May 05, 2011

English vs Math...

The other day I was looking over one of Jasey's final exam review packets.  I never did this nor did I look through any of his books while he was in school,  it is all so math based.  Combine that with the facts that I was never thrilled with math and I haven't been in a Math class for longer than I'd like to admit, I always feel a wee bit on the below average side of the scale.  I know this is not true but I don't like the possibility, so I avoided his schoolwork at all costs.

If math is my enemy, then word problems are my nemesis.  I can hold my own in a Math class but as soon as a word problem is presented I break down.  This entire packet was word problems.  I would have failed this class, no question about it.  Jasey on the other hand, he is a numbers guy.  He enjoys stocks and trading.  The financial and strategy ends of business thrill him.  Give him numbers and he will find a way to make them better.

He likes math.

To which, I say, Blah.

Math is absolute.  I am way too free spirited for absolute.  I was always much happier sitting in an English class.  There were different ways of looking at things.  Not everyone got exactly the same meaning out of literature.  Of course there were some absolutes in english, such as grammar, but even that was subjective at times.  If a poet decides to write in all lower case or to not use punctuation, he was eccentric and had his own style.  There is no wiggle room in math.  If someone in a mathematics field doesn't use the proper formula or puts the parenthesis in the wrong place something might blow up or the moon might fall out of the sky.  Okay, maybe that was a bit dramatic, but you get my point.  I like wiggle room.

As Jasey quickly walked me through the basics of one problem, I could follow and understand but there was too much and I was happy when it was over.  I did not want to dive in and figure out the rest of the packet.  It did not make me want to sign up and take a Math course.  It did however reaffirm my dislike of math.  I can only go s long before my brain hits it's own off switch.  I guess that's one of my own personal defense mechanisms.

I know there will come a day that I will probably need to take a class or two so that I can keep up with the kids and actually be able to help them with homework but today is certainly not that day!

English...definitely more my thing.  I'm not going to sit here and talk about how English is better, that is just a stupid argument.  I just think it's crazy that two people, Jasey and myself, have personalities that are so reflected in the school subjects that they were best at.

Jasey is absolute.  Definite.  Infallible.  Fixed.  Unbending.  He is math.

I am flexible.  Undefined.  Conditional.  Versatile.  Multipurpose.  I am english.

For the most part in the future, I'm sure that Jasey will help the kids with the numbers and math and I will be the one helping with sentence corrections and book reports.  But, that is something that I love about the two of us as individuals and as a couple.  Even though we have those areas that we are better at and have accepted that out partner might be better suited for a certain task, we aren't afraid to step up and do what needs to be done or ask for help and learn to better ourselves.  Maybe math can be a little vague and english at times can be pretty rigid.



 - Today, even though it's tough, I'm grateful that I have something I can still be grateful for. -

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