I wonder if I would have been a math major. Or maybe even an engineer.


You know something's up when I start to question my direction in life. I've pretty much always known that I wanted to do something in English. I mean, the role within the English Major realm has often changed: from wanting to be a 6th grade teacher, to just being a writer, to being an editor, back to being a hermit writer, to owning my own small publishing house, to being a screenwriter, to being a playwright, to finally wanting to teach creative writing at the university level...


But then I went and took a math class...


Granted, it's just a 100-level math course. Just something for non-science related majors to fulfill their undergraduate math required credit. But it's been one of the most interesting classes... there are so many uses for math that I had no idea about. I was so blinded by my anti-math attitude that I never realized that this actually has real life applications that are altogether fascinating.


However, as I commented to Lorie, had math been this interesting in high school, I would have continued onto Algebra II and all that good stuff. Because I stopped at geometry because 1) I couldn't make it into town the day the class was offered and 2) I figured since only geometry was required to graduate, I could take fun classes instead.


Because even though we're covering basic concepts like game theory, linear programming, different kinds of voting systems, logic, Euler circuits and those kinds of things... It's very interesting. And it's all coming so easily to me, which is strange. Because I don't remember math being this easy.


I think if I was able to get the basics down, I would be able to continue in a math or science related field. I mean, I have always wanted to be a marine biologist--primarily a shark biologist. I've wanted to do that since 5th grade. Or maybe I could end up being a computer animator afterall... In 6th grade I really wanted to work at Pixar (this would have been around 1992-93). My dad even bought me a computer animation program, and I was always feverishly working on that. Of course, it was on an Amiga computer (remember those? hahaha). But everyone always told me that if you wanted to be a computer animator, you had to be good at math, and I had always struggled with math, and so I figured that my chances were shot.


All of this is starting to make me wonder if the course of my life could have been different. But it's really all Lorie's fault. She's the one who put the idea into my head about going on to get another degree in marine biology, after I graduate with my degree in May, of course.


So many possibilities...

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