Fellow Inmates

I typically find reasons to do something in a kind of reverse way. I take my list of reasons that go under the title of "Why I can't" and look for an example that discredits them. Take getting a Bachelor's degree for example. Here is a list of the big obstacles:

• Biology
• Math
• I'm a slow reader

I don't know what to do about the last item, other than learn to use my time more effectively. Notice how I don't include money. I'm not rich, I just figure if my broke-ass co-worker can squeeze an Associates degree out of a turnip, I can do that and more.

As for Biology, I think it sucks, especially after reading a page of that same co-workers' biology book. However, if I convince myself that I will use that knowledge as I take the class on brain science the wife did -it was interesting- I'll make it. I doubt I'll really take that brain class, but for a single term, I'll believe that I will.

Now for the hard one. Math. I'm here to say that most of us don't use it. I don't want to learn math again so I can forget it a second time. Rather than focus on the uselessness of math, I can focus on the reason, which is clear as crystal, to take the required math class and succeed.

A fellow inmate in my writing class has already fulfilled her math requirements. By inmate, I mean she got out of The Joint (High School) in a manner similar to my own. (If someone's experience with High School appears similar to mine, I consider them a fellow inmate.) After dropping out, she got back into the ring, scored about the same on the COMPASS test as I did, and overcame the hurdles. She's in Pre-Calculus right now. There went my excuses: her achievement speaks so loud I can't hear them. So it looks like I'll be crunching some numbers next term.