What is the big deal anyway?
Seems like everywhere I turn today, someone is saying something about having an "extra" day.
I wish I did. But, for me, today is simply Wednesday. Which means laundry day. Yesterday was Tuesday, and tomorrow will be Thursday. Yet, for some reason, just because today is February 29th, which means this is a leap year, people keep asking "what are you doing with your extra day". Well, like I said - I wish I had one. But, I don't.
I will say, though, that even though I'm a bit of a science geek myself, that I still don't totally understand how we can add an extra day to the (man made recording tool) calendar every four years, but that the vernal and autumnal equinoxes still fall on the same date, as do the solstices. I mean, really - if we keep making the calendar year longer, shouldn't the dates and seasons slowly move around said calendar? Shouldn't we eventually have summer in February? I get the part about the earth moving around the sun every 365 and a quarter days... But because the calendar is a man made construct, why does it still work?
I guess it is one of those math things that goes just beyond my understanding. I'm a science geek, not a math geek!! Yes, I can hold my own doing a lot of mathematical stuff, but some of it just goes a little further than I care to. I start to get confused a little after a while.... But, send me shopping for the best deal on my groceries, or get me to figure out how to piece a quilt or work out a knitting pattern repeat, and I'm your gal!! I'm pretty much able to do a lot of basic math in my head, and even more on paper, but I have an upper limit.
Otherwise, though - Yes, I love science. Biology, physics, geology, even a smattering of chemistry (the part that doesn't delve into mathematics!). Unfortunately, I'm just the wrong age. When I was in school, I got a lot of the "girls don't do science" thing, and "boys are better at math than girls" so I didn't get to learn as much as I wanted. We girls had to do cooking and sewing (chemistry, biology, physics, math...) and didn't even get to do woodworking or metal working, or any of the fun stuff like that. I had to learn a lot on my own. Having an interest helped, as did having a high school math teacher who was very encouraging. I actually got exempted from my grade 11 math exam. It still took until I was in University, and the math prof told me to stop saying I wasn't good at math as he handed me another test with an A on it...I missed one question, so missed out on the A+, and it was while discussing where I'd gone wrong with the question - silly number mistake, but I had the formula correct - funny I can recall that after 25 years. That prof is the one who told me that it is perfectly OK to count on your fingers if you have to. Funny, but since I learned that, I've slowly lost the need to. So - what it was - for most of my life, I had some sort of mental block, and could not manage to remember the answer when adding 5 to either 7 or 8. I would have to stop, count on my fingers, and repeat that sometimes because I didn't always trust the answer. I know, silly - but really, it was hard. So, under pressure of University test, I managed to mess up. Had I gotten the simple arithmetic question correct, my overall answer would have been right - but I was, of course, one number out. So, he told me to go ahead and use my fingers, and don't be embarrassed. From then on, I did - and now, I rarely do. Once I relaxed about the whole thing, I've been able to remember that 5+7 = 12 and 5+8 = 13.
I ended up working on the Sea Cruise sock last night. Took it all the way to being ready to graft the toe. That is another thing I still need the crutch of having the directions to refer to - but I'm getting better at that, too. I don't have to look at each step before I take it. Last night was watching The River. I did like last night's episode better than the last few - it was suitably creepy. Tonight is Survivor night, so I need to work on Hermione - mindless. This incarnation is finally the right size, but is still wanting to spiral-pool. I'm going to have to live with it.
Should be ready to post pictures again tomorrow. Along with my goals for March.
I wish I did. But, for me, today is simply Wednesday. Which means laundry day. Yesterday was Tuesday, and tomorrow will be Thursday. Yet, for some reason, just because today is February 29th, which means this is a leap year, people keep asking "what are you doing with your extra day". Well, like I said - I wish I had one. But, I don't.
I will say, though, that even though I'm a bit of a science geek myself, that I still don't totally understand how we can add an extra day to the (man made recording tool) calendar every four years, but that the vernal and autumnal equinoxes still fall on the same date, as do the solstices. I mean, really - if we keep making the calendar year longer, shouldn't the dates and seasons slowly move around said calendar? Shouldn't we eventually have summer in February? I get the part about the earth moving around the sun every 365 and a quarter days... But because the calendar is a man made construct, why does it still work?
I guess it is one of those math things that goes just beyond my understanding. I'm a science geek, not a math geek!! Yes, I can hold my own doing a lot of mathematical stuff, but some of it just goes a little further than I care to. I start to get confused a little after a while.... But, send me shopping for the best deal on my groceries, or get me to figure out how to piece a quilt or work out a knitting pattern repeat, and I'm your gal!! I'm pretty much able to do a lot of basic math in my head, and even more on paper, but I have an upper limit.
Otherwise, though - Yes, I love science. Biology, physics, geology, even a smattering of chemistry (the part that doesn't delve into mathematics!). Unfortunately, I'm just the wrong age. When I was in school, I got a lot of the "girls don't do science" thing, and "boys are better at math than girls" so I didn't get to learn as much as I wanted. We girls had to do cooking and sewing (chemistry, biology, physics, math...) and didn't even get to do woodworking or metal working, or any of the fun stuff like that. I had to learn a lot on my own. Having an interest helped, as did having a high school math teacher who was very encouraging. I actually got exempted from my grade 11 math exam. It still took until I was in University, and the math prof told me to stop saying I wasn't good at math as he handed me another test with an A on it...I missed one question, so missed out on the A+, and it was while discussing where I'd gone wrong with the question - silly number mistake, but I had the formula correct - funny I can recall that after 25 years. That prof is the one who told me that it is perfectly OK to count on your fingers if you have to. Funny, but since I learned that, I've slowly lost the need to. So - what it was - for most of my life, I had some sort of mental block, and could not manage to remember the answer when adding 5 to either 7 or 8. I would have to stop, count on my fingers, and repeat that sometimes because I didn't always trust the answer. I know, silly - but really, it was hard. So, under pressure of University test, I managed to mess up. Had I gotten the simple arithmetic question correct, my overall answer would have been right - but I was, of course, one number out. So, he told me to go ahead and use my fingers, and don't be embarrassed. From then on, I did - and now, I rarely do. Once I relaxed about the whole thing, I've been able to remember that 5+7 = 12 and 5+8 = 13.
I ended up working on the Sea Cruise sock last night. Took it all the way to being ready to graft the toe. That is another thing I still need the crutch of having the directions to refer to - but I'm getting better at that, too. I don't have to look at each step before I take it. Last night was watching The River. I did like last night's episode better than the last few - it was suitably creepy. Tonight is Survivor night, so I need to work on Hermione - mindless. This incarnation is finally the right size, but is still wanting to spiral-pool. I'm going to have to live with it.
Should be ready to post pictures again tomorrow. Along with my goals for March.
posted by Catlady @ 11:29 a.m.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home