Hey Oh. Lin-alg and inadvertent conflicts with teachers. This is the type of writing I think I could be able to find in "50 Essays: an Anthology." You hit the humor where it counts, and at the same time it isn't outlandish that it doesn't apply to most people. To be fair, I haven't taken Lin-Alg, but for what it's worth, logical reasoning sounds like it has its benefits and its detraction, which you were able to perfectly capture in your writing.

I think most of all the thing that caught my eyes/brain really, was your tone. It isn't completely "rant", in fact, it's not at all. Your reasoning is sound, and you proactively display both the pros and cons as well as your potential faults and strengths, which I do really appreciate. Funny how you mention how the email you wrote to your professor was passive aggressive, which in this case, I think you were a little here, but that helped your case.

Your kicker was also rather poignant. "The first: a general understanding of linear algebra. The second: a lesson in being a more considerate person. That's quality teaching right there." - best subtle double edge.

Haha, so you know - I'll just say that I liked the prose of this, and the witty nature of it. So much fun to read, so much joy - I'm grinning while reading and I'll re-read again, after dropping my worthless two cents. But yes, this was a joy to read, because I’m re-taking Maths now for my IT conversion course, after YEARS of not using it, and I can really feel your pains XDD (I study Maths the same way you do, by the way).

And yeah, I liked how you used Maths in this story, incorporating it in many clever and delightful ways. I’m one of those crazy people who wanted to be well-rounded, so I embrace any mixing of disciplines, be it English with IT, or Maths with the written word. I believe that a person should love all subjects, because there’s more fun to be had this way XDD.

I enjoyed reading this on a very personal note too, because you sound really awesome and witty (and we're polar opposites in a way. I'm the English major who's suddenly decided to pursue a STEM subject, though she's writing her dissertation in English. XDD. I will admit Maths is more fun for me than anything humanities related. I dropped out a linguistic class today, because of how much I didn't care for it.)

The moment I read the title, I was like... pfffffffffffft! This definitely has nothing for me, I lost over achievement when I was in 8th grade. But I read on, and of course, you always got that curve ball that makes me think twice.

In a way... I cannot relate to this. You had me hung by upper-middle class, and I'm like, what does upper-middle class look like? White picket fence? Two cars. Comfortable standards of living? Actually having competition surround you, instead of being surrounded by a bunch of yakking, mush-for-brains hyenas?

Is this place... trap free?

No, but seriously, I've grown up in an environment where skating is 24/7 and nobody does there homework, they copy the person who did. Eventually, I got tired of having people copied my homework, so I stopped doing it, and copied others too.

It's unfortunate that I was pushed into advance classes around the time I got that mentally. It's also unfortunate I started playing football, and that mentally didn't shake off until I realized I graduated high school without learning much. Definitely not in the math department.

Yeah, over-achiever isn't me.

More like failure. Football didn't work out. I tried track and field but I made the mistake of quitting that to play football. I wanted to wrestle but I didn't get approved medically, mostly because I waited too long to see a physician.

Eh. Y'know what. If I wasn't trying to be a good person, I would like to be like Kate and achieve greatness and only have my eyes on being greater no matter on the others I step on.

But I'm not... I don't like to step on people. I care too much. I checkered by transgressions, even while in the military.

But... the good news in. People like me because I don't go out of my way to be an ass-hat. I'm proud of that, at least.

/End of Soapbox. (You're making me open up a lot... damn you, lol)

Same with my school, although the entrance zig-zagged into the restroom so students didn't necessarily see all the way in.

I declare this story being cute, adorable even. I like it, and the explanation about prom is right on. Although, me myself always had an issue with asking out girls, especially the right one.

My high school prom, like most of my high school experience... sucked. My date was being... no fun. It's weird because we talked and chatted and laughed when we had the same class, but she dressed up all nice and I did too and when it came to dancing on the floor, she refused.

I danced with somebody else's date. My homeboy had his prom at a different location and he got it going on with his girlfriend. So I called him up to see how he was doing and we decided to meet up. He drove his girls caddy and picked me up and we went over to IHOPS it was like 2 in the morning by then.

After we met up with some of his people. We zipped down to South Beach where I went on a walk and he and his girlfriend did the hanky panky at the life guard's shed.

No lie, sometimes I wonder if I am romantically deficient, or life doesn't want me to have a girl since my career has me doing other stuff.

On the flipside, I save mad money. But yeah, that prom night sucked.

/End of Epic Soapbox.

Huh, so I never posted on this, have I? It's a shame, other than reading your work, reading your thoughts is just as fascinating and fun. I'm not so easily drawn to the whole teacher/student steamy relationship. It feels somewhat overpopulated, although there are rare gems and exceptions like yours that keeps it fresh and unique.

Is it bad that a number of the books you have mentioned, I haven't read. I should try being more of a student of this craft since I like it so much. But if was to choose a team. Hemingway. I am a dullard in math.

"That a committee of people who wouldn't ever meet me could have prevented me from achieving a level of happiness unattainable anywhere else is bullshit." I completely agree even though you say you only say that because you don't feel vulnerable. I had a similar situation where I had to choose between two schools and I ended up with one just because it gave me more money than the other. At this school, I met my best friend who's been a sister to me, so I do know that I would be a completely different person if I had gone to the other school.

