1. Using the vehicle.
   This is the first stage, and it usually takes about a year to nail down. Most people master the basics in a week (you know - go and stop). But there are more complicated things involved too: parallel parking, knowing how long it takes to stop the car at speed, backing up without hitting anyone or anything. It's best to do this part with people and during the day. Being at this level means you are allowed to be in a car, driving, but shouldn't be trusted to drive alone.
   
   
2. Being aware of your surroundings.
   This is learning to see and know what's going on around you. Otherwise, you'll hit pedestrians crossing in an intersection, crash into people you are tailgating, and run red lights.
   
   This is where you learn to know how close other cars are to you, and how far away you need to be from the next car in front. It's when you learn to spot sometimes-hidden stop signs, know which way you're facing, and how to avoid getting lost. It will also help you avoid tickets. Here in Tucson, there's about ten zillion cops on Speedway Boulevard on weekend nights. If you speed there, you're begging for a ticket. Also, being aware of your surroundings helps get through traffic. If you see a construction zone coming up, go into the lane farthest from the blocked ones.
   
   
3. Predictive driving.
   Obviously, it's impossible to tell everything about all the vehicles around you, but watching their behaviors, and knowing your environment, will prevent a lot of accidents and get you to wherever you're going much quicker.
   
   For instance, the car that's been weaving through traffic and is now right behind you? He's looking for a way around you, and may or may not involve you in a wreck to get there. Let him pass you. If you pull up to a light and have to be behind an old station wagon with an old lady at the wheel, or a middle-aged mother driving a coupe, you can bet that the coupe's going to move faster.
   
   Personally, I like playing little predictive games on the road: who's going to go fastest, when someone will turn (even when there's no signal), all that. It gets me there faster, and I've avoided a LOT of accidents this way.
   

Labels: advice, cars, cops, idiots, rant, road rage

Let me tell you a few things that, in retrospect, are clear to me from my experiences with this situation.

First, you're right you will very rarely use algebra in real, adult life if you are pursuing a career in writing, graphic design, photography, philosophy, and so on. You will need arithmetic to balance your checkbook, figure out how much to tip a nice server (when youre in college, this can be interpreted how much to tip in order to ask for a date), and how much your student loans will cost you and for how long. You will need it from time to time if youre running a small business, or are figuring other things out that need the simple algebra like solving (7-1)² = 36. But thats the easy stuff, really, compared to matrices and calculus.

So now that you can feel good in that trademark cynical teenage way about being right about never using it, let me tell you why you still need to pass the class.

Situation #1: I have lately taken up the idea of owning and running my own business. Or at least, I'm moonlighting legally so that the IRS doesnt bang down my door and shoot me. To do so, I have to read many pages of very confusing documents.

Situation #2: I have also recently gotten my first car, a 62 Volkswagen Beetle (baja style). While these cars are simple to fix as cars go, I still have had to learn a lot about my car in order to properly diagnose and fix problems with the fuel tank, fuel line, fuel pump, fuel filter, carburetor, air filter, distributor, spark plugs, coil, speedometer, and so on and so forth.

Situation #3: And of course, theres my endless work on websites that force me to learn java, CSS, HTML, XML, server-side includes and so forth.

Why am I telling you about all these things Ive learned over the last year or so? Because just like your math class, they were hard to learn. They were a bone fide pain in the ass. That is to say, they took some serious consideration and thought and mulling over before I understood them.

This is why your math class is important for later. Yes, it teaches you how long it will take for Joe to meet Fred at point X when they take off at different times at different speeds. But much more importantly, it teaches you to sit down and comprehend something that is difficult to comprehend. I get the vast majority of my information quickly and easily on the Net via Google or by asking friends. However there are many situations youll face where there is either no-one to tell you and answer, or that the simple way of explaining something is still very complicated.

Math, then, for people who hate math, isnt about your ability to do math nearly as much as its about your ability to sit and comprehend things that are difficult for you. If you master this ability to be unafraid of complicated concepts, consider your math class to have taught you something more valuable than anything else youve ever learned the ability to learn.

Currently listening : Hôtel Costes: Quatre By Stéphane Pompougnac Release date: 12:00 AM

Labels: advice, high, random, rant, school, stories, work

I think best when I'm spending idle moments. Taking a shower, shaving, just before sleep, or sometimes zoning out in class. "Why is it that my best ideas come to me when I'm shaving?" once asked Albert Einstein. When our brains are allowed to wander, they connect things in a random way, like a dream, to create new ideas. Often, they are fanciful, silly things but they can also be shimmers of genius.

It is so easy to saturate our lives with information & business, and this mental wandering can be lost, or worse deemed unproductive, and we lose the most interesting part of ourselves: our creativity.

So I resolve, and encourage the resolve, to use these moments, to remember that the Muse follows us to the most unexpected places, and to let her have her way every so often. This is my secret. I sit ... and think.

Currently listening : Original Soundtracks 1 By Passengers

Labels: advice, random, rant