Sonya Wilson's Blog

Summer 2010

Disclaimer:  This is a boring post.  It’s my first non-travel related, non-photographically documented, a real “obviously-I’m-done-with-roaming-around-the-world-and-writing-about-my-amazing-adventures” post.  It could barely keep my own attention.  Yes, I’m back to the daily grind (whatever that is), or pretending to be, so be prepared to fall asleep at the screen.

I don’t normally pin much meaning to dreams.  Sometimes they’re worth a laugh, and occasionally I can glean from them a bit of insight, or what I perceive to be insight.  But on the very rare occasion that I have a recurring dream, I start to pay attention.

Of any recurring dream I can remember, this has to be the recurring-est.  I think I’ve counted up to five or six times over the past year or so and last week it happened again.

It goes something like this: I’m in college again, taking a few classes, getting close to graduation.  There’s about a month left in the semester when I remember I’m enrolled in a really important math class, but–whoops–I haven’t been attending for about two months and had actually forgotten about it.  I need that class to graduate, but how can I catch up on two months’ worth in time to pass the final?  I have to review trig and algebra to even do the work, and somehow I’ve forgotten almost all my math!  How am I going to get through this class and graduate? AAAAAA!

Then I wake up, remember that I already graduated from college and I didn’t even need calculus to graduate, and bask in a wave of relief.

I mentioned this recently to a friend of mine, and he laughed and said he’d had the same type of dream, that he actually hadn’t graduated from college.  But I was pretty sure that my recurring dream didn’t have to do primarily with graduating from college; it had to do with MATH.

Math and I have a long history of a love/hate relationship.  We had rocky beginnings, me with memories of sitting in at recess to finish math problems I couldn’t possibly finish because I was concentrating all my energy on hating math.  I could do the word problems because they involved a story, but the plain numbers–ick!  After what seems like eons of forced learning, I somehow finally start to like it as taught by the no-nonsense, raspy-voiced Corky Harrison my freshman year in college.  (Hardcore lady, that Corky.  Looked about eighty years old but also looked like she could run a marathon, if she weren’t coughing and puffing on cigarettes almost every time I saw her outside of class.  Great teacher.)  Eventually, I start to dig the challenge, discover how exciting math actually is, bond on a deeper level with my TI-82, ace some exams, and become a stats and algebra tutor in college.  Finally, math and I are buddies [enthusiastic cheer], and now I can help others who are in the same wretched state of hating math as I was long ago.  Yes, my friends, math is fun, and what an inspiration I am to the mathematically challenged, indeed.

So why do I keep having this dream?  Was it because I dropped calculus, which I had been taking for personal growth and challenge?  Am I haunted by my past fears?  (Dun-dun-duuunnn…)

Anyway, I’ve started studying for the GRE.  I’d gotten an ok score on a practice exam when I was in college, but I want to practice and practice so I can kill it and get into Emerson.  So today, I finally break open my GRE math study section for some review, and…lo and behold, I can’t do any of the problems.  I’ve forgotten basic algebra.  Numbers swim before my eyes.  I try every problem, and I’m like, an equation with 3 variables?  How do I do that??  What’s with all these triangles?  What does “trig” even stand for?  After a few non-solved problems, I remember my dream an have a little KAHFWOOSH! (sound of dream colliding with reality) moment.  Maybe my subconscious had been nagging me about something; I really do have to re-learn trig and algebra.  It’s been ages since I stopped playing with square roots.  And I DO have to re-learn it to graduate, since you have to actually get IN to the school before you graduate.  AAAAAA!

After attacking it for a couple hours, though, I feel a little better. I’m getting re-aquainted with equations…ah, equations!  Those were good times.  Hello there, Pythagorean Ratio.  Remember me?  We need to re-kindle our relationship.  It’s just going to take a little time.  Sigh.

I told you…boring!!  In fact, this post was so boring I’m having trouble posting it.  Maybe if I add a picture it will help.

That’s not helping.  How about some fire, me, and a bunch of Italian guys?

That’s better.  And a pic of my nephew–

Ah, there we are.  What a happy, huggable little dude.  Sigh.  Now I can go to bed knowing I posted something good.

This entry was posted on March 20, 2012 at 1:09 am and is filed under Ramblings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.