that I wouldn't stay there for long.  But soon the entourage arrived and I kept my seat.  Everyone wordlessly sat down in their regular seat-but-one, and someone fairly important in the hierarchy was pushed off to the side.  I ended up thus sitting between the two professors, with everyone staring at me, and my friends shaking their heads in embarrassment.

Unfortunately sitting between these two intellectual collosi, and everyone staring at me with disbelief... my mind drifted to other thoughts (my own Professorship, receiving the Nobel Prize...).  Suddenly I noticed that the room had gone silent and all eyes were on me.  Too late I realised that one of the collosi had asked me a question, and my mind until that moment been dreaming about what I was going to do to the Swedish Princess after being toasted for winning the Nobel... I stuttered "could you repeat the question?"... the question was "well, what investigations would you like to perform on this man?". Blank, blank, blank (sound of bullets piercing my skin).

Suffice to say I died a little that day, and ever since I have always sat in the same spot in meetings.