This was an interesting idea that I enjoyed reading your views on!

-Veronica

Maybe your life would have been turned out better than it was now, but the thing is, does it really help to think about that? I try to not focus on better, but more on worse in those situations. Maybe my life would've turned out better if I, say, hadn't chosen psychology to major in but took up a major in creative writing, or something like that(which, sadly, is not availabe in the Netherlands). Thing is, I'm very happy to have taken on psychology. My life is far from perfect, and the major itself is far from perfect too(there's a LOT of repetition) but I could also have attempted to major in, say, maths, literature, or physics. (The thought alone already sends a lot of shivers up my spine) I probably would've dropped out within a month. So I could've been worse off as well, which is fairly uplifting at times.
The mere-exposure effect doesn't ring any of my bells right now(like I said, the major's not perfect, and I forget stuff as well) so I'm just speaking as a layman if I say that I don't believe that said effect is limitless. I think that, from a certain point onwards, you do notice you've made the wrong choice and need to make another(my first driving instructor is one of the few people that can have me cower away in fear. It was a bad decision to take lessons from her. So, after a while, I switched to a much better one, and now I have my driver's license, since December the 3rd).
So, what I'm trying to say is, why worry about your first choice school, that had way too much expectations? You seem happy enough about your current school, so your choice wasn't so bad that you needed to switch. You were not in the figurative dump. So, what good is it then to worry if it might have been better? In my opinion, I think it takes away the joy in what you have. Maybe you could've gotten something better, but you didn't, and what you got is good enough. So where's the problem?

Well my sis knows about it cuz she's just as disturbed as I am... my friends not so much. I made a new account to maybe show them one day where I post my less disturbed stories, which still come out disturbed, sadly. lol
I remember I used to write such nice, happy little romantic comedies. what happened? D: I know... it got BORING

That's really annoying. People try to game the system because it's become such a rat race...
Harvard's overrated anyway. People go there for connections first, education second

unless it's the chemistry teacher... ha

Absolutely thought provoking indeed. Honestly, I am not sure if I have picked a side on which historical educator is hotter, or why the (lets be honest, somewhat creepy) student to teacher crush is bias towards English teachers. I would, in some ways, call this groundbreaking. :)

My Navy training dictated that the only "safe" place to touch someone (anyone) in a classroom setting or supervisory position was on the elbow (trying to make a point, get the person's attention, sooth, etc.). I found that comforting - especially in opposite sex scenerios and definitely in age situations (the one year I substituted taugh - I NEVER made an attempt to touch a student in any way - even for comfort or support. I just didn't want to go there).

It’s freaky sometimes how these things happen. I’ve had a few times where I’ve written something and some small part of it has clicked into my real life. Two of the guys in Minor Talent – named Andy & Robbie – had names plucked out of the air in first year of Uni. I started dating my ex in second year, and in third year he moved in with two guys called, yep, Andy and Rob. I didn’t even pick it up until I was reading the synopsis to my mate and she just went “Wait, Andy and Robbie?” and I went, “Yeah. What are you…bloody hell.” But unfortunately, I don’t think it works for the bigger, good stuff. Shame, really.

Freebie Review Won The Review Game 4 (the third one was given to Sinner):

This was a good piece. I’ve had a fan fiction plagiarized once. I didn’t take it seriously enough (in my defense it ‘was’ fan fiction) and in fact encouraged the person that plagiarized my ff into trying to write something original. I’ve never had my original fiction plagiarized though and I know I would be far more upset about that than I was about my fan fiction. When I’m investing time into creating a character and storyline from scratch and someone takes it…I can’t imagine what you went through. It also makes sense that a lot of writers that used to post here went to places like The Write Away (great live journal group by the way!) and once upon a time Plagiarism Haven. There should be swift and even harsher penalties to those that plagiarize originals. FictionPress should be more diligent in that aspect. This was good, especially since I didn’t know about DMCA. So is that why (and—a lot of writers actually) post that thing at the bottom? The: All work by Whirlymerle (id. 752037) is copyright under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Copy my work and I will file a DMCA infringement report.

I’m wondering if I should start using that warning too.

Oh this is the story of my life. I think I ran into Zoë from I Never twice in my life now, both different girls, but when I met them, I was kind of speechless because I was like 'did you just step out of my story or something?'. And after writing I Never, I actually got into movie nights with two friends of mine. (Though we are, in no way, romantically involved, unlike Ian & Esmeralda xD) So I know how you feel, though I haven't really had it THAT strongly.
Congratulations on maybe getting accepted in Yale! You seem like a very bright person, so I'm sure that you'll be doing amazing there. Any writing classes you're planning on taking up?
Oh, and when it comes to characters, I rarely base characters on people I know - at least, not consciously. I more look at 'what feels natural', though what the characters do is usually based on some kind of experience I've had with people. (Jamie, Victor and Zoë gaming? Kind of ripped off from me playing a shooter with two friends of mine. Though I absolutely sucked at it) But different writers have different methods, right?

Oh, by the way, I might not be Swiss, but I do have an accent, and maybe an endearing laugh. Nah, I'm kidding ;)