Just before Livia’s bus was due to arrive Tuesday morning, she came into my office and asked me for help. She was going to have an algebra test that day, and there was a type of problem that she still didn’t know how to solve. OMG, really? She had several whole days in which to figure this out, but she waited until five minutes before she had to leave? Kids. Anyway, I never learned algebra properly, so I wasn’t the best person to ask, but I came up with an equation that she said later had been helpful. Whew.
Meanwhile, being suddenly on the spot like that brought up bad memories from high school math, and I realized just how mad I still am about why I never learned algebra properly. But, I know math well enough for my everyday life, apparently even well enough for random early-morning algebra emergencies, so what difference does the past make? I think it’s time I finally told my Algebra Demon to fuck all the way off.