Motivational Quotes

I like change. I like change better when it’s one stressor at a time.

Sometimes though, it’s a bit like trying to stay at mental peace in the middle of a firestorm.

giphy

If you’re stressed out and trying your best to stay positive, here are some thoughts that have helped me:

If you’re going through hell, keep going.
– Winston Churchill

Sometimes you have to get knocked down lower than you’ve ever been, to stand up taller than you than you ever were.
– Unknown

Just when the caterpillar thought its life was over, it became a butterfly.
– Unknown

You’ll get what you want when you give yourself no other option.
– Unknown

Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.
– Jim Ryun

Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.
– Unknown

Hanging Lake hike

So maybe binge-watching Outlander episodes until 1am the night before leaving at 6:30am for a long hike up to Hanging Lake might not have been the best decision, but it was a fun day.

We started at about 6135 feet and hiked UP another 1200 over the course of 1.2 miles. And when I mean UP, I mean omg why the $@#% is the hardest part at the end?!

The lake is hanging on the edge of the mountain. They’re very concerned about erosion, so no bikes, no dogs, no swimming.
  
If you ever go, they close it off when the parking lot is full. You need to queue up and wait for others to finish their hike and leave.

I would recommend bringing water, electrolytes, a snack, good hiking shoes, sunscreen, sunglasses, extra batteries for your camera or a charger for your phone for pictures, and a hat.

   
   
                                                                      

Morning hike up Opal Hill

We tried to beat the heat and go for an early morning hike. It’s gorgeous here. Even with just an iPhone camera, it’s hard to take bad photos of the mountains. The hike was invigorating being up so high with the wind in our faces. There was only one point where the trail down from the top wound around the cap narrowly and we questioned our buddy’s sanity taking us down that way.

Fun times 🙂  
       

           

New trail

First day of vacay! After finishing up some loose ends, paying bills, doing laundry, and unpacking from the last adventure so I can repack for this one… I decided I really needed to just go for a walk.

Have you ever gone out and just said “ooh I wonder where that goes?”

Well today I took that trail and found creeks, bridges, boardwalks, fields, hills, playgrounds, and it let me out somewhere I wasn’t expecting to be connected. 

Definitely going to do this again, maybe just not in a black shirt on a 90 degree day.

   
                 

Why math?

I graduated college many moons ago, but for some reason I still get asked “Why did you study mathematics?” It’s a well-meaning question. I don’t mean to be annoyed by it, but I am.

Why did you study math?

There are the things that influenced that decision:

  • It was the one subject where I never had to think; I just did and it came naturally.
  • I raised my hand in first grade to use the restroom, and the teacher thought I was volunteering to tutor another student. She paired me with the class troublemaker. While trying to get her attention to say I wasn’t volunteering, she thought I unhappy with who I got. Unable to change my predicament, I explained the lesson as efficiently as I could so I wouldn’t have to repeat the directions and wouldn’t pee my pants. True story. 😛
  • I wouldn’t say I have a photographic memory, but it’s close. I memorize numbers and rattle them off to my family/friends days later. It was the saving grace once, when my former boss lost her wallet in one of the two taxis we took to dinner. I knew both taxi numbers for some reason.
  • The earliest math textbook error I remember finding was when I was 9.
  • Physics was incredibly exciting because I got the chance to apply math principles to all the other things they were trying to teach me in school. I don’t know why they don’t lead with it sooner.
  • My grandmother, despite her Alzheimer’s, taught me to love numbers by playing all kinds of Solitaire variations with me.
  • When I was really little, I used to count to 100 to annoy my brother.
  • Logic is calming and clear. I may be related to Spock.
  • Probability/Statistics was a fun reason to track data and learn poker.
  • I tutored a girl failing Algebra, who asked “why didn’t my teacher explain it like this? It makes so much more sense now!” Upon taking the next test, she was accused of cheating and had to retake it under supervision. She got 100% both times. The teacher still didn’t believe she could do it.
  • Study hall was boring, so I volunteered my free hour tutoring in my favorite math teacher’s class in between his lessons.
  • I hadn’t studied Calculus yet, but when some older students were having trouble and I asked them to explain the problem to me, I was still able to direct them to the solution.
  • I could see matrices, graphs/vectors, in my head.
  • I’d do my homework in pen (even in college) along with Sudoku and KenKen puzzles.
  • In DiffEq class, I found a flaw in one of the differential equation questions, proved it both ways, and rode out the rest of the semester on extra credit. So I knew I was in the right place by then.

Why did you study math? There are the snarky retorts, I refrain from saying:

  • I had non-elitist math teachers who bothered to teach it in a way I could understand. I’m sorry yours decided to leave you behind so early and reinforced your negative perception of your own potential abilities.
  • Are you surprised because it’s considered a difficult subject?
  • Are you surprised because you hate math or because I’m a girl?
  • I’m sorry you think that something so critical to engineering, safety, medicine, the internet, etc. etc. etc. is a waste of time to study.

Why did you study math? And then, there was the one defining moment in my education that pissed me off more than you can believe:

  • Upon returning to the US after a year in abroad in foreign schools, a female mathematics teacher told me “No you cannot rejoin the honors math classes. You’re not smart enough to catch up.”