The one about math
Warning: This post mentions math. Don't worry, I don't do math in it and you don't need to know anything about math to read it. But, if you're the kind of person who runs screaming from the room when you hear the word fraction, you might want to skip this one. It's all about my thoughts on a job and this tough class I'm taking and it's kind of blah, blah, blah to be honest with you. Also, it's perty long, so it might be better to just give it a miss altogether. But, maybe there's something worthwhile in it for you, plus there's a funny story later on (I promise). So, like mathematics itself, it might be a little bit of work but there is some payoff at the end.
I'm a math major, and you know what that means, right? It means my job prospects are about as good as your average Liberal Arts major (which I also am, since I'm double majoring in English Lit, convenient right?).
In other words, I'm afraid the phrase, "Do you want fries with that?" may be important in my future career field. I mean what the hell, I pick the only major from all the sciences that has no use whatsoever by itself. It's pure abstract thought at its finest!
I mean, most people ask, "Oh do you want to be a teacher?" And when they hear that I also have a major in English they think it's for certain. What else are you going to do with it, right? The problem is, I took too much math. I just can't see using anything above Calculus in a high school setting. And in middle school it's even less math required. Let me put it to you this way: In order to teach math to middle school and high school children you really don't need to know that much math. And that is sad on so many levels.
For instance, the class I'm taking right now is called Introduction to Compex Analysis. It deals with imaginary numbers. Yeah, they're imaginary! And there's a whole class on 'em! Anyway, the entire subject is ridiculously complicated. I mean the word complex is right there in the title. It took some of the smartest people in the world over 2000 years to come up with this shit. It's calculus taken to an entirely different level. So, isn't there a use for any of this stuff? Actually there is, ironically. As it turns out, imaginary numbers and complex analysis are some of the most useful fields to modern science. You could not have the microchip without them. And they have thousands of uses in high tech science (satellite imagery, signal analysis, etc.). But only if you have a Master's Degree in math. Nothing for undergraduate degrees. Guess they don't trust us.
On that note, I have a funny story regarding complex numbers. No seriously! So, a rabbi a priest and a mathematician walk into a bar and... Oh hold on, that one isn't funny. This one, maybe... The other day I got on BART and it was fairly crowded and as usual I was running late. Just as I got on I saw a guy out of the corner of my eye holding what looked like the world's rinky-dinkiest little electronic guitar. I mean this looked like those playskool "My First Guitar" things but worse. It looked like he'd either put it together himself or fished it out of a trashcan. Either way bad news, because he had on shabby clothes about a weeks worth of beard growth and my first thought was, "Homeless guy is gonna play his Fisher-Price / vagrant guitar and ask for money and I'm standing right next to him. Great!"
Well, I pull out my complex homework and start working on it standing right next to the guy because I'm cool like that. At a certain point, he and I are sort of the only two people on the train and I'm wondering if he'll start off with a stirring rendition of "Wind Beneath my Wings" or "The horrible love song from The Titanic movie". But, all of a sudden he's like, "Hey what are you working on there?" So, I start stammering through an explanation. I start out pretty basic because who knows anything about complex numbers. I'm like, "uh, complex numbers. They have an imaginary component and a real component. And this is like analysis of them and it's..." Only that's as far as I get because I don't really know how to explain it even to myself. But after each pause he just nods his head and is like, "Yeah I'm familiar with that." So finally I stop talking because I have nothing else to say and because I'm still waiting for him to start in with "To All the Girls I've loved before" when he starts talking and telling me how he studied complex analysis years ago and then he starts lecturing me on all the uses of complex analysis including crap so esoteric I've never even heard of it before. Then I actually look at him for the first time and he's like 24-25 years old. Just a kid and he's already mastered this stuff years ago! Meanwhile I took the course over the summer at Berkeley and got a D and had to retake it at SFSU!
Then the train stops at Civic Center and he's like, "Well good luck with that." And then he strolls out, Mattell "My Li'l Banjo" in hand. Yeah, let me tell you, I felt pretty smart that day.
Ok, you made it! That's the end of the post. Thank you for sticking around. Sorry it was so long and rambling. It's just that I'm incredibly tired and that's what you do when you're tired. You ramble. Like that speech Bill Bradley gave a few years ago when he was running for president. He'd been up for like 72 hours and at a campaign stop decided that now would be a good time to depart from his prepared remarks and then embarked on a two minuted ramble about his pillow at the hotel room the night before. Seriously! it was a good moment for him. Well, that's what I feel like about now. Okay, that's really really it. For real.
