The Math Geeks
I realize that I alluded to our infamous math study sessions, but I never wrote about them. As I've mentioned before, Karleen and I were math majors. We had our last semester of coursework in the fall, and we did our student teaching in the spring. (At Artesia High, hence the link on the side) We had this particularly scary class called "Analysis: with an introduction to proof". It was an upper division math class that we only partly understood. So, Thursday nights would usually find us either catching up on homework, which was due Friday, or studying for a test, which were on Fridays. Also, Beverly Hills 90210 was on that night, so there was no use in going out, because we HAD to watch that. Although we did sometimes venture out to DQ, only fifteen minutes before the show, to make a run for some blizzards. Scary car rides, those were. Three twenty-one year olds crammed in the front seat of a large large car, taking the corners way too fast and laughing all the way. But I digress.
So Karleen and I would take over the kitchen table, and we'd invite Bill Born over to study with us. Why do I remember we made jello one night? I don't know, but we did. Must have study food, you know. We'd force poor Bill to stop working and watch our show with us, and then we'd be all seriousness. I'm sure that math this scary sent our poor roommates into the bedrooms to hide, but I don't really remember. I know they were there for the show, and for the food, and to occasionaly look over our shoulders and pity us. It was pretty sad. So we would work, we'd make notes, we'd explain stuff to each other, we'd quiz each other. Then, somewhere around 11:00 pm, I'd start to figure out how low my test score could be and still make a B in the class. This would make everyone really mad, but I knew this about me: I will do better with more sleep and less studying than the other way around. I just do. So I'd make my apologies about being a lightweight, and Bill and Karleen would work into the wee hours of the night. I'd go back to the bedroom and climb into my very uncomfortable hide-away single bed (it was pretty cool - a hide-a-bed chair - but it was open to the bed that entire year, never closed to the chair) and the loud green fan would lull me to sleep.
posted by Sheila @ 8:49 PM
6 Comments:
I only took one math class in college, the equivalent of Pre-Calc which was a review from the highest math available at our high school. My teacher became really sick and so we had sub after sub. It should have been a breeze as it was a review, but I had to work.
For years I would have dreams in which it is the night before an exam. I hadn't gone to any of the classes nor done any homework. I would be extremely stressed out and wonder why I had signed up for a class and not attend it.
I would awake to relief that I was no longer a student, in fact, realize I hadn't been one for years.
The higher regions were and are a mystery.
Good work posting on this neglected blog.
Why did you have a chair/bed?
Your math parties baffled me.
In fact, math in general lost me at about the pre-calc level.
And no matter how many times you tried to explain the little cube-like thing made with Q-tips, which you hung proudly in our dorm room, I didn't understand--I may have nodded politely, but I didn't get it.
I didn't understand the language you all were speaking at our dining room table. And the green jello seemed to somehow play such an important role. It wasn't just once. I'm sure green jello was something of a ritual at these parties, because I remember it very well, also. Never understood that, either.
But the scrounging under the nasty couch cushions for spare change and the searching of the rarely used jacket pockets for forgotten dollar bills...the front seat of Karleen's car...the music and the laughter...mmm, a Butterfinger Blizzard...and our beloved BH-9er. Good times.
And Bill Born. He was easy on the eyes, wasn't he? I remember those long, perfectly curled eyelashes...
Well done, She; you've kept the blog alive. I'll have to think of something next.
Oh, by the way, I met a woman yesterday when I went to a restaurant with a few friends and several of our little kids. She is a new mom, late 20's perhaps, and we chatted mindlessly about baby things. She mentioned her class at U of M (Montana, of course) and I politely asked what she was studying. She shrugged shyly, adjusted the baby's onesie and said, "Oh, I'm finishing up my PhD in math." Whoosh.
Yikes. A PhD in math. That even scares ME.
And yes, Bill Born was a very nice study partner, because if I didn't understand what was going on, I could just stare at him blankly. For a really long time.
Yes, what was with the green jello? Must have been cheap and easy to prepare, because I can't remember. Maybe Bill liked it and we made it to lure him to our study parties. Karleen? Do you remember?
Wow -- so many topics/memories wrapped up in one post. The infamous Thursday evening rituals: da na na nuh, da na-na-na-na che che (do you recognize the BH-9er theme song?), DQ runs (I recall hitting more than one speed bump at full tilt -- attempting to make it back by the beginning of the show -all sitting in the front seat typically singing at the top of our lungs and laughing), and Bill Born, oops, I mean math study sessions.
I do not remember the reasoning behind the green jello. Cheap? Good brain food? Who knows? Don't forget M&M man shelling out the chocolate for our study sessions. And Sheila skulking away to bed mid-study session (and still passing the test -- oh, maybe that's because she actually understood it) -- yes, quite annoying.
--k
Hey K! Glad you came by! It was fun though, wasn't it? I'll never understand the green jello, but the front seat of your car and DQ will always be one of my favorite memories. Remember when we drove through the flash floods on the way to Lake Havasu? :) Good times.
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