Dear Friends,
It’s been a while, I know.
A matter of months, right? Well,
I’m back. Mostly.
I took the time away from reportage to challenge myself to a
math course at Portland State University.
I’ve learned some important things!
Like, the slope-intercept formula… good fun, that one! I can graph a line like a mad woman now. But, more importantly, I’ve learned this:
Math makes me grouchy.
Not disgruntled, not out of sorts, not even really grouchy…
I should probably say that Math Pisses Me Off.
Oh, it’s not Math’s fault; it’s not really a fault thing at all. I should be, and am, irritated with myself
for forgetting all of this hard-earned knowledge in the first place. But, apparently I needed to subject myself to
the torture of an 8am, twice a week class with loads of homework (thankfully we’re
on the quarter system and not semesters) to really grasp the fact that my
aspirations do not lie down the academic path I had envisioned.
All of that being said, I could not spare a single moment to
keep you all updated on this hare-brained scheme. Besides the lack of blogging, I haven’t read a book for pleasure in all
this time! I’m catching up, though. I’ve read two since the final exam. Enjoyed the hell out of them, too!* But, now that I have come to my senses and
put aside the notion that I was pursuing, I should be able to get back on the
blogging horse and ride, baby, ride!
I would also like to say thank you to those of you who have
emailed or messaged me to say, What’s up?
I appreciate that so much! I’m
still around, even though I haven’t even had the time to read your blogs much… I have some catching up to do.
I also have to do some reevaluating of my plans. I still want to build my lovely mechanical
contraptions but I’ll just have to go about it in a different way.
There may also be more courses at the University. I might need to take a nice Literature class
to get the bad mathematical taste out of my mouth. I need to remind myself that I am good at
something, dammit! I was an Honor
student, for crying out loud!
I’m not sure what I am doing next, but I’ll keep you posted.
Cheers!
*Monkey Mind, A memoir of anxiety. By Daniel Smith
and,
Mr Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore, by Robin Sloan
Enjoyed them both!
10 comments:
Oh, I'm happy to see you! It was wonderful to see your blog pop up in my feed.
I have to admit to having zero interest in 8:00 am classes at this point. I could imagine myself going back to school, but it would be for something like art classes, I think.
But you did it! You got through the quarter and did it! Congrats!
I'm pleased to see you here.
I'm pleased to be here! And catching up with you all is something I am looking forward to...
Yay! An update! So glad to see you back here.
The school thing...yeah. I get it. I have until the end of May before this semester finally ends. I'm so over it. Reading for pleasure is something I no longer take for granted either. I look forward to that. :) xoxo
But, Greg, you will reap the rewards for all of your effort. Keep that in mind. And, the pleasure reading will be all the more enjoyable.
Welcome back! And kudos to you for taking a class. I'm one of those weird folks who like math, but it definitely requires practice, and I haven't done it in way too long. So glad you're reading for pleasure again. I don't think I could have gone that long without it.
Cheers and hugs,
GG
Math makes me...homicidal? Suicidal? I don't know, but WAY beyond grouchy. And that thing you learned? WTF is that all about? And where would you use it?
My math - and I'm brilliant at it - CALCULATING DISCOUNTS. 15% off $61.50? $9.23 discount, new price $52.27. BAM! Now that's some relevant math right there, missy.
Proud of you, though! I love knowing I have friends (can I call you a friend?) that are geniuses. Glory by reflection....
Missed ya, by the way.
GG: You are not alone in your Math-liking. I know other oddballs like you... :-)
And, not pleasure reading? That was hard!
Jean: First of all, yeah. Screw you slope-intercept equation! And, look at you actually USING math! Woot! Please do call me a friend! But, not a genius...
The "Welcome Back Kotter" theme just invaded my senses. Oh. Joy.
Seriously, we must challenge ourselves once and again. Yay you. :-)
Yes, the prodigal bloggers return!
Be proud to be joining the ranks of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates who didn't finish college. As I have said, passion trumps academics every time.
So happy to see you back . . . and now I can hope for longer, juicier emails too : )
God, help me....that sounds like torture. Math sucks. The big one.
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