use it or lose it

Back in the day . . .

I loved algebra. And physics. I did really really well in them too until I got hit by some pretty severe teenage angst. My all-time favourite high school math course was Euclidean geometry. The challenge of proofs got me pretty excited. Ahhhh and chemistry. . . . Mr. Hawke's Periodic Table of Elements was etched in my mind for years. But then that angst hit and I discoverd art and out went the dreams of aerospace engineering and pfffffffff away it all went. Now it's gone. All gone. Fifteen years later and I struggle to understand bitrates and filesizes and whether it's down and then over or over and then down. My brain just doesn't function in these ways anymore.

Sure I can write 4 papers on feminist theory/day and bake a mean (in a pacifist sort of way) vegan casserole but why doesn't math stay in my head anymore? Why am I so easily frustrated? I'm ashamed to say I wasn't confident I was correctly expressing a ratio as a percent this week. What kind of loser does this make me??? I am torn between thinking (1) if I truly needed to I could remember/relearn what I used to know, that I'm fully capable and (2) thinking it's just not possible. I thought about taking Calculus at the U some semester, one of those things I always wanted to do but never got to do in highschool (timetable conflict with some art or music course probably) but it could totally blow my GPA. Same goes for stats. I'm not required to take stats for my BA but it will probably be required for any Masters. Then I start wondering if I really want to go ahead with the Masters. Suddenly sidetracked.

Michael made a video for his Masters. Maybe I could get into his program. :) I'd love to do my anthology for credit. Or a play. Or anything multimedia. Anything but more courses. Gotta get in there and talk to that advisor one of these days.