calculus

So I have several boxes that were in perpetual storage that I've been going through lately. Call it a summer project. There were a lot more boxes than I remembered, and I don't think I missed many of the things in the boxes in the years that I didn't have them. There are a few things that are fun to see and remember, but the vast majority of that stuff is garbage—including many of my copious high school journal-writings, which is kind of sad to say, but true. (I didn't throw my journals away, though, because interspersed through the garbage might be something of value, and they represent more than the other useless things I kept. Maybe?)

Tim was helping me sort the garbage into recycling piles (my past is now giving back!) and I went through my AP calculus binder, where I had all of my notes and assignments and all of that. And do you know what I was thinking? I was thinking that I haven't really done any math since that class (over six years ago), and I don't think I would have any idea how to do it these days. I have forgotten it all. I have never used what I learned in calculus. So what was the point of all of that? I want to know. Apparently I thought it might someday come in handy, because I kept it all for so long. Now with the benefit I have of retrospect, I see that it never, ever was.

Funny, though, because back then, I kind of liked it. Isn't that sick?