Did you feel the earth swivel on its axis last night at about 11:30 EST? Did plates fly out of the cupboards and crash on the ground? Did you feel a sense of unease at any time last night while you laid in bed watching Leno?

Well, that was me, sorry. See, I failed math in the 11th grade. Miserably. I never paid attention in class, so any math concepts I picked up on were purely by chance, not due to the shining success of the American public school system. I thought I was safe when I went off to an art school for my undergraduate degree, but I should have known better than to try an escape. In a career that’s seen a few shifts in direction, eventually settling into web design, I’ve found that my lack of math skills is an anchor preventing me from doing a lot of things that might make me more money.

At the library yesterday, I found a book called Algebra Demystified which had a good mixture of explanation to examples, and cracked it open last night before going to bed. Starting out with fractions, I made it through to page 15 or so before turning the light off, remembering some things and relearning some others. The goal is to get through most of the book before I have to return it (a total of about four weeks). It’s 422 pages, which means I’ve got to crank through fifteen pages a night—last night that took about half an hour, which sounds just about right.

Date posted: March 7, 2008 | Filed under geek | Comments Off on Add It Up.

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