New Year, New Start?

2010 hasn't gotten off to the most productive of starts. Holiday illness, a slew of Snow Days and a general sense of apathy and extreme laziness, have kept me away from college for the first week of our new semester.

I finally got back to learning this week and it's been struggle, a week of ups and downs that was equal parts baffling and exciting. Having done absolutely no work over the Xmas break I have so far managed to cobble together the necessary essays in time for the various deadlines I've already stretched beyond feasible bounds. Admittedly I still have to complete two rather bulky assignments for Monday, but I have faith that writing this blog is a far more productive use of my time than starting on these tasks.

As great as seeing my classmates for the first time this month/year/decade was it was tarnished by continuing illness that even now is making me feel fairly lame. What wasn't lame was the realisation yesterday that I shall definitely be going to college this September having received my first offer for a University placement.

I also finally had some luck on the work front after getting to attend a 3 hour interview. I won't find out if I've got the job until Monday but I think it went well so I've got my fingers crossed (which makes typing much more difficult).

Let's hope that next week is a little calmer and that the weather is a little more co-operative:

(This was how many busy my class was Wednesday morning after my classmates decided to continue their run of Snow Days)

Adding It Up

After failing to set my alarm clock it was a later than expected start this morning. I still arrived with time to spare for my first lesson of the day... Mathematics.

I've always loved Maths. I seem to have an instinctual understanding for most of it and over the years I've derived a great deal of satisfaction from displaying my affinity for the subject.

I recall being made to memorise my 'Times Tables' by my Dad long before they were ever mentioned at school, standing while I recited the whole series up to "twelve times twelve is one hundred and forty four". Now the rote memorisation of multiplications seems a forgotten art, replaced by constant access to calculators throughout school life. My youngest sister, aged 14, was never required to learn them and the effect this has on her mathematical abilities is beginning to show as she begins her first GCSE year.

I'm thankful for my prowess with numbers and formulae. With it I acquired two maths GCSEs at grade A, completing the standard course in the first year before undertaking another in Statistics during the second.

The mathematics on our course is of GCSE level so I wasn't expecting to find it too challenging this morning. I was looking on it as a chance to refresh a skill set that had been allowed to atrophy through a decade of disuse.

The first half of the class was a recap of some basics but after we returned from a short break an old nemesis from my childhood confronted me once more..

Long division, I managed to get through my life so far without learning it but it's finally caught up with me. I've always disliked it's singular inelegance when compared to other mathematical techniques. It lacks the beauty and grace which maths so often possesses, instead displaying it's clunky and unwieldy working across huge swathes of paper. I'll now be practicing this 'basic' technique in the coming weeks as the lessons become more advanced and in a perverse way easier.

When lunchtime rolled around it was more than welcome and I dared to hope that our afternoon class in 'Study Skills' would prove easier  provender. My wish was fulfilled as the first portion of the course is devoted to our imminent UCAS applications. Whilst there are some tough decisions to be made there will be nothing as fearsome as long division to face.

As a parting note, I submit for your consideration a (in)famous piece of maths: