More on Starting Calculus

Yes, Calculus. Well, I dropped it last semester before it even began, because I was busy getting pregnant and being a little hormonal. The first trimester was rough on me, and I'm glad I dropped my classes, because there's no way I would have been able to give them the attention they required.

But now I'm a week in, and so far feeling ok. I think the hard part will be remembering all of the Trig I crammed into my brain over the 8-week summer semester and promptly forgot during the fall break. Limits, I get, and according to my professor, that's all Calc I really is. Derivatives and Integrals are just fancy limits.

I used iTunes U to help me prepare for the class (there are a couple of calculus semester lectures there), and now I'll be using it to fill in the gaps left by my professor, who tends to ramble and go off-track and not always explain everything completely well.

I'm still a bit nervous - the majority of the grade is TWO tests (midterm and final exam), he doesn't really award partial credit, and I'm always screwing up something stupid in my algebra when I do complex problems. But I think I'll understand the concepts ok, and that's the most important thing here.

Patience is a Virtue

The problem with making life-altering decisions is that you get impatient to get started. Or at least I do. Halfway through the fall semester (when I'm not taking classes), I came to the conclusion that I want to study physics and astronomy at a respectable university. In order to do that, I have to take several semesters worth of math and at least one course each of physics & astronomy.

But I have to wait until next semester to start.

Next semester is TWO MONTHS AWAY.

I also made the mistake of following a twitter search of "physics OR astronomy" on Tweet Deck and lots of people are talking about their physics and/or astronomy homework, which just makes me more jealous. I feel like my life is hanging in balance, and that I'm holding this lofty goal in my mind without really knowing if I can even hack precalculus.

I need to get these math courses under my belt before I can feel confident actually stating my goals (what? I haven't even told YOU my goals yet, beyond an undergraduate degree? see, I told you I'm self-conscious about them) out loud to anyone other than my husband, and I am impatient to do so.