anxiousI just have to chill out and remind myself that all I REALLY have to do is score a 70% or higher on the final and I'm safe. But really, who'd want to have to rely on that? I was really hoping that I'd perform this time, and I was going to pull out all the stops. I'll still be able to go through my notes, but it won't be quite the same thing and not nearly so good practice as doing all the review questions would have been. I could just cry, really.
I could fire her off an e-mail and see if she has a digital copy? I doubt it, though - the review looked like it was put together on a copier and it has a lot of handwriting. I'll ask anyway. And I'll do the assignment that would ordinarily be due on Tuesday tonight, since some of the concepts from it will surely be on the test.
* * *
So earlier this afternoon I'm doing my homework in the Chase and someone from the class asks me where he can get a Tim's coffee. He later comes back and chats casually and asks if he can sort of watch me work. Well, alright... People say that I seem smart, but I'm probably just astute and stubborn. I don't have the background in math to be particularly smart about it. My eraser has been my erstwhile friend this whole term.
He watches me work in silence.
"Do you believe in God?"
Oh, no. I knew from the frequent eye contact that something was up.
I suppose it's a fair question, but you always get the impression that someone is at least wishing to convert you to their religious beliefs. Still, a dose of discomfort every once in a while is a good thing for me - I'll tread more and more carefully should there again be call for me to state my eschewal of such beliefs.
The worst is when people cite a "plan" that "works in mysterious ways." As if we can wrap up yesterday's rain, missing the bus, 9/11, the Eastern Front, and the girl who smiled at you last week all into "God's plan." Please. It's far, far easier to believe there is no plan - and if there is a God, he doesn't matter.
Well, off to my voice lesson...
He also asked me if my parents were church-goers. Well, yes. Hell, my uncle and stepmother are ordained ministers - which my father has mentioned my becoming on more than one occasion, because I don't need math. It's a very interesting concept - it leads me to think that math and religion are inverse functions of each other. I'm sure there are a few religious folks who have found math, but I think there are fewer mathematicians who have "found" religion.
Update, 06/17: I scored a big honking 82%! Not only did my guarantee come through, but I also feel like I'm starting to get this stuff. Sure, my factoring and fraction skills are still fair, but I'm scrambling my way up to the top of this stuff! No lifetime of serving hamburgers for me! ;-) (To see what I mean by this, click here and read the bottom section on "Mathematics.")