I think I may have mentioned that I'm taking some classes at the local community college toward a certificate in Technical Writing. I'm in my 3rd class of 5 and this one is "Math and Science for the Technical Writer."

I spent the first two classes dreading this one. As Barbie so eloquently put it to the next generation "Math is hard!" Math is my nemesis. My brain just doesn't work that way. I can't even make change in my head. I'm not proud of this, but I do have a tendency to use it as an excuse. Growing up I was shuffled into "gifted classes" and I remember the exact day when they told me that I couldn't be in the gifted math classes any more. I was in 5th grade. I cried because being "smart" was my place in the social strata of school.

All this to say that Math became increasingly more torturous for me until I hit Alegbra. Until I took this night class I'd forgotten how much I liked Alegbra. Granted it still took me a bit longer to grasp each concept. But I could do this, the rules made sense. They gave you a set of instructions and if you followed them you got credit even if you came out with the wrong answer.

There was something so soothing and serene about taking an equation and solving for x. First you did this. Got that over there now, great. Next you did that. First, Inside, Outside, Last. And at the end there was that satisfying feeling of circling your answer. x=3.

I hadn't realized I missed the simple pleasure of hearing lead on paper and the joy of a good eraser. It's been fun rediscovering this tiny, cobwebby part of my brain. I find myself enjoying this a lot more than the first two classes that I breezed through.