Mathochism: The math will continue

One woman’s attempt to revisit the math that plagued her in school. But can determination make up for 25 years of math neglect?

Tom Petty was right: the waiting is the hardest part.

I spent the past 10 days in a bit of a grump, angry at myself for screwing up that final. Christmas is usually my favorite holiday, but I had a tough time getting over what seemed like three wasted months. All that studying, and one bad night meant I couldn’t continue? No amount of fruitcake or eggnog would make up for that.

The college sent several e-mails nagging me to pay my spring fees — I managed to get into the dapper professor’s Algebra II class, which made me very happy — but I didn’t want to pay until I knew whether I had actually passed the Final or not.

And, considering the college was planning to stay closed until after New Year’s, I figured I would have to wait until the drop dead deadline.

Then today, a post-Christmas miracle happened. I passed the Final! I don’t know what exact score I got, but it was at least 75, since I got an A in the class.

An A in Algebra. I wish I could stop to savor it, but I can’t.

The mathochism must go on.

All text copyrighted by A.K. Whitney, and cannot be used without permission.