Sunday, January 31, 2010

Staring into space

Do you ever find yourself just staring into space?

Someone will come up and say to you: "Hellooooo....where are you?"

or

"You looked deep in thought - what were you thinking about?"

Nothing really.

I am not focused on anything, my mind isn't thinking of any thing, it's like a little power nap for the brain. It just kind of goes into "hibernate" mode like my laptop does when I walk away for a while.

I've read somewhere that it is a symptom of ADHD.

Honestly - I think we all have our ADD or ADHD moments when the brain just screams out: TIME FOR A BREAK! I'M OUTTA HERE!

School was the worst - I'd be off day dreaming or doodling on my note books.

As an adult it was meetings or listening to a customer rambling on the phone that would put me in a daze.

A few times as a teenager I remember getting those lectures from my Dad about something I did to disappoint him or whatever. He'd be going on and on and on and I would just blank out. I would get myself into more trouble because after this long winded narration he would tell me: "Now repeat back to me what I just said to you!"

Uhhh....well.....ummmmmm.

His face would go from red to brilliant crimson!

I thought steam would blow out of his ears.

When I made the decision to go back to school I was petrified that I would fall into one of these dazes, but also determined to learn.

So far I haven't drifted off because the subjects that I have taken were ones that I am interested in, but this semester I have math.

:::shudder, shudder:::

I barely passed math in high school.

When they tested my skills for the community college that I am going to they determined I needed to go to a remedial math class before I could take the required math I need to earn credits.

A funny thing happened in those classes - I got an "A" in each of them. Algebra 1 and Algebra 2.

How do you like that?

Having a really great teacher who actually wants you to learn is a big help and also being in a class with other "older" students who were in the same boat as I am made the situation a little less uncomfortable than I thought it would be.

I actually kind of "liked" it. (shhhhhhhhhh...don't tell anyone OK?)

The class I am taking now: A Survey of Mathematics is basically designed for the Liberal Arts major.

People who don't like math but have to take it to get a degree.

The class is full to capacity. The professor has all of her lesson's on Powerpoint and then posts them to internet so we can review them at any time.

It should be easy enough.

We shall see. The Prof speaks in "mathenese" which means that it's either "black or white", "right or wrong".

Cut and dry.

Matter of fact.

She uses the same word to define the word she is trying to teach you.

She spaces out!

Mid - sentence!

What's going on there?

The difference with her spacing out and my spacing out is that you can see the wheels spinning around in there looking for different way to explain to all of these "non-math" people math!

She tries.

But there are a lot of blank and confused faces and we've only had 2 classes!

So, wish me luck as we learn about sets, sub-sets, finite sets and infinte sets, equivalents, quotients etc - I may need it!

Perhaps this song will help!

5 comments:

Middle Girl said...

As a good friend of mine would say, "bless your heart." I can't imagine having the patience to deal with a teacher who can't explain . . .

Much luck.

Maria said...

I detest math. My daughter is a math wizard. Go figure.

Kat Mortensen said...

How old is she? Could it be Menopausal brain freeze? I get that often. Actually, come to think of it, I got that before Menopause!

I love your theory about the brain just saying, "I'm out of here!" Taking a little mini-break for a few. Sounds like a plan.

Kat

Kat Mortensen said...

The word verification for the last one was "cougad". That's a cougar who finally takes a good long look in the mirror!

neetzy said...

I took the Survey of Mathematical Ideas for non-math people. I had Dr. T. Dr. Tsiutsui (sp?). He was Japanese. He had a perm. loved him. I made it through math with a "C". I also endured "Statistics". I managed to get a "C-". I passed.